Good Bye 2010! Hello 2011!

Well, another year is coming to a close! This has been a truely wonderful year! I have enjoyed all of the good things and realized that the bad things that have happened have happened for a reason. The five most wonderful and memorable things that have happend in my life this year are:
1. My gaining four --yes, four-- nieces this year! Three of which came into my family by adoption (which is a wonderful thing!)
2. The building of my barn! Even though it isn't finished yet! It has been and continues to be a wonderful learning experience for everyone that works on it and it has also provided plenty of material for my blog.
3. Getting my learner's permit! I read the driver's manual, studied for the test, paid to take the test, and passed the test all by myself! I was/am so proud!
4. Going to the Southern Regional 4-H Competition in Clemson, South Carolina and getting to compete in Hippology (the scientific word for the study of horses). And my team even placed in two of the five devisions! We got third in team problems and fifth in horse judging!
5.Going to the letterboxing event. It was so neat to see how a hobby can bring so many interesting and different people from all walks of life together.
After looking back on the past I feel that it's high time to look to the future! On my list of things to accomplish/do/work at/etc. is:
1. Grow closer to God through reading my Bible and praying. I hope to read through the entire Bible in 2011.
2. Live a healthier lifestyle.
3. Get/stay caught up in school.
4. Read more. More classics, review books, inspirations, fiction, fantasy, maybe even a couple of biographies!
5. Blog more. I've only written half of what I should have this year!
That's all I have to blog about for 2010! What are your momorable moments from 2010 and what are your goals for 2011? I'd love to hear about them!

Christmas

Oh my! I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already! This was the most wonderful Christmas yet! I had all of the family gatherings, shopping trips, delicious dinners, and of course delightful presents I could wish for! Let me start from the beginning! My brother and his family came up about a week before Christmas. While they were here we went on the Annual Sibling Shopping Trip (where just Clay, Paige, Stephanie, Jack, and I go shopping), The Butler family Christmas Party (my mom's side), The Eavenson Family Christmas Party (my dad's side), and the family photo shoot. The most exciting of all of those activities was definitely the family photo shoot! Oh boy! It was one crazy day! (You can read more about that event here.) We had a wonderful time together and I was sorry to see my brother and his family leave on Christmas Eve even though I knew they had to if they wanted to get to Paige's family's farm before Christmas. After they left we all got new pajamas on Christmas Eve and Christmas presents on Christmas day. I love everything I got and I think everyone else does too! It's important to peer behind the commercialism sham and remember, appreciate and give thanks for the real reason for the season! Christmas day commemorates the day when the Son of God was born and God's plan to save us began to unfold. Merry belated Christmas!

A Christmas Miracle

It was family picture day! Everyone got all dressed up and we posed away! We were having a pretty good time, but of course all good things must come to an end! We were out in the front yard right next to the horse fence and "friendly" Red Rock wanted attention. Everyone was at their wits end with him because he just wouldn't go away or leave us alone! That's all well enough until you ad the fact that we had all three of the family dogs out there and two of them were off leash and just happened to have hidden herding talents! Well, there went Buddy and Chase chasing and barking and biting at Red Rock. Red Rock was not about to be run off so easily though! He started kicking, biting, bucking, and snaking (an aggressive herding behavior used by dominant horses to discipline disobedient underlings) at the dogs. There were several close calls for both of the pups, but then there was one well placed kick and one poorly placed dog head that ended with Buddy knocked out cold. He slowly rose up after almost being stomped (but Red Rock changed his mind about killing Buddy after Buddy was incapacitated) to death. Instead of walking Buddy limped, the convulsed and kept falling over. We all thought he was a goner! There was a lot of Crying and praying as Jack and Stephanie rushed Buddy to the vet! Buddy isn't just any dog-- he's Faith's dog. Those two love each other to death and Faith would be heart broken if Buddy died! Here's the Christmas miracle part: Buddy is fine! Not a broken bone or even a concussion! The vet said he was knocked out for a moment and probable had a seizure, but everything else is fine! Whew we were all very relieved!

The Event

No, not the T.V. show, the letterboxing event. So, I've been looking forward to this event for months! I love to letterbox and I thought it would be cool to meet other letterboxers and to make some exchanges (you swap signature stamp images with other 'boxers). Mom and I went to the event today! It was so much fun! We got there early and were a little nervous, but the host made us feel perfectly at home. We went in, logged into the event book (the book that's there to keep up with everyone that came), and stamped the event stamps into our books, fixed a plate of food, and started making exchanges. We probably met around thirty people, exchanged with about as many and that was only half the people there! Everyone was super nice. We enjoyed explaining our trail names and putting faces with the stamps and trail names that we've seen before. It was a very diverse group of people! There were little kids, teenagers, twenty-somethings all the way through senior citizens! It was a wonderful experience just getting to chat with everybody! At one time the host walks up to me and asks, "Do you know what getting cootied means?" I said yes and asked if I happened to have any cooties on me (cooties are little itty bitty stamps that travel from person to person. They can be on clothespins, hair clips, in boxes, anything. They don't have to have logbooks and usually don't. Once cootied you log them in your book and hide them on another person, in an unattended purse or coat, etc.) it turned out that I had two attached to my hoodie at the time. I logged them in my book and infected someone else with them. Before we left I checked my hoodie for more cooties and didn't find any. Well, I had only thought I had escaped! When I got home I discovered three more cooties! Two in my bag and one on my hoodie! What fun! :)

Letterboxing at Stone Mountain

Today, Mom and I set off to Stone Mountain Park for some letterboxing and other fun stuff. We started with the ambitious goal of finding seven letterboxes in one outing. We started in an area of the park that we were pretty familiar with and we were pretty confident in our ability to find the two boxes there. Both clues mentioned the same very specific landmark. Well, we found about 6 such places, but none of them were the landmark. We had been searching for over half an hour when Mom mentions that the picture in one of the clues appears to have been taken from waaaaaaay up. So, we broadened our search zone and ,finally, I spotted the landmark! There were only a few obstacles between me and success! One of those obstacles just happened to be a huge (over five foot high) "step" up. After climbing up and over the ledge, I hiked the remaining seventy-five steep yards (after the first hundred and fifty yards) up the mountain to the first letterbox. Yay! Success! But there was one more letterbox and I had come way too far and taken too much time to leave without retrieving both boxes! Well, the mountain got steeper as I breathlessly climbed the last thirty or so yards and snagged that last box! Victory was mine! Now all I had to do was try not to break my neck as I made my way back to the landmark where Mom was waiting. By this time, my knees were shaking because I was both tired and afraid. We stamped the stamps and hid the first box. Then I had to drag myself back up there and hide the second box. The hardest and scariest part was the descent because there are tons of little rocks and a few ice patches on an already steep mountainside, but thankfully Mom and I both made it down safely. At the end of our adventure I reiterated the fact that letterboxing takes you to places you would never have been otherwise-- like halfway up the backside of Stone Mountain! Haha! Don't get me wrong- the view was great (I could see the lake over the treetops and a ton of the surrounding landscape) and the boxes were cool and the adventure was fun! Plus it only took us a little over an hour and a half!

Homeless for the Holidays

Homeless for the Holidays is a wonderful, charming, inspirational, heartwarming, family friendly movie! This is the perfect movie to watch this time of year. I really enjoyed watching Homeless for the Holidays with my family. I especially loved that it’s a movie with an important message. In Homeless for the Holidays you follow the story of a successful man who goes from climbing the corporate ladder as fast he can to losing everything he has just in time for the holidays. Along the way he realizes that the important things in life are not the things that are bought and sold, but that faith and family are what life is really about. He also discovers the importance and joy of giving. This movie was awarded five out of five Dove Seals by the Dove Foundation which means this movie is family approved and you can’t say that about very many movies now. Another “fun fact” about this movie is that it is based on a true story. I really enjoyed watching this movie and I hope that you do too.

(I received this product for free from the BuzzBlogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255)

A Barn Raising. Part 6.

The Barn

Uncle Steve returned to us this past Sunday and we are all greatly relieved. Carter was unable to come because he got a job (from what I understand it involves bug catching for science.) He is greatly missed by all (especially when something heavy needs lifting down at the barn. lol) Uncle Steve, Dad and Jack have made great progress and the barn is really taking shape. We now have a hay loft floor, the first section of the ridge board and a couple of the second tier of rafters. It's so exciting to see it all come together!



The loft floor from below



It's a long way down



Hard at work



The floor



A precarious position



They inspect their work



Quite literally, The End.

The Seven Minue Difference and The Seven Minute Daily Planner by Allyson Lewis

After her life changing seven minute experience, Allyson Lewis wrote The Seven Minute Difference. She has laid out a practical plan for success full of easy-to-accomplish small steps. Allyson Lewis has a great writing style which makes this book one of the few nonfiction books that I can really say that I’ve enjoyed reading. She points out and explains everything that you need to know to succeed including the importance of knowing your purpose, having written goals and using small steps. The Seven Minute Life Daily Planner is the perfect companion to the book. It is easy to use and practical. All of the pages are laid out well and it provides plenty of instructions so that you can be confident that you know what you are doing. It provides a place where you can define your purpose, prioritize, and set goals (big or small) and achieve them one small step at a time. I’ve already recommended this book and planner combination to friends and family and will continue to do so because I believe that everyone can benefit from reading this book and using the planner.

(I received this product for free from the BuzzBlogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255)

My Trip to Mississippi

I recently returned from a fun, family trip to Mississippi. My family (my mom, dad and I plus my sister, her husband and their 6 children [Zhenya, Katya, Anya, Kristina, Faith, and Caleb]) went to see my brother, Clay, sister-in-law, Paige, nephew, Cade, niece, Clair, and my newest niece, Baby Caris (insert "awwww" here). We made the journey so that we could celebrate Cade's birthday and see everybody. It was awesome! They had the party at Mitchell Farms which is a fun farm and working farm owned and operated by Paige's grandparents, The Mitchells. We had a great time doing everything there was to do at the farm including the corn maze, the pool of corn (yes, you can play in a giant pool full of corn), playing on the playground, taking the tour of the farm in the tractor-pulled wagon, seeing all of the animals in the animal barn (they have ducks, quail, a rabbit, a fox, sheep, a miniature donkey, chickens, and even a pair of peacocks!), and seeing all of the historic buildings. We also got some behind the scenes stuff like getting to ride in the vintage Jeep (it's over 50 years old and still runs) all over the 4-wheeler trails with my brother (that was one of my favorite parts). I had an awesome time! I got to travel to a state that I've never been to before, hold Baby Caris (feel free to "awwww" again), hang out with my brother and his family, have a great time at Mitchell Farms, stay at a hotel (which was really nice, had cable and an incredible free breakfast spread! Did I mention we got to stay for free thanks to Marriott points?), and letterbox in another state (found a 'box and planted one too!) So, to sum it up: Mississippi was awesome! :)

10/10/10

The Cake!

Today was my birthday! It has been an absolutely awesome day! I had five of my friends come over yesterday and we went to see the movie Secretariat (Which was great!) then almost everybody spent the night at my house. Today we went to church and then came back to my house for cake and ice-cream. My sister made the coolest cake ever! It looked exactly like what our barn is going to look like! I couldn't believe how good it looked! For my birthday I got gift certificates, money, a book, personalized horseshoes, and a wall hanger for the barn for holding jackets, halters and the like. I am also in the process of getting barn! :) One of my favorite things was when my brother called and gave me some great advice. He said, "Don't waste your life. Work hard or do what you love, but don't just sit around." Clay, I plan on doing both of those things in the years to come (The working hard and doing what I love part not the sitting around part)! Thanks to everyone who made today so special!

Love,
Beth, who thinks that this was the best birthday yet!

Letterboxing

I love letterboxing! If you're wondering what letterboxing is maybe this will help:

"Letterboxing is an intriguing pastime combining artistic ability with "treasure-hunts" in parks, forests, and cities around the world. Participants seek out hidden letterboxes by cracking codes and following clues. The prize: an image from a miniature piece of art known as a rubber stamp—usually a unique, hand-carved creation. Letterboxers stamp their discoveries in a personal journal, then use their own rubber stamp, called a signature stamp, by stamping it into the logbook found with the letterbox, perhaps writing a note about the weather or their adventures in finding the letterbox." Source: http://www.atlasquest.com/

So far I have 21 finds and 5 traditional plants under my belt. I love figuring out clues and finding the boxes. Plus, the clues usually take you to beautiful and unique places that you may never have found otherwise. My mom calls me a "prolific carver." It is so much fun to draw a design and then carve it out! I don't even know how many stamps I've made. Besides the traditional letterboxes there are also postals, LTC's, and hitchhikers all of which I hope to expand on later. For more information about letterboxing you can go here or here.

A Barn Raising. Part Five.

I'm not even going to say anything about missing a several days of posting. Let's all just accept that things like that are going to happen and move on. Uncle Steve and Carter left several days ago to go back home. But don't panic! They are coming back sometime after October 15th. The barn has all of its posts, lower rafters, etc. but before we can move on (put the upper rafters and the roof on) we need scaffolding. If you happen to have some scaffolding that isn't being used or know someone who does please let me know. So, besides that there isn't much else to be said about the barn for now, but be prepared for a barrage of barn related posts in the near future. Did I happen to mention that I am SO EXCITED ABOUT HAVING A BARN THAT I JUST MIGHT EXPLODE!?! No? Well, I am and now you know.

A Barn Raising. Part Four.

So, yeah, I missed another day of posting, but yesterday was busy. Even though I didn't have too much hands-on work with the barn because I babysat my nieces and nephew. I did, however, get to go down there and be amazed. It really is starting to look like a barn, especially since they started putting rafters up! It may sound like this whole thing has just been smooth sailing, but yesterday and today haven't been without excitement. We realized a couple of mistakes and are doing our best to either fix them or cope with them. The most popular phrases have been, "It's just a barn," meaning that whatever happens will be okay because it's just a barn and "Put a nail in it!" meaning hurry up and do something because it'll never be perfect. So far, I think it's a rather fine piece of construction despite it's flaws and I'm ready to have it finished! I can picture it all already! Although that doesn't really mean much because I've been able to picture it since we poured the concrete. Now it just seems so close and real! I can't wait! I think we're planning to paint it "Barn Red" with white trim in the classic barn style. I have already started designing the interior and planning how to keep it clean and as close to bug-free as possible.

A Barn Raising. Part Three.

After lots of hard work and humor the posts are up. Both of the building inspectors came out yesterday and they admitted that they didn't know anything about building a barn. One inspector said they were using S.W.A.G. (Scientific Wild Burro Guesses). They had come mainly to inspect the post holes. We had painstakingly dug all 16 holes to a 3 foot depth to match the requirements. The inspectors walked over and looked at a couple of the holes and said something to the effect of, "Looks about right," without even measuring! So, with that ordeal thankfully behind us, we continued.  Little did dad know that all of the posts would be in the holes before he got home from work. He called us in a little bit of a panic about it all and mom let him think that we hadn't gotten anything done. Boy, was surprised when he pulled up the driveway! Uncle Steve and my cousin, Carter, had put all of the posts in the holes. After dad got home and got over his shock, we squared up the posts and cemented about half of them in. Today, we've been working on getting the rest of them done. Apart from the roof, walls and doors we've got ourselves a barn already. That's the glass-one-quarter-full view for you.

A Barn Raising. Part Two.

I forgot to post yesterday because we were pretty busy. Early in the day I cleaned house so that it would be ready for our company. While I was doing that mom, dad and Jack measured and marked where the holes should be. Later, my uncle and cousin arrived and that's when we really started working. Dad and Jack dug holes with the two-man auger and my cousin and I cleaned the holes out with post hole diggers. So, needless to say, my shoulders are sore. Today the building inspector is coming to inspect the holes and after that we're going to put the posts up. I think that today the barn might really start looking like a barn.

A Barn Raising. Part One.

I'm not quite sure how many parts this will have because this is a huge undertaking. We really started building the barn three years ago when we had the concrete pad poured, but we haven't done much since then. Yesterday is when we really made progress. We had lumber and dirt delivered and we had a bobcat come and make the surrounding ground level with the concrete. Today, while dad and Jack cut out places in the concrete to put the posts in, the rest of our family watched. While we weren't watching we were doing odd jobs like turning the hose on and off, bringing lemon ade to the workers, opening and closing gates, and fetching tools. Tomorrow my uncle and cousin are coming. Hopefully the work will go faster. On the scedule for tommorrow we have: digging post holes and having fun!   

An Old Story

Yesterday I found some of my old writings while cleaning my room. This is the first part of a short story that I had started but never finished. I've done a little editing and I've made it a little more like my current style (because my style has changed a bit in the last year or so). It's just a fantasy story full of frivolity. Enjoy!

In another village nestled in the middle of another country many years ago, a memorable thing happened. Philington Sprousenhimer came upon an unsuspicious can as he was snipe hunting on the town's main highway (which was more like a dirt path) as he did on every other snipe hunting day. Philington snatched up the can because he was a recycling kind of person. His interest grew when he realized that the can was unopened. Unfortunately, he could not read the label for all the dirt, but our dear Philington was undaunted. He whipped out his handkerchief and rubbed the can vigorously. Eventually the words became visible. "Fresh Genie in a Can," Philington read aloud. Turning the can, he read the directions. "Step one: read label. Step two: Llama had a Little Goat (a very popular children's song at the time). Step three: read step four. Step four: remove and eat label. Step five: open can and enjoy.” Philington deliberated for a while. He weighed the dangers of eating a dirty label and, even worse, having Llama had a Little Goat stuck in his mind forever. Philington was so lost in thought that he passed his own house and walked right into his neighbor's. After noticing his mistake, he scurried out of the door unnoticed. "Well, here goes nothing," he mumbled before singing Llama had a Little Goat and then choking down the nasty label. Once he arrived at his own house Philington began searching for a can opener. After a little while he grabbed the can opener triumphantly. Philington opened the can. You won't believe what popped out!

... ... ...

You'll have to wait until next week to find out what happens!

A Snapshot

Several people I know are taking one picture a day for an entire year. I love the idea! Except... photography is not really my thing, but writing is! So, I thought to myself, "what if I write a snapshot a day?" So, that is exactly what I am going to do! I'm not sure what I'll write each day... maybe a journal about my day, maybe a short story or a poem. But that's all part of the appeal! I must admit that knowing that I have to write something everyday is a bit daunting, but what great adventures aren't at first glance?

The Falling Away by T.L. Hines

I’ve read several books by Hines and have loved every one of them. This one is no different. The Falling Away is a supernatural thriller about a crippled veteran ironically named Dylan Runs Ahead. Whether he realizes it or not, Dylan has been running all of his life. He’s been running from the reservation, from his past, from his future, and from his destiny. Quinn and Li are about to make him face all of the demons that Dylan’s been running from. The writing, as always, is superb. It all flows perfectly and you’re hooked after just a few words. One of my favorite things about the book is the fact that Hines gives you the background story on his characters and that really brings them to life. The plot is original and takes many twists and turns. If you like a supernatural thriller with lifelike characters and a captivating writing style then this book is for you.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Immanuel's Veins by Ted Dekker

Ted Dekker really takes you for a ride in Immanuel's Veins! Immanuel's Veins is a redemptive romance where it all comes down to wooing the Bride. The characters are well developed and easy to relate to. The whole story is laid out so well that it really is believable. Good and evil materialize in Toma, one of Catherine the Great's best and most loyal warriors, and Vlad, a mysterious Russian royal. Amidst all of the revelry, wine and love bites there is a desperate battle raging for Lucine's love. It was invigorating and inspiring to read a story that hits so close to home for all of us who share a fallen spiritual history, but now live redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

Jesus Lives by Sarah Young

Jesus Lives by Sarah Young is an awesome devotional book. It is uniquely written, is Biblically based, and talks about topics that can really be applied to your life. Sarah Young wrote this book in a writing style that I have never seen before. Each of the one hundred and eighty devotions is written as if from Jesus to us. Every devotion is based on the Bible, (which is important because we all need to be feeding on the word every day), and she includes several verses that apply to each topic. My favorite thing about this book is that all of the topics really do apply to my life. The topics include: Adversity, Control, Depending on Him, Desiring Him, Endurance, His Faithfulness, Fear, The Future, Heaven, Grace, Prayer, and Renewing your mind. One of the devotions that I found to be really true is the one on fear. “Fearfulness is a form of bondage. … People are born into a world in spiritual bondage, including bondage to fear. Because you inhabit both a fallen world and a fallen body, it isn’t easy to break free from fearfulness. However, the spirit of adoption can help you in this struggle, enabling you to see yourself as you truly are: a much-loved child of God!” Isn’t that true? Through these devotions (and many more) Sarah Young addresses real questions and problems that you and I face in our everyday lives. As a result of tackling these real life issues, spending time in God’s word and in prayer you grow in your relationship in Jesus.

My Family

My sister-in-law recommended that I blog about my family so that is exactly what I'm doing.

I must admit that my family is far from normal, but that is one of the reasons that I love my family so much! In my immediate family I am the youngest of three. My brother is 18 years older than me and lives in Florida with his wife and (who I mentioned earlier and who gives great advice.) and three children (who are all adorable!). My sister is 16 years older than me and lives next door (approximately 80 steps from my front porch to her back door.) with her husband and six children. Two of her children are biological, one is adopted from Russia and three are adopted from Ukraine and have been here just a little over three months. Despite the fact that they have only been here for a little while we all love them like they've been here forever! My parents are wonderful! And because they are older (but by no means old!!!) they have given me a unique perspective. I have an appreciation for the little things (as cliché as that may sound.). I notice the trees as they bud and bloom and I marvel at the magnificent array of colors displayed on the trees in the fall all because my mom and dad point them out to me. My mom homeschooled my brother and my sister and now she homeschools me (yes, I do have friends. No, I don't wear floor length denim skirts.) and I love being homeschooled! This is just a "bare bones" account of my immediate family (and one that I hope does them justice.) and I plan on writing more about the family members already mentioned and telling about the rest of my family soon.

Ella's Escapades

This is the tale of Ella, the miniature schnauzer:

One day Ella was minding her own business, just sniffing around like all dogs do when happened upon a piece of ABC (Already Been Chewed) gum. So, Ella decides to chew the bright pink gum because it smells so good and looks so strange. Little did she know just how sticky gum is. When the gum was tangled in the fur around her mouth and even stuck to her paws she came to me. I had to hold in my laughter at the sight of her because she had gotten herself into quite a mess. I snatched her up and marched her to my mom. I was planning on shaving all of her fur of, but mom said she could get the gum out with peanut butter. Ella thought that was a great idea and had the best time licking the peanut butter off once we had gotten all of the gum out of her fur. Just a few hours later Ella asked to go out in the back yard and so I let her out. Ella was just minding her own business again when this time she found BBQ sauce and grease all over the grass under the grill. Jack had been grilling and apparently the grease trap is missing so all of the grease ended up on the ground. It was a long time before I realized Ella hadn't returned. I went out and called for her and then I came back in thinking someone must have already let her in. I still couldn't find her so I went outside again and soon I found her. She was covered in grease with her white fur stained brown. She was sticky and smelled like BBQ. We quickly gave her a bath and had her all nice and clean. We thought that we had seen the end of our troubles with Ella at least for the day, but no, apparently the combination of peanut butter and grease had wreaked havoc on her stomach and she threw up. After cleaning that up we went to bed. In the morning I let Ella out into the back yard like I always do and Ella came back covered in grease again! So, after another bath I am hoping that I have seen the end of Ella's escapades.

To My Wonderful Parents

I have always known that I am lucky to have parents who love me so much and who love each other and who love the Lord but it really touched me for my mom to tell me just how much they loved me. She was telling me how long they waited for me and how excited they were when I came into the world. So, Mom and Dad, I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you do. For loving me unconditionally, for loving each other, for loving the Lord, and for raising me with Godly values. I know that I can be rebellious, argumentative, and generally difficult to be around at times and I want to thank you for putting up with me during those times and for gently correcting me. I thank you for encouraging my love of animals, nature, reading, and writing. You will probably never know how much it means to me to have your approval and support. Thank you for being quick to forgive and slow to anger. You are both such great role models for me. Mom, I want to have your patient and encouraging heart. Dad, I want your prayerful spirit and love and compassion for people in need. I just wanted to let you and everyone else know how much you both mean to me.

Love,
~Beth

Forest Halls. A Poem.

The trees of the forest conceal great halls
Their trunks and branches form the walls

Leafy limbs reach over head
Lush green moss makes the bed

Delightful dances here commence
The dancers are creatures no one can place in a fence

The air, perfumed by petals so sweet
Intensifies with the mid day heat

As tempting as this place might be
My destination is calling me

And as I trek away from here
I promise to return some other year

Easter

I know that it's a little late for the typical Easter post, but I believe that Easter is something to be celebrated all year long.
Easter is my favorite holiday and it's about a lot more than some eggs, candy and a bunny. Easter is the day that represents our day of salvation. It is the day that the son of God rose from the dead after being in the grave for three days. But let's rewind. Jesus was born sinless (of a virgin), lived a perfect life, spent his time teaching the truth, healing people (both physically and spiritually), and Jesus did many miracles. Then he was betrayed by one of his own followers and then the son of God who was sent to save us was put to death by us (Don't worry God planned it this way). Jesus hung on a cross and even as He died He forgave us. Well, our lives would be pretty depressing if not for Easter because here we would be eternally separated from our Creator, but God didn't leave us that way. On the third day (Easter) Jesus rose from the dead and later ascended to heaven, but He left us His spirit, The Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and lives. Jesus did all of this in payment of our debt because we should have died. For our sins the perfect son of God died for us. He died for us. This is our hope and our salvation. This is why we celebrate Easter.

What Makes Good Characters

I love to read and I love a good under-dog-down-and-out-come-back-making protagonist, but every time I read the sob story or back ground of my favorite character I want them to get a little recognition for their acomplishments, relish in their success or take a little wallow in self pitty. I guess that's because if I were in their position I would want to. Amazingly they never do. And I think that's why I like those characters so much. Because even when they have the right to do nothing or the right to do what they want they don't. Instead they sacrifice something or everything without asking for anything in return. That's the kind of person I would like to be. I want to live such an unselfish life. Wouldn't it be amazing to be someone who does great things for a bigger purpose than just "me"? And I can't think of a bigger or better purpose than God's.

Anger Management

I didn't know that I could be so mad at a group of people in all my life. Just a few days ago, what at this time seems like the beginning of the end of America as we know it was passed by our government. I'm not even going to go into everything that I think is morally and constitutionally wrong about this healthcare bill-made-law, but I am going to delve into my reaction to the news in order to make my point... Well, I was filled with what I considered "righteous" anger. So much so that that I thought my chest might burst with because of the rage inside of me. I lashed out at the T.V. and all of the turncoat "conservative" democrats that voted to let the bill pass. But then bam! God hit me with a Bible verse that I had read earlier. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His plan." Romans 8:28 I was comforted by these words because they mean that God is in control and that no matter how bad things seem now He will work them out for my good (even if good isn't good by worldly standards.) After rereading the verse I decided to let go of my anger, but I knew that I couldn't do it by myself. So, I prayed and asked God to take the anger and the hatred from my heart and to through it out. You would not believe the imediate relief that I felt! To be clicé it was like a weight had been lifted off of me. It is always best to go to God first and to hand over worries, problems, questions, and runaway emotions to God first.

Neglect and a New Direction

So, as you might have noticed I've been neglecting my blog, but it's not just that, I've been neglecting a gift God gave me. A while back God pointed out to me that writing was one of my strong points and I really believe that He had been sharpening my ability when pride got in the way of me using a gift for God's glory. I started a blog with zero expectations. I thought that just family and friends would read it and that thought was some what freeing. I could write whatever and expect only praise and constructive criticism, but then the stat counter I had installed started to show that a lot of people from all over were Reading my blog. That planted a seed of pride in my heart. I would write a post and instead of thanking God for the skill and words He had given me I would read it and pat myself on the back. Eventually my pride led to selfcontiousness and my blog began to lose the transparency I had loved and my words sounded hollow and "preachy" even
to me. All of this ended with my not writing anything at all. Now I am rededicating my gifts to God's glory. Because of this rededication I am not going to restrict the blog by only making certain kinds of posts. I'm going back to the basics and the genuine writing style that I used to have. I also feel called to make a commitment to write something every day (even though I'm not sure how much of it I'll post) because it's like a wise person recently told me, "Gifts are like muscles, if you don't use 'em you lose 'em."

Gardening

It's that time of year again! It's time to start gardening! Right now is the stage between the changing seasons... It's after the coldest, shortest days of winter, but before the warming, blooming days of spring. Yesterday I bought some seeds for my herb and flower gardens and today I planted the first seeds! I stated the planting process by pulling weeds and stones from one of our garden boxes. This task was more difficult than I had first thought it would be. It was cold outside and I had no gloves so by the time I was half way through my fingers were numb and covered in dirt. Once I had cleared my enemies (the weeds) from the battle field (the garden box) I went inside to thaw my fingers. After warming up I dug shallow little rows, placed the tiny poppy seeds carefully, gently covered them with dirt, and then covered them with straw to keep the rain from washing the seeds away. The work has just begun. I'll have to thin out the plants once they sprout and I'll have to keep the weeds at bay. Gardening today reminded me of our relationship with Jesus. It reminded me of how we have to prepare our hearts by pulling the sin from our lives, how we have to read God's word daily and bury it in our hearts, and how we have to continually weed out the sin in our lives so that we will bloom and make God's name famous.

Dreams

Recently I have been having unusually vivid dreams... The fact that they are so realistic isn't all that strange it's the fact that I am remembering them well after I wake up that's weird. In the first dream I was running a marathon and suddenly all of the racers had to come to a halt because a bridge was broken in half. The bridge appeared to have a river of water rushing over the broken part and people were up on the bridge catching alligators like normal people would catch fish. Then I was sitting in front of a Target and I was texting my friend C.H. there was a group of runners that I knew and we were all waiting for C.H. and as we are waiting we begin to realize that none of us have ever met C.H. in person. I then get a text saying that C.H. is in the museum of natural history which is just down the street. We go to look for him and I remember looking at all the displays. C.H. had told us to especially be sure to look at a certain type of duck. We get there and he's no longer there. He texts me and says that he went ahead to the Target. So we all rush back there and I am about to see him when *poof* I wake up! The second dream was so real and I remembered it in such detail that I was on the phone with my best friend and I asked her about her new kitten only to realize that she had only gotten a kitten in my dream! Isn't that strange? Even though I now know that it was only a dream I remember Kristin telling me that she had gotten a new kitten and I was so mad her for not getting it from me. While I was on the phone with her I was thinking that since wasn't mad anymore I would be nice and ask her how her new kitten was doing. She said, "What kitten? Beth, I don't have a kitten." At that moment I knew that it had all been a dream.
Have you ever had dreams that were so real that you had to stop and think about whether or not that had actually happened?

Happy New Year!

Can you believe that it's 2010 already? I am amazed that the year whent by so quickly! I quietly brought in the new year with my family. We had comfort foods, played ping-pong, watched Bringing Up Bobby, and we simultaneously watched the Peach in Georgia and the Ball in New York fall.
My 4 goals for the year are:
1)To have a healthier life style
2)To have a dailing quiet time
3)To spend more time in prayer
4)To live a life of love, compassion, and mercy
I plan on keeping these and I would love to know what your resolutions are for 2010! One of things that I have to look forward to this year is turning 15 and getting my learner's permit.
Letters From Beth is also in for some changes this year including a make over, possibly a web address change, new book reviews and give aways, and much more!
Happy New Year!
~Beth