Friday, September 20, 2013

bonjourelise's Xanga Blog 1.1 21767531 bonjourelise's Xanga Site bonjourelise dotkok77@gmail.com bonjourelise bonjourelise dotkok77@gmail.com bonjourelise Sun, 17 May 2009 17:41:15 -04:00 Went on a BEAUTIFUL hiking trip on Saturday. God's Creation is SO AMAZING! On the way back down the mountain I was lagging behind Dad and Ben a bit, just soaking in everything around me. The smells, the sights, the sounds - all of these three together create the fantastic beauty of the mountains. A beauty so wonderful it has become the subject of many a song or poem. I can't imagine drawing all of those details, let alone CREATE them from nothing. God is awesome. :)

Several hours later, I opened my Bible to Psalm 121. The words jumped from the pages as the truth of the Word was made real from the events of the day.

"I will life up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow  your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber..." (Psalm 121:1-3)



The Peak: Ben, Dad and Me. The view was BREATHTAKING!

]]> 2009-05-17 17:40:36 2009-05-17 21:40:36 open Publish post 702142862 Hello sweetie,


 Hearing from you is a Blast of God! Has mom ever mentioned your in touch with the Lord ?


 I am just responding,but I read your message a great little essay ,on May 18th, and I asked  Maddi and Jen if they received it,but neither have Zanga. Does that matter?


I saw your angel picture ,of years ago.  Amo, Ellisa(Elly)   Aunt Donna XOXOXO


 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 
Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.


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1 2009-06-02 11:40:00 2009-06-02 15:40:00 AbeleHomeschool bounce@xanga.com http://abelehomeschool.xanga.com/ 0 31033209 0 1488725627
Speaking of pictures, I have a bunch that I need to give you. :)

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1 2009-07-22 10:53:00 2009-07-22 14:53:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1494190041
1 2009-12-11 09:36:00 2009-12-11 14:36:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1505050655 I love you Leesi!!]]> 1 2010-07-08 11:47:00 2010-07-08 15:47:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1514418663 The Making of a Nation bonjourelise Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:45:29 -04:00 I received the newsletter for Far Above Rubies today and was got encouraged simply by reading the very first paragraph:

"May God pour out His blessings of love, joy and peace upon your family and your home. Marriage and the home were the first institution that God instigated and they are the most important in the nation. Never forget their importance in the sight of God. Don't let the pressures of life pull you away from your home and family. Make them your first priority. Strengthen your marriage. Strengthen your family. As you do, you will be part of strengthening your nation and making it great."

Strengthen your family and that will be part of strengthening your NATION and making it great. What a wonderful view of the family. When standing together, families make up the world! Kinda makes you think twice before you put down motherhood or spend more time at work than nurturing your children, doesn't it? That's why it's SO important that we defend God's plan for the family. You're not simply a small family unit, insignificant and not effecting the world around you. You are a FAMILY a significant piece of a NATION.

]]> 2009-04-28 09:44:49 2009-04-28 13:44:49 open Publish post 700284966 1 2009-05-02 21:08:00 2009-05-03 01:08:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1485236902 Dear Elli, Where are you? 8015714530-honestabe_642@hotmail.com.


    Love Aunt Donna

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1 2009-08-20 18:33:00 2009-08-20 22:33:00 AbeleHomeschool bounce@xanga.com http://abelehomeschool.xanga.com/ 0 31033209 0 1497014486

love you!]]>
1 2009-08-21 09:42:00 2009-08-21 13:42:00 bonjourelise bounce@xanga.com http://bonjourelise.xanga.com/ 0 21767531 0 1497065968
bonjourelise Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:43:54 -04:00 Good Times...



It was a WONDERFUL visit!
Having the family all around me was sooo amazing.

I have been blessed. :)

]]> 2009-03-19 22:43:14 2009-03-20 02:43:14 open Publish post 696234547 Hi Ellie,

I am going from my page to your page. I hope you have gotten ,something,besides this. muuaah Aunt Donna

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1 2009-03-20 14:02:00 2009-03-20 18:02:00 AbeleHomeschool bounce@xanga.com http://abelehomeschool.xanga.com/ 0 31033209 0 1479677537
1 2009-03-20 14:58:00 2009-03-20 18:58:00 AbeleHomeschool bounce@xanga.com http://abelehomeschool.xanga.com/ 0 31033209 0 1479681092 1 2009-03-24 21:01:00 2009-03-25 01:01:00 turquoise_brooke bounce@xanga.com http://turquoise-brooke.xanga.com/ 0 30285865 0 1480232737 bonjourelise Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:50:35 -04:00
The Story of a most Beautiful Wedding



Erin and Dylan.
They are a beautiful couple! Absolutely smitten with one another. In love with their whole hearts.

It was a perfect day.



My Beautiful Sister! Overjoyed - it was the day of her dreams.

"[She] looked very like a rose herself, for all that was best and
sweetest in heart and soul seemed to bloom into her face that day..." (Little Women)





Dancing to "Johnny B. Goode" crazy times!

"Go Go Johnny! Johnny B. Goode..."



he's got a bit o' crazy coming out :)



My new niece, Aubrey



Hugs for Mimi!



Decorating!







Oh, Henry :)



Croquet on the lawn - oh so refined.





Annabelle





Its almost time!


 
       

Stunning!



Catching a glimpse of her man



The wedding was beautiful. God truly put these two together. Check out my blog for their story (from MY view, Erin's view is, of course, 100 times better. I'll have to ask her to write it down for me to post)



"To have and to hold..."



Dylan...you may now kiss your bride. And he SURE DID!



"...the minute she was
fairly married, Meg cried, "The first kiss for Marmee!" and turning,
gave it with her heart on her lips. During the next fifteen minutes
she looked more like a rose than ever..." (Little Women)



       

The Abele/Belchak side of the family. From Left: Dad holding Henry, Mom, Ethan, Erin, Dylan, Aubrey, Ben, Zackariah, Kimberly, Benjamin and Elisa.



Sisters. <3



The Tuggle/Wood side of the family. From left: Liz holding Annabelle, Rachel, Lance holding Emma, Hayley, Erin, Dylan, Aubrey, Mrs. Tuggle, and Mr. Tuggle (i.e. Grandma and Grandpop).



The men! They are so wonderful! I don't know what I'd do without my galant and loving protectors. :)

     

Erin + Aubrey



My super-duper-crazy-handsome-wonderful nephews, Zack (4) and Ethan (4 1/2).



Crazy boys! haha, don't you just love Ethan's suave wink here?

           

"The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him'

...and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.


Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.'

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh
."

P.T.L.

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2009-03-15 19:38:40 2009-03-15 23:38:40 open Publish post 695802121 1 2009-03-15 20:04:00 2009-03-16 00:04:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1479009657 1 2009-03-15 21:34:00 2009-03-16 01:34:00 Indecisive_is_Me bounce@xanga.com http://indecisive-is-me.xanga.com/ 0 31480470 0 1479015737 She looked so beautiful! Good pics.

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1 2009-03-16 08:52:00 2009-03-16 12:52:00 lizmom12 bounce@xanga.com http://lizmom12.xanga.com/ 0 35863548 0 1479079664
1 2009-03-16 14:35:00 2009-03-16 18:35:00 turquoise_brooke bounce@xanga.com http://turquoise-brooke.xanga.com/ 0 30285865 0 1479133017
My life bonjourelise Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:57:41 -05:00 Catherine commented on my last post and asked me what exciting things were coming my way. And the answer to your question, Catherine, is I have no idea! That's what is so exciting. :) I'm not sure whats coming next.

This past year I've spend a LOT of time in prayer regarding my life after graduation. The normal societal (is that a word?) pattern is for a person to graduate high school, then go right to college.  Ever since I was 12 I wanted to go to Liberty (or Bob Jones) and major in the Family and Consumer Sciences major (that's the technical title for Home Economics). I used to pour over the Liberty web site. Dreaming of the dorms I would stay in. The classes I would take. And the new friends I would make.
But, as I prayed about my future, I got the same answer. "Just get yourself graduated. Then I'll show you."
So that's what I'm doing. Graduation is coming up. Then after that...who knows? I'll admit, this waiting thing is getting a little embarrassing. I can't count the number of times people have asked me what I'll do after high school and and then give me incredulous looks once they find out that I have no idea! But God's certainly in control, even when I don't think He knows what he's doing, He does. He is the Creator of the entire universe, after all...

If you could pray for me, that would be great. I could use it. :) Please pray that God will reveal to me His plan, in His time.

Until then, I think this song pretty much sums up my life at this point (it sounds a LOT better with the music):

Unwritten

by Natasha Bedingfield

I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined

I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned.

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find.

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten...

]]> 2009-01-25 18:56:59 2009-01-25 23:56:59 open Publish post 690591955 i'll being praying for you. its something i can do in these time i feel like i don't know what i can do. so i use alot of prayer

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1 2009-02-08 19:52:00 2009-02-09 00:52:00 CheeZyestBall bounce@xanga.com http://cheezyestball.xanga.com/ 0 8061819 0 1474206270
I loved your post, Elise! I know, people are so relentless with the whole college questions, but I guess it's a typical question to ask. :) I think it's wonderful that you're waiting for God's plan for your life. It's so hard to give your carefully dreamed, thought out plan to God! I admire you so much for that. :) I love your sweet God honoring spirit. <3

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1 2009-02-24 17:58:00 2009-02-24 22:58:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1476395533
I'm baaack! bonjourelise Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:03:20 -05:00 My facebook has been disabled (I'm in the process of finding out why), so to fulfill my internet addiction, I'm back on xanga. Life has been good - incredibly crazy, throwing things my way that I'd never thought would happen. I'm excited (and a bit scared! lol) to see what is going to happen next! I'll be graduating in May. Turning 18 in August. A lot of changes are on their way. It's gonna be good.

]]> 2009-01-11 22:02:38 2009-01-12 03:02:38 open Publish post 689076231 Beautiful background, Elise. You're not going to leave me hanging though are you? What sort of exciting things are coming your way?

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1 2009-01-25 17:06:00 2009-01-25 22:06:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1472379112
Salt Lake City, Utah bonjourelise Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:04:17 -04:00 On April first I boarded a plan bound for Salt Lake City, the city of my birth and where I spent 9 years of my childhood. I spent a little over two weeks there, enjoying the city and all of its splendors (not to mention, spending all of my money!). I was blessed with an absolutely wonderful time.


SLC's beautiful mountains. Every day I was in awe of how pretty they looked.

Ben and Kimberly treated me to my first taste of sushi!



Zack and I goofing around at the sushi place. 

 

Yum! (NOT!) I was not a fan of these things, though Ben made me try them all. I prefer Californai rolls



These...ehem...are fish eggs, wrapped in seaweed. Yes, I ate them, and yes, I gagged.



Zack and I again.



Zack, coloring in one of Kimberly's notebooks. He's such a cuite.



"Cheese!"



Precious boy

Kimberly, Chris (her mother in law) and I went to a very nice hotel for afternoon tea. It was absolutely lovely! The atmosphere was beautiful. The food was delish. And the company, wonderful.


Left: Kimberly and I, Righ: Me taking a bite of my tea-sandwhich





Henry about to burst into one of his wonderful smiles.



He did a lot of this....



So tired!



       

Zack with his binky. :)







Cousins, Aunt and Uncle:



From Left: Me, Aunt Donna and Uncle Doug.



My cousin Brandi and her boyfriend, Craig.



Brandi and I.



Cousins! From Left: Lindsey, Me, Maddie and Damon.



More Cousins! Top Left: Brandi, Jen, Me. Bottom: Maddie and Lindsey.



Maddie, Aunt Donna, Lindsey and I.



Me and cutie Damon.



Lindsey and I, trying to take a serious picture. (we never got one, we were laughing to much, lol)



Maddie and I.



Yep, still laughing. :)



Lindsey and I.





There! Finally a serious pic! lol, Lindsey has such a cute, infectious laugh. Whenver she laughs I can't help but laugh with her!



Lindsey and her boyfriend, Joe.



Aunt Donna and Uncle Doug. I went to their house for a cookout on their 42 anniversary!!

Those are all the pics I have for now! The trip to SLC was so much fun! I love seeing all of my family and friends. It was very nice. <3
]]> 2008-04-19 14:04:17 2008-04-19 18:04:17 open Publish post 652986967 Wow, those mountains are gorgeous!!! 

Wow, the sushi and fish eggs look very....interesting.  You're much braver than I am to try them! 

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1 2008-04-19 17:19:00 2008-04-19 21:19:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1422124114
Aw, Henry's adorable!  How old is he now?  And Zack is getting so big!

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1 2008-04-19 17:21:00 2008-04-19 21:21:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1422124227
Awwww great pics!!! That hotel where you had the tea looked awesome!

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1 2008-04-19 18:39:00 2008-04-19 22:39:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1422129139
Looks like you had lots of fun! 

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1 2008-04-19 18:54:00 2008-04-19 22:54:00 turquoise_brooke bounce@xanga.com http://turquoise-brooke.xanga.com/ 0 30285865 0 1422130164
I've never tried sushi or fish eggs before....not sure I ever will now. 

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1 2008-04-19 18:57:00 2008-04-19 22:57:00 turquoise_brooke bounce@xanga.com http://turquoise-brooke.xanga.com/ 0 30285865 0 1422130367
I like the picture of Henry with the doll...they look kind of alike. Grace has a doll that looks kind of like David, too.  She named it after him.

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1 2008-04-19 19:54:00 2008-04-19 23:54:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1422134217
Very nice, thank you for posting them. Henry is SO cute!

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1 2008-04-20 08:08:00 2008-04-20 12:08:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1422244731
Wow You have a really nice family See you all soon flying in a big balloon higher than high Aunt Donna said,nodding her headXXXXXOOOOO

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1 2008-05-28 22:29:00 2008-05-29 02:29:00 AbeleHomeschool bounce@xanga.com http://abelehomeschool.xanga.com/ 0 31033209 0 1430018535
Wow You have a really nice family See you all soon flying in a big balloon higher than high Aunt Donna said,nodding her headXXXXXOOOOO

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1 2008-05-28 22:30:00 2008-05-29 02:30:00 AbeleHomeschool bounce@xanga.com http://abelehomeschool.xanga.com/ 0 31033209 0 1430018727
Read on only if you want to be challenged and encouraged... bonjourelise Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:26:57 -04:00   
A Challenge to Women
By John Piper

 1. That all of your life‚Äîin whatever calling‚Äîbe devoted to the glory of God.

   2. That the promises of Christ be trusted so fully that peace and joy and strength fill your soul to overflowing.

   3. That this fullness of God overflow in daily acts of love so that people might see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven.

   4. That you be women of the Book, who love and study and obey the Bible in every area of its teaching. That meditation on Biblical truth be the source of hope and faith. And that you continue to grow in understanding through all the chapters of your life, never thinking that study and growth are only for others.

   5. That you be women of prayer, so that the Word of God would open to you; and the power of faith and holiness would descend upon you; and your spiritual influence would increase at home and at church and in the world.

   6. That you be women who have a deep grasp of the sovereign grace of God undergirding all these spiritual processes, that you be deep thinkers about the doctrines of grace, and even deeper lovers and believers of these things.

   7. That you be totally committed to ministry, whatever your specific role, that you not fritter your time away on soaps or ladies magazines or aimless hobbies, any more than men should fritter theirs away on excessive sports or aimless diddling in the garage. That you redeem the time for Christ and his Kingdom.

   8. That, if you are single, you exploit your singleness to the full in devotion to Christ and not be paralyzed by the desire to be married.

   9. That, if you are married, you creatively and intelligently and sincerely support the leadership of your husband as deeply as obedience to Christ will allow; that you encourage him in his God-appointed role as head; that you influence him spiritually primarily through your fearless tranquility and holiness and prayer.

  10. That, if you have children, you accept responsibility with your husband (or alone if necessary) to raise up children who hope in the triumph of God, sharing with him the teaching and discipline of the children, and giving to the children that special nurturing touch and care that you are uniquely fitted to give.

  11. That you not assume that secular employment is a greater challenge or a better use of your life than the countless opportunities of service and witness in the home the neighborhood, the community, the church, and the world. That you not only pose the question: Career vs. full time mom? But that you ask as seriously: Full time career vs. freedom for ministry? That you ask: Which would be greater for the Kingdom‚Äî to be in the employ of someone telling you what to do to make his business prosper, or to be God's free agent dreaming your own dream about how your time and your home and your creativity could make God's business prosper? And that in all this you make your choices not on the basis of secular trends or yuppie lifestyle expectations, but on the basis of what will strengthen the family and advance the cause of Christ.

  12. That you step back and (with your husband, if you are married) plan the various forms of your life's ministry in chapters. Chapters are divided by various things‚Äîage, strength, singleness, marriage, employment choices, children at home, children in college, grandchildren, retirement, etc. No chapter has all the joys. Finite life is a series of tradeoffs. Finding God's will, and living for the glory of Christ to the full in every chapter is what makes it a success, not whether it reads like somebody else's chapter or whether it has in it what chapter five will have.

  13. That you develop a wartime mentality and lifestyle; that you never forget that life is short, that billions of people hang in the balance of heaven and hell every day, that the love of money is spiritual suicide, that the goals of upward mobility (nicer clothes, cars, houses, vacations, food, hobbies) are a poor and dangerous substitute for the goals of living for Christ with all your might, and maximizing your joy in ministry to people's needs.

  14. That in all your relationships with men you seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in applying the Biblical vision of manhood and womanhood; that you develop a style and demeanor that does justice to the unique role God has given to man to feel responsible for gracious leadership in relation to women‚Äîa leadership which involves elements of protection and care and initiative. That you think creatively and with cultural sensitivity (just as he must do) in shaping the style and setting the tone of your interaction with men.

  15. That you see Biblical guidelines for what is appropriate and inappropriate for men and women in relation to each other not as arbitrary constraints on freedom but as wise and gracious prescriptions for how to discover the true freedom of God's ideal of complementarity. That you not measure your potential by the few roles withheld but by the countless roles offered. That you turn off the TV and Radio and think about...

  • The awesome significance of motherhood

  • Complementing a man's life as his wife

Ministries to the handicapped
  •      hearing impaired
  •      blind
  •      lame
Ministries to the sick:
  •      nursing
  •      physician
  •      hospice care‚Äîcancer, AIDS, etc.
  •      community health
Ministries to the socially estranged:
  •      emotionally impaired
  •      recovering alcoholics
  •      recovering drug users
  •      escaping prostitutes
  •      abused children, women
  •      runaways, problem children
  •      orphans
Prison ministries:
  •      women's prisons!
  •      families of prisoners
  •      rehabilitation to society
Ministries to youth:
  •      teaching
  •      sponsoring
  •      open houses and recreation
  •      outings and trips
  •      counseling
  •      academic assistance
Sports ministries:
  •      neighborhood teams
  •      church teams
Therapeutic counseling:
  •      independent
  •      church based
  •      institutional
Audio visual ministries:
  •      composition
  •      design
  •      production
  •      distribution
Writing ministries:
  •      free lance
  •      curriculum development
  •      fiction
  •      non-fiction
  •      editing
  •      institutional communications
  •      journalistic skills for publications
Teaching ministries:
  •      Sunday school: children, youth, students, women
  •      grade school
  •      high school
  •      college
Music ministries:
  •      composition
  •      training
  •      performance
  •      voice
  •      choir
  •      instrumentalist
Evangelistic ministries:
  •      personal witnessing
  •      Inter Varsity
  •      Campus Crusade
  •      Navigators
  •      Home Bible Studies
  •      outreach to children
  •      Visitation teams
  •      Counseling at meetings
  •      Billy Graham phone bank
Radio and TV ministries:
  •      technical assistance
  •      writing
  •      announcing
  •      producing
Theater and drama ministries:
  •     acting
  •     directing
  •     writing
  •     scheduling
Social ministries:
  •      literacy
  •      pro-life
  •      pro-decency
  •      housing
  •      safety
  •      beautification
Pastoral care assistance:
  •      visitation
  •      newcomer welcoming and assistance
  •      hospitality
  •      food and clothing and transportation
Prayer ministries:
  •     praying!!!
  •     mobilizing for major Concerts of Prayer
  •     helping with small groups of prayer
  •     coordinating prayer chains
  •     promoting prayer days and weeks and vigils
Missions:
  •     all of the above across cultures
Support ministries:
  •     countless jobs that undergird major ministries
So...are you challenged yet?

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/1995/1746_A_Challenge_to_Women/


]]> 2008-03-17 22:15:04 2008-03-18 02:15:04 open Publish post 647585531 Thank you. Yes, I am encouraged.     Love you

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1 2008-03-18 15:29:00 2008-03-18 19:29:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1415100331
your site is beautiful

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1 2008-03-18 15:29:00 2008-03-18 19:29:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1415100374
Wow! That's so challenging and encouraging at the same time...if that makes sense. Lol! :) Thanks for sharing it, Elise! <3

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1 2008-03-19 09:53:00 2008-03-19 13:53:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1415253130
Encouraging post! We have like 10 or 11 Alpacas right now. 

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1 2008-03-19 21:32:00 2008-03-20 01:32:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1415359611
bonjourelise Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:29:26 -05:00 It's been an absolutely crazy week, and since I haven't posted for a while I thought I'd let you know what I've been up to lately. God has really blessed me with such wonderful family and friends. He is an awesome God.

Friday: I had some girls over for a Valentines Day sleepover. It was so much fun. Fondue - Charades - Apples to Apples - Breakfast at Tiffany's - Two bottles of sparkling cider - boxes of chocolates - Rebekah and Katie shrieking during hide and seek in the dark - Pancake Breakfast - Indiana Jones impersonations - Chocolate dipped everything - laughter - friendships. It was a delightful evening. I love all of you girls so much! Hopefully Angel will be posting pictures soon, but mom has my camera in SLC, so I wasn't able to take any.

Saturday: The girls were still at my house this morning. I made some coffee which seemed to attract all the girls into the kitchen. They all sat on the counters or stood around the kitchen keeping me company while I made the pancakes. Hannah R. turned on some rockin' music and we all chatted away. Hannah, Rebekah and Angel stayed after everyone had left and helped me clean up. Rebekah, with her servants heart, tackled the humongous pile of dishes and we all worked together on the rest of the house. We were finished in no time. Erin came home from work and we all piled into the van and went to the Gibson's house for Joseph's birthday party. We had a lot of fun with the celebrity face recognition. We turned Mitchell into Shirley Temple and Hannah G. into some fat guy. Yeah, good times, good times. Erin had some shopping to do in town, so Angel and I stopped at the gas station and got some large coffees to keep us awake. We went to the mall and to Hobby Lobby, I'm not sure where else. Angel and I spent a good amount of time in Claire's picking out earrings. She bought a cute smiley-face wrist band and three pairs of earrings for herself, and she was super wonderful and bought some earrings for me too! That night we watched a movie and ate some dinner. We were so tired!

Sunday: We had church in the morning. Then after church Angel and I watched Shop Around the Corner, which I didn't really like. After Angel left, I did a little ridding up and then Benj and I went to youth group, which is always fun.

Monday and Tuesday: I watched Ethan on Monday morning, Dad left for SLC on Tuesday and I did school on these days. I don't remember exactly what we did but I vaguely remember going shopping a lot on these two days.

Wednesday: I awakened at 6 am for work and had a pretty good day there if I remember correctly. I really like my job. I just talk with the ladies when they come in and work out, I work out myself and when no one is there (and all of my work is done) I get to play around on the computer. When I got home the Davis' were there, the seven kids and their mom. They live in Georgia but came up here for a visit and to get their sheep. They had just come for breakfast and I was surprised they were still there when I got back. It was a crazy day. We played Apples to Apples for a very long time, and the little kids were running around being silly. Those kids are really great, though, so sweet and friendly. Their ages range from age 1 to age 13. Their mom left to go check on the sheep and so Erin watched the kids. Around 4, she had to go to work, so she left watching the kids to me. The older ones weren't hard to watch, but there were a lot of younger ones who didn't get along to well. Maizie, the 13 year old, watched Hattie the youngest, and I planted the rest of them in front of a movie while I made some speghetti for dinner. That was a very exhausting evening, but I think God really helped me have patience, even when what little I had was wearing thin. They all went to bed when their mom came home around 8 and the house was strangely quiet. :) Erin and Jessica made themselves some dinner and we watched Saving Sarah Cain. After the movie Erin looked and outside and gasped, there were 2 or 3 inches of snow on the ground! The snow looked absolutely beautiful in the night air. I love the sound of snow, the soft pat-pat-pat as it hits the ground. With much begging, I finally got Benj to go outside and have a snowball fight. It was so much fun. I love my brother. Erin and Jessica and I made some tea and chatted as we watched the snow from the window. Finally, my tiredness took over me and I went to bed.

Thursday: The Davis' stayed till about 10 in the morning. We had a hug snowball fight with everyone before they left. I got to see their cute newborn lambs, too. I was not feeling well so I slept a lot of the day. We exchanged Valentines, and they were very lovely. But I really was ill or something so I just slept and slept.

Friday: I worked again till 11. Erin and I had a fun "Junk-food/Video Night". That's the very creative name my family gave to Friday nights that we spend watching movies and eating junk food. We went shopping for pizza and ice cream, Ethan was really happy. We watched Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang first and I must say that is the longest kids movie I've ever seen. Ethan kept asking if it was over yet. It's got some really weird parts too. Then after Ethan went to bed, Erin and I watched The Devil Wears Prada. It was pretty cute.

Saturday: I watched Ethan this morning, and cleaned the house and my room. It's 2:30 and I probably need to go get dressed. hehe...

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day.

John 3:16, "For God so LOVED the world, that He gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." What a great God we serve.

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2008-02-16 14:29:26 2008-02-16 19:29:26 open Publish post 642719117 But I didn't notice anything in it about a certain little someone...congrats, Auntie! The party was a lot of fun; thanks for inviting us. ]]> 1 2008-02-16 15:06:00 2008-02-16 20:06:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1408728699 1 2008-02-17 14:45:00 2008-02-17 19:45:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1408922303 ]]> 1 2008-02-17 15:35:00 2008-02-17 20:35:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1408926289 oh wow! Seems like you have been quite busy, but it all sounds fun.

So, the Devil Wears Prada was good? Steph and I have wanted to see that, but we haven't yet....

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1 2008-02-17 16:44:00 2008-02-17 21:44:00 Indecisive_is_Me bounce@xanga.com http://indecisive-is-me.xanga.com/ 0 31480470 0 1408931646
1 2008-02-19 18:09:00 2008-02-19 23:09:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1409354401 I also remember being disappointed because it wasn't anything like the book, which I had read and really liked. Have you ever read the book?]]> 1 2008-02-19 20:01:00 2008-02-20 01:01:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1409366099 1 2008-02-19 20:23:00 2008-02-20 01:23:00 Hobbit bounce@xanga.com 0 -1 0 1409368807 Thanks for the comment, you're really sweet.
Love you too
Bran]]>
1 2008-02-20 17:12:00 2008-02-20 22:12:00 hotcupcake bounce@xanga.com http://hotcupcake.xanga.com/ 0 31012120 0 1409551266
1 2008-02-25 19:33:00 2008-02-26 00:33:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1410600650 Love ~Alexandra]]> 1 2008-03-05 20:36:00 2008-03-06 01:36:00 sauin bounce@xanga.com http://sauin.xanga.com/ 0 29232231 0 1412392384 1 2008-03-10 20:32:00 2008-03-11 00:32:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1413420780
My Celebrity Look-alikes bonjourelise Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:27:49 -05:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph]]> 2008-01-27 15:27:49 2008-01-27 20:27:49 open Publish post 639668720 1 2008-01-27 16:18:00 2008-01-27 21:18:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1404689593 1 2008-01-27 17:10:00 2008-01-27 22:10:00 JainaSwordoftheJedi bounce@xanga.com http://jainaswordofthejedi.xanga.com/ 0 24891647 0 1404693990 1 2008-01-27 18:16:00 2008-01-27 23:16:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1404700266 1 2008-01-27 18:35:00 2008-01-27 23:35:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1404702099 1 2008-01-27 22:16:00 2008-01-28 03:16:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1404728495 1 2008-01-28 06:56:00 2008-01-28 11:56:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1404798351 1 2008-01-28 08:50:00 2008-01-28 13:50:00 Hobbit bounce@xanga.com 0 -1 0 1404835332 1 2008-01-28 22:39:00 2008-01-29 03:39:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1404955865   that's a neat's thing that you posted...]]> 1 2008-01-31 15:45:00 2008-01-31 20:45:00 Indecisive_is_Me bounce@xanga.com http://indecisive-is-me.xanga.com/ 0 31480470 0 1405539422 ]]> 1 2008-02-14 14:26:00 2008-02-14 19:26:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1408306244 1 2008-02-14 16:55:00 2008-02-14 21:55:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1408319645 1 2008-02-14 18:37:00 2008-02-14 23:37:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1408328355 bonjourelise Sat, 19 Jan 2008 10:53:58 -05:00 I was reading in Psalms the other day when I came across this wonderful verse:

"Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge." Psalm 62:8

My dear sisters, when was the last time you poured out your heart to your Creator? He longs to hear your troubles and worries. I only recently found the joy of pouring out my heart to God on January 8, 2007. I was feeling so upset inside. So many 'issues' and 'problems', with people and with myself, were rolling around inside of me all twisted around each other like a big knot (sounds painful, doesn't it? It was.). Believe me, I tried sorting them out myself, but I just couldn't do it. So, the morning of January 8 I put on my coat and walked down to our pond and sat on a stump to ask God for help. Here's an excerpt from my prayer journal that I wrote about my time:

"[I'd been to the pond to pray before] But this day was a little different. There were so many burdens on my heart, I felt so inadequate and unworthy of everything...So there I was, sitting on a stump in my mom's coat. The cool winds were blowing and the dry leaves were rustling on their branches. I poured out my heart to God, I spoke in whispers, telling him of all my trials and hardships. He seemed to be listening. Even though he already knew my heart I still told all. Every detail we discussed. Some of the time I cried, as the burdens of life slipped onto God's mighty shoulders. I felt so much better afterwards, so light and happy. God is so good to me, I still feel inadequate and unworthy, but in a good sense. With God and His power filling my spirit, I don't know if I could feel anything of unworthy of Him who loves me. Thank you Jesus."


]]> 2008-01-19 10:53:58 2008-01-19 15:53:58 open Publish post 638349532 1 2008-01-19 12:41:00 2008-01-19 17:41:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1402886483 1 2008-01-21 08:23:00 2008-01-21 13:23:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1403283500 ]]> 1 2008-01-25 09:49:00 2008-01-25 14:49:00 MorninGLorieOs bounce@xanga.com http://morninglorieos.xanga.com/ 0 8486276 0 1404201812 Okay, next time I go to the Biltmore, I'll call you. Hehe. Too bad you couldn't see the pictures, but oh well. How are you doing? Great?

Love!

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1 2008-01-26 13:48:00 2008-01-26 18:48:00 white_foggy_kleenex bounce@xanga.com http://white-foggy-kleenex.xanga.com/ 0 23927603 0 1404462750
1 2008-01-27 18:36:00 2008-01-27 23:36:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1404702190 bonjourelise Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:07:11 -05:00 I promise you, I'm not dead or lost or anything. I'm still here, I just have been really busy with school and life in general. I'll be posting again soon.
]]> 2008-01-18 09:07:11 2008-01-18 14:07:11 open Publish post 638174158 1 2008-01-18 10:22:00 2008-01-18 15:22:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1402639779 1 2008-01-18 10:35:00 2008-01-18 15:35:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1402643635 bonjourelise Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:50:26 -05:00 New Years Eve! We had a blast at Hannah's house. Thanks for the invite, Han!



From left to right: Sarah-Marie, Hannah and Me, being crazy. (just FYI, I know you can't really see it, but I'm wearing the cute shirt that Benj bought me for Christmas, thanks Ben!)



The three of us again, being a little more serious.



Craziness...

Ok, it's CLOSE UP TIME!!!



Sarah...wow...



Hannah...double wow...

So, those are the best ones that I took. Although I do have a couple more. We had a great time, I think we stayed up till like 6 am.

Tonight we had Women on Mission group, it was very nice. I'm the only younger girl there, but that's okay. The older women in the church who I see there are my big sisters in Christ. They lead and guide me through my trials because, quite often, they've been there themselves. One of the ladies shared her testimony and it just showed me, once again, how important it is for younger girls like myself to learn from older women. What a blessing to go to a church that believes in un-age-segregated activities.

The Men on Mission met tonight too at the same time. After the meetings Benj, the Wright boys and I played hide and seek. I was hiding behind the Wright's SUV and as I stood up to run I busted my lip on their side mirror. My mouth was bleeding a little bit and now my lip is kinda swollen. Great. But we still had fun playing. Those guys make me laugh. :)

]]> 2008-01-07 21:50:26 2008-01-08 02:50:26 open Publish post 636242786 ]]> 1 2008-01-08 01:16:00 2008-01-08 06:16:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1400354358 1 2008-01-08 10:56:00 2008-01-08 15:56:00 JainaSwordoftheJedi bounce@xanga.com http://jainaswordofthejedi.xanga.com/ 0 24891647 0 1400469025 1 2008-01-08 13:17:00 2008-01-08 18:17:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1400489449 1 2008-01-08 18:55:00 2008-01-08 23:55:00 fantasy_girl8890 bounce@xanga.com http://fantasy-girl8890.xanga.com/ 0 29807428 0 1400518140 1 2008-01-11 07:51:00 2008-01-11 12:51:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1401063766 1 2008-01-11 07:52:00 2008-01-11 12:52:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1401063889 Something Serious and Something Silly... bonjourelise Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:21:58 -05:00 I have found my new favorite song. Or at least one of my favorites, I love probably 15 at a time. Normally I like a song because of the music, and not necessarily the lyrics. For example, I love the songs Held (by Natalie Grant) and It's All in the Serve (by Michael W. Smith), but the lyrics aren't really what I liked about them (although they are good lyrics), it is the music, the key, the power behind the singer's voice. This song, by Britt Nicole, though, I like because of the lyrics. It seems to capture a lot of what I feel inside. I want to do big things to change the world, but sometimes the world seems just too big. This song reminds me that there is nothing I can't do when I rely on God as my strength.

"Set The World On Fire"

I wanna set the world on fire
Until it's burning bright for You
It's everything that I desire
Can I be the one You use?

[CHORUS]
I, I am small but
You, You are big enough
I, I am weak but
You, You are strong enough to
Take my dreams
Come and give them wings
Lord with You
Nothing I can not do
Nothing I cannot do

I wanna feed the hungry children
And reach across the farthest land
And tell the broken there is healing
And mercy in the Father's hands

[CHORUS]

Take my dreams
Come and give them wings
Lord with You
Nothing I cannot do
Nothing I cannot do

My hands my feet
My everything
My life, my love
Lord, use me

I wanna set the world on fire
I wanna set the world on fire, yeah

Take my dreams
Come and give them wings
Lord with You
Nothing I cannot do
Take my dreams
Come and give them wings
Lord with You
There's nothing I can't do
Nothing I can't do

I'm gonna set the world on fire
Set the world on fire


Now for something silly. In Google I looked up "Elisa Needs" and got some pretty crazy results. I don't remember where I heard about this, maybe from Angel? But I did it a couple years ago and got a good laugh. Here are my results:
  • Elisa needs rehab... (My problems aren't that serious...are they?)

  • Elisa needs an icon...

  • Elisa needs Vaughn to leave her alone so she can marry Rufus... (I just don't love you, Vaughn, so leave me alone!)

  • Elisa needs to shout a bit more... (I just shouted at Vaughn, isn't that enough?)

  • Elisa needs to feel safe, and she only knows how to ensure her safety by withdrawing into a solitary world where she maintains control...

  • Elise needs to be the perfect car...

  • Elise needs a HERO! (Will you be my hero?)

  • Elise needs a tan... (Well, that is true)

  • Elisa needs a sibling... (Mommy...?)

  • Elise needs a NA power plant...

  • Elise needs a friend... (Won't you please, won't you be...please, won't you be....my neighbor? Hello neighbor)

  • Elise needs to hire (or fire) a makeup artist... (Thanks a lot...)

  • Elise needs desperate help...

  • Elise needs a new buddy now that Sunny has left... (*sniff* I'll forever miss you Sunny...whoever you are...)

  • Elise needs to take a nap...
]]> 2008-01-03 22:20:28 2008-01-04 03:20:28 open Publish post 635620903 1 2008-01-04 09:42:00 2008-01-04 14:42:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1399555603 But, forget the sibling, Ethan is going to have to do.]]> 1 2008-01-04 13:20:00 2008-01-04 18:20:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1399608010 1 2008-01-04 13:21:00 2008-01-04 18:21:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1399608132 1 2008-01-04 16:06:00 2008-01-04 21:06:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1399624407 1 2008-01-05 13:34:00 2008-01-05 18:34:00 hotcupcake bounce@xanga.com http://hotcupcake.xanga.com/ 0 31012120 0 1399836720 bonjourelise Mon, 31 Dec 2007 09:15:14 -05:00     It has been a great Christmas.

    Yesterday we pretty much just lazed around. I had to wake up "early" (9 am, it is a holiday for heaven's sake) because I needed to get the yeast rolls started for dinner. So I made those and some sugar cookie dough, and put the bread dough to rise and the cookie dough to chill while I played around on the computer.

    Christmas Lunch/Dinner was at 3 pm. It was quite delicious. (now, should I make Angel super-happy and tell you all what we ate? Ok!) We had a glazed ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls and cooked carrots (are you happy Angel-dear?)

    That evening we went over to the Gibson's house for their Christmas Eve party. It was a blast. They filled their school-room table with delicious food. And everyone was in the Christmas Spirit (I feel like Charles Dickens). After a while we went outside to play hide and go seek. There were twelve of use kids, mostly over 12 years old so you can imagine how much fun it was. Even Hannah's 25 year old cousin, Meaghan played. I was really glad that she did. She's a lot of fun. So anyway, we played several games of that.
    At one point, Hannah, 'Bekah, Kaitlin, Meaghan and I hid in the old shed in the back. Jake and Billy passed by and saw us go in. They, being the mischievous, kniving, and -any other word I can think of - boys that they are, strolled over to the shed and LOCKED US IN! This may not seem like much to some people, but we were in a small space with 5 people, pretty far away from the house. On top of all of that, I'm a claustraphobic. We were seriously screaming for someone to help us. Finally, the doors open, and the two boys who were 'it' for that game (Zach and Isaac), took advantage of the situation and tagged us all. Wow. Later on Jake and Zach were teasing me, calling me 'Claustrophobic' girl and 'Claustro'. Ok, so other than being locked in the shed (which was rather exciting), we had tons of fun. There's nothing like running for your life in pitch-black woods with a crazed person behind you. Good times...

This morning was fun also. I love watching Ethan open his presents. We've been getting him so excited for Santa Claus, this morning when he woke up he was so nervous as he peeked around the corner to see if Santa left anything in his stocking. He was so shocked when he saw that his stocking was stuffed to bulging, just like magic . God really blessed us this year (doesn't He every year?). I have so many examples in my head of times when God gave us something unexpected and undeserved yet completely appreciated. A couple of days ago, I ran in to the Caswell Parish (the place where I used to be apprenticed), to see if they had any boxes that we could use for shipping. Those wonderful ladies, first of all made me feel super welcome with hugs and telling me how much they missed me. The rooms of the Parish were filled with Christmas donations. They gave me the boxes but before I left Mrs. Deborah ushered me into a room filled with toys. She then proceeded to fill the big boxes I was holding with toys for Ethan. He got toy cars, a train, a car transporter (which he has been wanting for a long time!). We were all touched by the kindness of those at the Parish and the undeserved blessings from God.



I got some wonderful gifts from the family. But most especially I was excited for everyone to open my gifts from them. I finally finished sewing Erin's apron on Saturday, and I so anticipated seeing her face when she opened it. She's been asking for one for a long time.



After opening presents mom made our traditional chip-beef gravy over toast. It sounds weird but it's actually really good. While we ate we played our new game, Apples to Apples.

Later on I watched "How to lose a Guy in 10 Days", and took a nice, long nap. Then for a last Christmas movie we watched Dicken's Christmas Carol.

God bless us, everyone. :)

Merry Christmas!
 
]]> 2007-12-25 23:10:45 2007-12-26 04:10:45 open Publish post 634118544 1 2007-12-26 14:50:00 2007-12-26 19:50:00 decemberflowers bounce@xanga.com http://decemberflowers.xanga.com/ 0 30051463 0 1397530782 1 2007-12-27 09:24:00 2007-12-27 14:24:00 a_friend_of_jesus bounce@xanga.com http://a-friend-of-jesus.xanga.com/ 0 22110316 0 1397698285 1 2007-12-29 13:50:00 2007-12-29 18:50:00 hoofprintz09 bounce@xanga.com http://hoofprintz09.xanga.com/ 0 22115334 0 1398224841 1 2007-12-31 18:07:00 2007-12-31 23:07:00 white_foggy_kleenex bounce@xanga.com http://white-foggy-kleenex.xanga.com/ 0 23927603 0 1398694145 bonjourelise Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:59:00 -05:00  Christmas will be here in 5 days. Can you believe it?

Trimming the Tree:

trimmingtree2

Benj fixing the lights on the tree. Something went wrong when we started and the tree lights wouldn't work. So Benj (with Ethan's "help") worked to try to fix them. Finally he did! They were beautiful.

trimmingtree1

Ethan "helping" find a loose or dead bulb.

ethanhelping

Ethan under the Christmas tree. So silly.

dorkymeanderin

This is Erin and I being super cheesy and posing for the camera as she hands me an ornament. Yeah...

 ethan

Ethan looking into the tree. I think it's the little kids who enjoy the tree the most. The lights, the ornaments, all of it ties together to make something magical.

  trimmingtree3

Showing Ethan how to hang the ornaments on the tree.

neonleon

Our church group went to Neon Leon's light show together and then afterward headed back to our house for hot chocolate and a movie. We had a ton of fun. 

I still have several presents to make before Christmas comes. I tried to make all of my presents, but ended up finding some cute things I wanted to buy for people, so it's a mixture. The weather is kind of chilly outside. I hope it snows. The clouds don't look very hopeful, though. The house is decorated very festively. I love going upstairs and opening our big pink tubs full of decorations. The smell of Christmas wafts out into the house. I try not to put too much emphasis on Chritmas Day, but instead try to enjoy the entire Christmas season. The decorating, the parties, the Christmas tree, those quiet moments, singing Christmas carols. I love all of that.

What's your favorite part of Christmas?

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2007-12-19 09:59:00 bonjourelise Sat, 08 Dec 2007 22:05:08 -05:00 December has crept upon us once again and *breaks out in song* it's beginning to look like Christmas!!!

Fallrain

This is a picture I took of our pond in the rain. Aren't the trees gorgeous?

Here are some pictures of life in the past month or so. In late November was Benjamin's birthday. We went to a GW High football game. Once of Benj's friends, Zach, plays on the team and that night was one of the playoffs. We had such a great time.

benjsbirthday

From left: Mitchell, Benj, Me and Hannah. Ha, I love Mitchel's face in this one, and Benj's too. Benj got distracted by a good football play, you can see it in his eyes. :)

benjbirthday2

Big smiles all around. It was cold that night, as you can see by our coats, hats, gloves, scarves and blankets.

cake  

Back at our house. Crazy people, crazy times, as I'm sure you can see.

uno

Uno...Ethan was so funny, he had his one little card and was trying to hide it from everyone, he wasn't quite sure what to think of this game.

risk

The next morning Isaac and Hannah got to stay a little longer than the rest of the guests (they're siblings). The four of us went 'exploring' in the woods, played on the rafts in the pond and then came back inside for a nice long game of risk. We ended up stopping the game early and Benj and Hannah were tied. Isaac and I seriously lost.

attack!

Obviously Isaac did something mean and Benj just HAD to get him back.

The Christmas Program:

elisaandhannah1

Hannah and I all dressed up for the Christmas Cantata.

elisahannahandstephanie

Hannah, Stephanie O. and I sang "I Believe" by Natalie Grant as a trio with different solos within.

christmasprogram

bennyandI

rachelelisaandlydia

Me, Rachel and Lydia.

pianoprep

Me preparing for my piano prelude. If you look closely you can see my mouth moving in silent prayer, I get so nervous when I play.

singing

Singing in the program.

sarahasmary

Stephanie's little sister Sarah played Mary in the Nativity. So cute!

sunset

This is the gorgeous sunset that God blessed me with the other day when I was babysitting. He is such an amazing artist. <3 PTL.

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2007-12-08 22:05:08 bonjourelise Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:18:59 -05:00 This is a passage from some notes in my Bible. I saw it the other day and felt moved to post it.

"Paul Harvey tells a modern parable about a religious skeptic who worked as a farmer. One raw winter night the man heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched as tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.
Touched, the farmer bundled up and trudged through fresh snow to open the barn door for the struggling birds. He turned on the lights and tossed some hay in a corner. But the sparrows, which had scattered in all directions when he emerged from the house, hid in the darkness, afraid.
The man tried various tactics to get them into the barn. He laid down a trail of Saltine cracker crumbs to direct them. He tried circling behind the birds to drive them toward the barn. Nothing worked. He, a huge alien creature, had terrified them; the birds couldn't comprehend that he actually desired to help them.
The farmer withdrew to his house and watched the doomed sparrows through a window. As he stared, a thought hit:

If only I could become a bird - one of them - for just a moment. Then I wouldn't frighten them so. I could show them the way to warmth and safety.
At the same moment, another thought dawned on him. He had grasped the reason Jesus was born."

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2007-11-25 19:18:59 Thanksgiving Memories bonjourelise Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:09:58 -05:00 THE RULES:

-If you're tagged you have to mention 10 quick Thanksgiving memories from yesterday.

-Tag other ppl

-After being tagged be sure to copy and paste the rules into your profile.

1. Playing in the leaves with Benj

2. Singing "For the Beauty of the Earth" as a song of Thanksgiving with the whole family

3. Watching the Walton's and eating cran-berry pecan pie. YUM!

4. Listening to the Christmas radio station for the first time this year. Feliz Navidad!

5. Watching the Thanksgiving Parade on TV.

6. The windy storm right before dinner

7. Going to bed at 12, sharing the full sized, lumpy couch bed with Erin AND Ethan, and only sleeping for about 4 1/2 hours before being awakened for some early morning shopping!

8. Learning Auntie Phee's favorite hymn, "In My Heart There Rings a Melody" and hearing her sing as I play the piano.

9. Spending time with David and Jackie and seeing their wedding pictures

10. Benj and I driving for 30 minutes all over Yancevyille after dark searching for a Danville newspaper so we could get the ads for the Black Friday shopping. Let me tell you, there are NO Danville Newspapers in Yanceyville on Thanksgiving Day after dark.

Good Times. I have lots of pictures from Thanksgiving that I plan on posting also.

If you read this consider yourself TAGGED! I'm sorry to be a party pooper but I think dinner is ready and I have to go. I hope everyone had a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

 

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2007-11-24 17:09:58 bonjourelise Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:23:29 -05:00

The Purity of Men
By Aiden Humphrey-Bungum

 

Dear Ladies;

I just wanted to take a moment to let you know what a good thing you do when you choose to dress modestly. Christian men can boldly ask Father for help with any problem; but we drag our feet when we need help to overcome lust. Our God is a wonderful Father, He is the Daddy every boy dreams of. It is a man's foremost and sweetest privilege to be one with his Daddy, his Abba, his Father in heaven. How natural it is to turn to Him for every little thing. But how unnatural to turn to the Holy One with the flame of lust.

Not surprisingly, then, one of the world's commonest ways of putting a wedge between a child of God and his Father is to encourage women to dress immodestly. Even after we shut our eyes in prayer, Dear Father, the lurid images linger on, You are Holy, strong and deep drives kick into gear; and so must I be holy, Images replay themselves automatically; this prayer is unworthy of you, forgive me, the man of God, shamed as a beast, lifts his head and says, "I'll ask Him later."

God turned away,

He could not look down on His Son,

Who had become a curse.

Jesus cried,

"My God, My God, why hast Thou Forsaken Me?"

Men are accountable to God to treat women with purity in their hearts. "I am holy," says the Lord. "Be ye holy," says the Lord. How keenly we men sense our lust, and how keenly we sense our Father's holiness, and how keenly we sense our separation from Him. When you choose to dress to impress the Lord, instead of to hook a man's eye, you minister to one of man's deepest needs; the need he has for his Father.

You ladies who choose to dress in this fashion have my highest respect. You have my gratitude; may my Father richly bless you for loving Him enough to respect those He made in His image.

© Copyright 2002-2007 by LAF/BeautifulWomanhood.org

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

Colosians 3:12

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2007-11-06 19:23:29 bonjourelise Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:54:23 -04:00 We won 2nd Place in the Volleyball Tournament yesterday!

It was so awesome! We did better this season that any other season in Storm volleyball history.

GO STORM!

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2007-10-21 21:54:23 bonjourelise Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:44:53 -04:00  Ok, well I finally got to posting pictures! I'm sorry they are a little out of order but I only have so much time and really wanted to post all of these. I even ended up having to use two posts instead of just one because my computer was acting up. BUT...they are here. So please sit back and enjoy!

Camp was amazing...

- making new friends - spending time with old friends - everyone cuddling around the campfire - singing hymns - the starry nights - capture the flag after dark - the hike - the view - the fun times - the laughter - the good food - the blue eyes - In Christ Alone - playing piano - doing each other's hair for the tea party - ultimate frisbee - skit night! - sweet spirits - encouragement ministry class - the scavenger hunt - water color class - basketmaking -

I was so blessed that week!

marygrace

Mary-Grace, a super cute younger girl from my cabin. She had so much personality!

thehike

On the hike up to the top of the mountain. From the left (looking at the camera) Rachel, Meredith and Joy. All of those girls were in my cabin and always so super nice.

sweet

The girls from my cabin all dressed up for Friday Night's tea party. From left: Rebecca, my other counselor Michelle, Anna, Joy, Rachel, Johanna, Meredith, Bethany and Brooke. So sweet!

crazy!

Not to mention just a tad bit crazy.

swinging2

Saturday morning almost time to go. Bethany, Rachel and Meredith (two super sweet sisters) spending some spare moments on the swing outside our cabin.

theteaparty

The tea party! Starting with me and going back to the end of the table and back to the front: Me (of course), Karlyn, Michelle, Rachel, Joy and Amanda.

theview1

*Sigh* the view. Isn't it beautiful? The camp was called Mountain Top Youth Camp, and boy was it mountain top. Can you see the shadow that the clouds cast upon the ground?

 theviewfromthetop

This is actually the view from the tip top of the mountain after our hike. Of course the picture doesn't do it justice.

timetogo

All of our bags ready to go on Saturday morning! So sad!

upontheporch

"Hello down there!" A couple of us girls hangin' out on a balcony.

 

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2007-10-21 21:44:53 bonjourelise Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:46:20 -04:00 More pictures!

cabin-1

Yes, I was in Cabin #1

Bethany

Bethany :)

bethanyandI

Me and a different Bethany eating outside on the porch. As you can tell from our thick hoodies and red noses it was COLD that day. The weather there was so strange. The first half of the week it was so hot I wished I'd brought some more t-shirts, the second half was so cold I wished that I'd brought more hoodies and warm pants!

breakfast

Caitlin being silly. Hannah is on her left (turning away) and Bethany on the right. I was so sad that none of my friends were in my cabin, but I ended up making some good friends in good ole cabin 1.

caitlin-dear

I know Caitlin is going to absolutely LOVE me for putting this picture on the world wide web. Love you to Caity-poo. <3

GraceandRebeckah

Grace and Rebeckah Hendry. They came with their mom on Friday, she was the speaker for that day's session.

lunchontheporch

Lunch on the porch. We loved eating out there. The view was breathtaking! From left on the first row: Kayleigh, Rachel M., Beth Nell and Karlyn. The back row from left are: Bethany and Samantha.

sunset

The gorgeous sunset as seen from the porch.

sunset2

Another pretty sunset.

KayleighandI

Kayleigh and I. She was in my cabin.

meandrachel

Rachel H.and I. She and I had a blast together. We were in watercolors and encouragment ministry class together.

meandrebecca

Rebecca B. and I. She was also in my cabin, she was so nice and fun.

flowers

We had to paint this in watercolors.

picture

Here is my unpainted attempt. 

rachel

Rachel on the hike. Candid Camera!

rachelandjoy

From left: Joy and Rachel, they are sisters and both from my cabin.

rebeckahandherart

Rebeckah and her art. She drew that in like 10 minutes while Mrs. Hendry told us a story about it during the "Chalk Talk" on Friday.

Stephanie

My counselor Stephanie all dressed up for the tea party on Friday.

Johanna

Johanna at the tea party. She was so kind and such a blessing to have in my cabin! I am so glad to have met her!

Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."

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2007-10-21 21:25:24 bonjourelise Sun, 14 Oct 2007 22:59:10 -04:00 Daughters of Destiny camp was amazing. I will post pictures soon, I have near 150 to choose from.

Kimberly and Zackary are coming tomorrow and are staying for a week!

Volleyball tournament on Saturday!

A much longer post coming hopefully tomorrow.

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2007-10-14 22:59:10 bonjourelise Sat, 08 Sep 2007 12:41:55 -04:00
Volleyball: This season is my 3rd year of Storm home-school volleyball. It's been quite an experience and each year is so different! My first year I was just trying to get my serves over the net and figure out how to pass the ball over the net without hitting it way out of bounds, I had no idea how to set or overhand serve. My second year, we started without a coach and a couple of the moms and my sister, Erin, helped out until Mrs. Clayton became our coach. I struggled with my overhand serve and still had a lot of work to do on everything else. However, Mrs. Clayton must have seen some potential through all of my mistakes and mishaps and she made me team captain. I was super excited at first and even a little nervous from all the responsibility that came along with the title. The pressure grew when I realized that one of the girls absolutely hated me because of being captain and she did everything she could to make me feel insignificant and small. The year ended with Coach Clayton in Guatemala in the process of adopting two adorable babies and the rest of us coming in third place at the State Tournament. Year 3: This is the year still in progress. Thankfully, Mrs. Clayton is coach again and helping her is Mrs. Taylor, the associate pastor's wife of my old church. We are working on new rotations 6-2 and 4-2. The majority of the girls can overhand serve. Caitlin R. and I are setters. And we have several new players, which is awesome. Mrs. Clayton asked me to be captain this year and Hannah M. to be co-captain. We have so much fun in practice. Everyone seems to get along really well. Last night we won our first game!! It was so exciting! We've worked really hard and it hasn't been easy getting used to the rotations and such. Please be in prayer for us as we continue playing that we will work together as a team and that our attitudes will be Christlike in all that we do.

School: At this point Volleyball takes up a large piece of my life (I have either practice or a game on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays) and I work two days a week so I don't have too many subjects at this point. I'm in Algebra 1 and 2 (it's kind of mixed) which I highly dislike but must be done, Chemistry with dad (which is fun), Bible (I'm doing a Beth Moore study on Daniel which is very fascinating) and office (which is the same as my work). I do the best I can to fit it all in my schedule but gone is the time when I didn't have to do school on Saturdays, the Science test needs to be studied for and if Saturday is the only day I have availible then so be it. Speaking of which I do have a test that needs studying and I'm kind of behind on my Daniel study so I better hurry and finish this post and get to work!

Work: I work Mondays and Wednesdays from 9-1 in the morning/afternoon at the Parish. I'm basically the gopher who does the things that no one else has time for. My mom spoke to the Executive Director of the Parish (who also happens to be a friend of ours, I'm her babysitter) about me working there and how it would be part of my school so instead of taking an office course at the community college I take a real life "course" at the Parish. Anna Lisa (the executive director) has taught me lots of things regarding office. I've taken inventories, used excel for many different forms, learned about sales tax etc. It's certainly been an experience I don't think I'll ever forget.

Church: Ah, church, my sweet little country church with the white steeple and stained glass windows. I love going there. The pastors son's: Richard, Johnathan, Benjamin and my brother, Ben and I have started a praise band there. Two Sundays ago we played a medley for the intro and also led the congregation in a singing round for the Special Music. I sometimes play the piano for the service which has really been great, I don't get as nervous as I used to when I have to play. We have a great youth group, a great pastor and great people. We have Youth on a Mission and Youth Choir on Sunday nights and a Genesis Study for youth on Wednesday nights. Erin, Mom and I go to a Ladies Bible study on Monday nights and Women on a Mission once a month on Monday nights.

Life: Well, there's my update, as you can see life's been pretty crazy lately, but isn't that how it is for all of us? It must be a rule somewhere that when you hit 11th grade life just goes bizerk until you retire.

I'll leave you with a verse that I remember for volleyball:
    "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power..."
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2007-09-08 12:41:54 bonjourelise Wed, 19 Mar 2008 23:14:41 -04:00

Ok, so I have been officially tagged by Mary:

Here it goes:

The Rules:

1. I have to post the rules before I give the facts.
2. Each player starts with 10 random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their 10 things) and post these rules. (**If you're a non-blogger, you can email them!)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to chose 10 people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog

The Facts:

1. Single hairs seriously gross me out. If there's a hair in my food, I gag and can't eat it anymore. If there's a hair on me (especially on wet hands) I freak out.

2. I play Volleyball and love it!

3. I love Caramel Frappacuinos!!

4. I'm afraid of being upside down. So I've never been able to dive or do somersaults (sad...huh?).

5. I love to make up random sayings with my friends. At camp last year they made an Elisa Dictionary of all the silly (and often stupid) sayings that I've said.

6. My middle finger (on my left hand if you're wondering) is four inches long

7. A couple years ago my I broke my second toe on my right foot and the toe completely bent over my big toe. I got it fixed but my toe is still rather deformed and crosses over my big toe when I bend them.

8. I have braces with pink bands and white elastics. Next time I think I'll get the same because I really like the color against my teeth. (hey...you said random)

9. On both feet my second toe is longer than my first, and the second toe is 2 inches long. (wow I'm really stuck on the toe thing...)

10. I absolutely adore thunder storms. Especially at night. (I'm sure Charity agrees with me)

Ok, I'll tag: Alex, Ben, Mom, Kimberly, Brandi, Mrs. Rauscher, Bethany, Caitlin, Jen and Maddi.

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2007-08-28 09:21:33 bonjourelise Wed, 15 Aug 2007 22:33:36 -04:00 Then I went to volleyball practice. It was pretty intense that day. The air conditioning wasn't working too well and I think it kind of made everyone a little irritable. But we got some good practice in and we're really improving on our rotations. Then after practice Catherine picked me up to go to Hannah's house for a little Bible Study. It was so much fun seeing Catherine drive. She was so cute and mature with her big sunglasses and little brown heels. Well, we got to Hannah's house and she, being the amazing hostess that she is, had offered to let me take a shower which was great since I was really gross and sweaty. I got out of the shower and opened the door and Catherine was standing there with a guilty/mischievous grin on her face. So I said, "Oh - Hi." She just smiled, looked suspiciously at Hannah's door and said, "Would you like some lemonade?" So she served me some lemonade and chit-chatted while I suspiciously sipped my lemonade. Later we went into Hannah's room to smell her loose tea (don't ask). Hannah was in front of me showing me the tea and Catherine was behind me. Hannah would be talking to me and then look at Catherine behind me and mouth something or look confused. Finally Catherine blurted, "Go light it up!" So, laughing, Hannah left to go "light it up" and Catherine and I stayed in Hannah's room reading her stories on her computer. Hannah came back in and they both ran into the kitchen with me following. I walked in and there was a lovely, heart shaped  decorated cake that said, "Happy 16th, Elise!". And Catherine and Hannah sang to me, slowly at first and then they saw that the candles were melting really fast so they finished off the song really fast. I was laughing so hard I couldn't blow out the candles! And Catherine was yelling at me to quickly blow them out before the candles melted all over the cake which made me laugh even more. It was so special and fun! They gave me a sweet card and a lovely framed picture of a pretty maiden in a lovely garden. We drank tea, at cake and ice cream and just talked for a little bit. Then Catherine had a little story she wrote for us about Hospitality and we had a very nice Bible Study. It was very lovely and refreshing to hang out with them and talk about spiritual things. Then Catherine took me back to her house where my mom was supposed to pick me up but ended up being a little late. While Mrs. Wilson and my mom were talking Catherine, Benj and I threw whiffle balls at each other. You should-a heard those things whistle! Catherine and I were on a team and Benj had a rake trying to fend us off. We had such a blast!!

Then let's see...today I just kind of hung around the house. I did math, cut out quilt squares, listened to a talk on CD, worked on crochet, watched Auto-B-good with Ethan and worked on planning the VB sleepover. Then tonight we had Bible Study at church. It was so much fun!! Mrs. Bonnie did a great job teaching us she always takes time to make things extra interesting and gives us things to look at (for the visual learners like me). Afterwards we played Sardines and football. Good times...:)

Anyway, now I'm off to bed to be ready for another super-busy day tomorrow!! I love you all!
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2007-08-15 22:33:36 My Sweet 16 Birthday! bonjourelise Thu, 09 Aug 2007 11:00:13 -04:00 Yesterday was my birthday. Everyone was so kind and worked so hard to make it special for me. My birthday celebration actually started on Monday. We have a group from our church called Women on a Mission, of which Mom, Erin and I are members. On Monday instead of our regular meeting the ladies met at the mexican resturaunt in Danville by the mall. It was very fun. We didn't go for my birthday, just for fellowship. However, mom told one of the waiters that it was my birthday. After we were done eating dinner (I had yummy chicken fajitas) I was startled by a sound behind me and before I knew it one of the waiters was putting a sombrero on my head and handing me a crispy tortillia covered with butter, cinnoman and whipped cream. They sang happy birthday to me in Spanish. It was so embarassing! All the ladies said my face was so red! It was fun, though. Mrs. Bradner (the president of our WOM club) held a little raffle for a gift basket, Mrs. Wright actually won but she was so kind and gave me the gift basket for my birthday. It was a lovely evening.
Then, yesterday mom and Erin gave me breakfast in bed (a family tradition). They made French toast and Mom arranged a little vase of flowers for my bedside table. It was very pretty.  Another  birthday tradition in our family is that the birthday girl or boy doesn't have to do any chores on their birthday (only clean up their own messes) so I was free to enjoy my day doing whatever I wanted to. I had an orthodontist appointment in Greensboro and usually after the appt. we go to Barnes and Noble to get coffee and read books. Mom was going to buy me a frapacuinno but the cafe was closed. I also got several e-cards and birthday cards from friends and family. Stephanie called to wish me a Happy Birthday and my Great Auntie Phee also called to sing Happy birthday to me. It was very special. Then that night  we had Bible Study at church. There were less people than usual. I had already talked to mom and dad and we had decided (or so I thought) that I wasn't going to get a birthday cake on the 8th, because I would get one at my party in a couple of weeks. So I wasn't expecting anything when Erin and Ethan arrived through the side door of the kitchen when the study was almost over. Then after we were finished with the Bible Study Mrs. Bonnie led everyone in singing happy birthday to me. It was so fun. I think it must have been to much for the guys because they started wrestling with each other during the song and pushing each other down. lol. Then Mom pulled out two cakes a chocolate one that said (in pink icing) "Happy Birthday Elisa" and a yellow cake which said "Sweet 16" with two little pink flowers on the sides. Benj had made and decorated them while we were at my orthodontist appointment! So we ate cake and the adult choir came in from practicing and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. It was such a nice surprise. So that was my birthday. Now I am 16.
]]> 2007-08-09 11:00:13 bonjourelise Sat, 04 Aug 2007 17:50:19 -04:00
Well, Benj has been gone for 2 weeks. He went to Tennessee for a mini-mester at a Christian college down there. He only called us twice (both times only asking for money) so I'm pretty sure he had a good time.

Anyway, I think they just got back (from picking up Benj) so I'm going to run downstairs to say hi.

Tootles!





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2007-08-04 17:50:19 bonjourelise Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:28:26 -04:00 Hey everyone. Finally time to post about camp. It's been a while, I know, but my crazy computer only let me download like 2 pictures at a time so I'll just show you what I have so far.

 girlies

Me and Caitlin on skit night.

breakfast

Breakfast!

emmaandsinclaire

Two super-sweet girls from my cabin: (from left) Emma and Sinclaire

modesty-monday

Caitlin and I on modesty Monday. Your goal was to show as little skin as possible. Wow we look really great.

Camp was really great. I took a CIT (counselor in training) class so hopefully I'll be going back either next week or next May. I had a great time with my old friends and made some new friends. Wednesday's worship was really amazing. The speaker was very insightful. It was very cold (surprisingly) and for two days we all wore pants and jackets and slept shivering under the covers. Other than that (and a couple of overly-competative boys) it was great! God certainly blessed me with a good week.

I won't be on the computer all week because starting tomorrow I'm taking one week off of computer. It'll be hard but I can do it. :) Have a great week everyone.

Love,

Elisa

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2007-06-26 11:28:26 bonjourelise Fri, 01 Jun 2007 10:58:27 -04:00 This week was so crazy. On Thursday evening I babysat until 11:30 pm. It was so easy and fun. I got there around 7 and the kids and I played outside for a while, then they went to bed at 8:30. After that I just watched movies and lazed around. It was fun!

On Friday morning Benj, Erin and I went to the NCHE homeschool conference. I went to some great classes. One of them was called "The Real Beauty Workshop". When I first heard that I imagined that someone was going to go up on stage and start telling me about how my true beauty comes from the inside etc. etc. That's wonderful stuff, but that's not what they talked about in this class. The speaker, Shari Braendel talked about modesty, your colors (kind of like the seasons thing), body shape and make-up. It was so much fun! I went to other workshops too and looked around in the book fair. Benj bought me a coffee at Starbucks. We had a very nice (and busy!) day. We had to leave early, though, we zoomed home (1 1/2 hour drive) to quickly change and grab a bite to eat before Erin, mom and I went to our Beth Moore Bible Study with the ladies of our church.We got home a little late and I went straight to bed.

Saturday morning Erin and I went to the conference again. I purchased some music at the book-fair. A patriotic piece and a music book/cd with tons of classical songs on it. At lunch she and I talked to a 25ish year old Mennonite man and asked him some questions about his denomination. He was very bubbly (can I use that word to describe a guy?). I normally imagine a mennonite as someone standing in the corner quietly with their hands in their pockets but he was very friendly. We left kind of early because we were super tired and there weren't any classes that we really wanted to go to. At home I only got a 30 minute nap before I went outside to help Dad and Benj fix up the fire-pit for our party on Monday. After about an hour or so I went inside and made a tart for the Keepers Banquet and got freshened up. The Keepers Banquet was wonderful. This may be my last year as a Keeper, but the leaders asked me if I could teach a couple of projects next year. I'm looking forward to it! For those of you who don't know, Keepers is a club where young ladies get together and learn different crafts and homemaking skills. I love it. We at a potluck and had some nice fellowship. The leaders passed out badges and certificates and we Keepers quoted our scripture memory: Matthew 6. It was a very nice evening.
Ah, but the evening doesn't end there! We left pretty soon after the banquet ended and Benj and I changed into our swing dancin' clothes and headed over to Catherine's Sweet 16 birthday party! We were late (because of the banquet) so when we got there they were all playing the limbo. I seriously lost. lol. The rest of the night was filled with swing dancing, water balloons, laughter and tons of fun! I wish I'd gotten pictures, but just take my word for it, we had a blast!

Sunday was church, very relaxing. I took a nap. God definitely knew what He was doing when He appointed a day of rest for us. We need it!

Monday morning we got ready for our Memorial Day potluck! We had invited the entire church. Benj and I had to put up this tent/net thing which took forever, we gathered food, swept porches and cleaned the house until about 2. Dad and I played horseshoes for a little while, then the Sawyers came and we all went down to the pond for a swim. Soon more people came, by the end of the day we had the Sawyers, Gibsons, O'Mally's, Wrights and the Stiles'. We had previously built some rafts to float in our pond and the kids put these to good use. We played king/queen of the raft. It was SO much fun! I have so many bruises on my legs and arms, but it was worth it. We had dinner, good fellowship, and lots of laughs! To soon people started to leave and finally the Gibson kids, the O'Mally kids and the Abele kids sat around the campfire just talking (all the s'more stuff was long gone). After a while the Gibsons left and Benj got his guitars. Stephanie, Kevin and Benj all played guitar under the stars. Good times. The afternoon was such a blessing from the Creator, He knows His children crave fellowship with other Christians, and He has certainly given it to us in abundance!

On Tuesday, around 7 (after the morning meeting) Erin got a call that her chicks had arrived at the post office in Hillsboro. I said I'd go with here, so there we were, barely out of our pajamas driving for 30 minutes to pick up some chicks. They are so cute. Ethan absolutely loved seeing them. I'll post some videos later. We taught him how to gently pick them up and he's been doing a great job

Thursday was volleyball practice. The first part of practice (the conditioning) is always the hardest. After a few minutes, though, my adrenaline was pumping and I was ready to go! We worked hard! I love practice, though. Those girls are awesome. After practice we were going to take Stephanie home and we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. The Rauschers and the Claytons arrived too! Fun! We stayed there for like 1 1/2 hours just talking and eating.

Well, that was pretty much my week! My cup runneth over with wonderful friends, family and good times.

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2007-06-01 10:58:26 bonjourelise Sun, 20 May 2007 16:30:20 -04:00 The graduation was yesterday, I had a really great time. I love seeing dear friends that I haven't seen in a while. I wish I'd taken pics, but I didn't bring my camera. Good times with Angel, too.

ethan2   

Isn't he cute?

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2007-05-20 16:30:20 bonjourelise Tue, 08 May 2007 19:10:36 -04:00 Well, this morning some dear friends of ours who live down the street moved to Georgia. I taught 4 of the children piano lessons. Yesterday, Erin and I went down to their house to help them pack, there was a lot to do! We packed 3 bedrooms (that were very full), a hallway, a couple of random shelves, the office and the kitchen. It was a bittersweet day, of course, since they would be leaving, but we still had fun. Their friend Mrs. Gene was there, she's very nice. She brought a yummy dinner, and all 13 of us sat around a small table eating tuna noodle casserole and gelatin salad while listening to Jessica's dad and Mrs. Gene talk about their trips to Europe. They are one amazing family. The kids are so obedient, sweet, well-behaved, polite and fun. Jessica (their mom) grew up in Lousiana and was a nanny in Europe for a while. Her husband, Mallory, grew up as in a large missionary family in Brazil. I'm certainly going to miss them. But thankfully, Erin and I are going to drive down to Georgia sometime this summer for a couple weeks, which will be fun. :)

This morning Benj, mom and I went to Alamance community college to get a tour and some information on dual enrollment. It looks really nice, like a real university. I know some of you might bristle at this, but it's way nicer than PCC. Then we had brunch at Cracker Barrel and headed home. I did school and mowed the lawn. There's nothing that makes you feel more country than sitting on the top of a John Deere with Sweet Home Alabama blaring through your i-pod. :)

Ta-ta, till we meet again my dah-lings.

 

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2007-05-08 19:10:36 bonjourelise Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:58:16 -04:00 Temples of the Lord

By Elisabeth Doornink

"Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." 
1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Two temples stood in the Valley of the Lord. They had been built in a fine way, every beam beautifully hewn, with every stone gently and exactly placed. The workmanship was seamless, the building materials fine. White marble ornamented the front façade, and beams of cedar held up the roof. Nothing could be said about their defects in build, for they had none. They were beautiful, perfect in the eyes of their Architect.

But there was one distinction. The caretakers of each temple, while both served the Lord of the Valley, had adorned them vastly unalike.

The caretaker of the first temple hung fine, light-colored tapestries on the walls, beautiful in weave, and not a tear could be found on them. Fine plants grew around the walls, and not a weed could be seen. The paint was fresh, and the roof was recently cleaned. The floor was neatly scrubbed. Wonderful words of praise came through the doors, and when evil sounds passed by, the windows were shut. Nothing evil passed near the temple and entered it, for it was barred by the owner.

The caretaker of the second temple let briars grow up around the temple, that being the style in those days. The tapestries that hung on the walls were dark, cheap, and full of holes. The paint was gaudy and peeling. The roof had moss growing on it, and the floor was muddy. Words of spite and cursing came through the doors, and when sounds of evil passed by, the windows were thrown open. Evil things passed by, and while most of them left, some of them were allowed in. Stark and ugly paintings sprawled across the walls.

Each temple plan had been made by the Lord of the Valley, and he had built them. But when the caretaker of the first temple had adorned his, he strove to decorate it in a fashion which was honoring and glorifying to the Lord of the Valley. The second caretaker had simply decorated like the temples out of the Valley of the Lord, not striving to adorn the temple in a way honoring of the Lord he served. Both of the owners served the Lord of the Valley but cared for their temples very differently.

One wanted to glorify his Master; one wanted to be the way the world wanted him to be.

These temples are vastly different. Is your temple most like the first or the second? With which do you think Lord of the Valley would be more pleased with?

Is it more important to be please the world or to please the Master?

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"
1 Corinthians 6:19

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2007-04-30 19:52:29 bonjourelise Sun, 22 Apr 2007 21:09:53 -04:00 cute3

cute2

cute1

My Adorable nephew is in Georgia this weekend. I miss him! :)

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2007-04-22 21:09:53 bonjourelise Sun, 15 Apr 2007 09:24:14 -04:00 I've decided to finally post! Nothing much has happened since the Senate Page Program, and those pictures aren't on this computer so I decided to post pictures from Hannah's Birthday party.

charityandhannah

Wow, Charity...love the expression!

closeup!

Close-up of Caitlin...and me making a strange face in the background

sillygirls!

Crazy girls!

taboo

Caitlin and Bethany playing Taboo

caitandelise

Well, that's all for today. :) Love to you all!

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bonjourelise Sun, 25 Mar 2007 19:22:58 -04:00 This past weekend my church youth group went down to a small town just out of Wilmington to do some mission work. Last November, at 6 am there was a category 3 tornado that tore through the town, flattening sub-divisions and killing many unexpecting victims. Our group left on Thursday evening and drove 5 hours to our destination. At first Hannah (Gibson) and I rode with some relatively annoying little boys, then after our dinner stop we begged my totally cool brother (he asked me to write that part) Benj to let us ride with him instead. We ended up having a ton of fun with him, Mithchel and Brennon in their van.

On Friday our work consisted of raking dirt (to smooth out all of the dirt piles), planning gardens, planting plants, covering the gardens with plastic and then putting mulch on top of that. We also put plastic under the porches to catch water. It was nice and cool under those porches, so usually after we were done putting down the plastic we would all lay down and rest until we were called to do something else. On Friday we raked and shoveled gravel on their paths and driveways until it was 4 inches deep all around. Then right before lunch we picked up some trash that had come from the houses. I found some pieces of plates, some children's coloring pages and a page of the Bible.

metalintree IMG_2969

Left: a piece of metal that had pierced through a tree. Right: My dad's work team, from left: Brennon, Mitchell, Ben, Isaac and my Dad.

the team

This is our team. It's pretty blurry, but let's see if I can idenify everyone. Left Back row: Nathan, Mr. Hacking, Brennen, Mitchell, Nick, Ben, Mr. Hammock, Mr. Sawyer (i.e. the slave driver ), Pastor Wright. Kneeling Middle Row: Me, Mrs. Vernon, Hannah, Isaac, Richard and Cody. Front: Mrs. Hopkins, Mrs. Hacking, Rebecca, Benjamin, Matt, Jonathan, Daniel and my Dad.

I have some funny stories to tell too, but they'd only be funny if I told you in person. I'll just say that the weekend was full of fun times and laughter. God has blessed me with some dear friends in my new youth group.

God certainly blessed this mission trip. You always hear, "I went on the mission trip to bless others, but ended up being blessed myself!" And it sounds a little silly, but I've gotta tell you, it's true.

Well, I won't be posting or commenting for a while, I'm going to the Senate Page Program tomorrow and I won't get back till Thursday. So I hope you all have a good week.

 

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2007-03-25 19:22:58 Interesting Tid-bits of my life: bonjourelise Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:04:01 -04:00 Hello again, I've had a very interesting last couple of days. And I'd like to share with you a two interesting stories of my life:

The Hair-Catching Experience

Last Friday Erin and I had gone to Danville to go shopping for the Senate Page Program. I went into the Christian Bookstore to get a Brio magazine and while I was standing in line I saw Catherine walking out the door. She was walking so fast, and by the time I saw her, and was sure that it was her she was gone. :( Anyway, later we got a burger and went to Marshalls. (Catherine, did you go to that Subway by Marshalls on Friday? 'Cause I think I may have seen you in there...) Erin wanted to run into Wachovia to pay her car payment, and Ethan and I were going to wait in the car while Ethan finished his burger. I started to crave my Reeses that was in the trunk in Erin's car, so I popped the trunk and ran around to the back of the car to get it. I bent over and grabbed the Reeses. As I began to stand up I felt a tug on my hair. I jerked it...jerk...jerk...what is going on? My hair was caught (very tightly) on the trunk door lid/latch thing! I reached up and tried to untangle it, but to no avail. Here I was in a rather busy parking lot, with my hair caught tightly and me struggling to release it. Erin was a ways across the parking lot so I called to her and she walked back (laughing at me all the way) and came and untangled me. It was aweful! However, the taste of chocolatey peanut butter consoled me. :)

Pronounced: Dead...ALIVE?!?

The other day mom cleaned out the fish tank, but wasn't sure how to get them out of the tank. (she had just had her surgery a couple of days before) So she poured the fish into a different bowl and set the bowl by the sink as she proceeded to clean out the tank. Seeing that she just had surgery, she started to feel tired and lay on the couch to take a nap. About an hour later, mom asked Erin to put the fish in the tank and Erin saw that there were only 2 fish in the bowl (we had three). She looked around for the missing fish and...alas...there he was (Carrots was his name), lying in the sink drain. Erin prounounced him dead, and put the other fish into the tank and took it to place it on the table. About this time, my curiosity got the best of me, so, using the back of the spoon I prodded the fish a bit to see what would happen. He flapped his fins and wiggled his tail. I screamed and jumped back. After a little bit of chaos ("Elisa...put him in the water" "I can't...it's freaky" "Put it in the bowl!" "Nooo!") I put the fish into the bowl of dirty fish water. He survived! Carrots is a little scratched up, but alive and well. I feel like calling It's a Miracle and Miracle Pets. Hehe...

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2007-03-21 19:02:00 bonjourelise Sat, 17 Mar 2007 10:48:54 -04:00 Hi everyone! Thank you all for praying for my mom, her surgery went really well and now she's home getting whatever she wants. :) Everyone has been so wonderful bringing us meals (they have all been delicious! thank you!).

I decided to finally post Florida pics!! :)

In the Car:

sunrise  

3psychos 7

Benj and I look like we escaped from an insane asylum in the middle pic, and I look like a cartoon character with a humungous forhead in the picture on the left.

6 5 4

8

These pics were taken only after like 4 or 5 hours of driving!

South of the Border:

15

13 12

11

The picture above is one of my favorites.

14

Who but my brother?

This is one of my favorite pics :)

10

Get 'm hippo!

After all this driving we finally reached Florida. I decided that I love Florida. It's so pretty! We stopped at a little orange store and walked through the orchard and bought a lot of oranges and some fresh squeezed orange juice.

17

18 16

The next day we visited the Semchucks. I have known them since, well, probably since I was born. When I went to Private School in Utah, the Semchucks went to. They moved to Florida about the same time we moved to NC.

semchucks

From Left: Sam, Ben, Sherry, Grace and Sarah
We had such a nice time with them. I felt so welcome and comfortable. We went to their huge church for youth group that night, it was a blast!

The next day (Monday) I finally met my Aunt and cousins:

Denver anthony

The left picture is of Denver (he's 8) and on the right is Anthony (13).

angelandmary angel2

This is my cousin Mary (she's the mom of Denver and Anthony) and her daughter Angel. Angel did look like a real angel, so pretty in her cute little pink dress and blonde curls. We went to the Gulf of Mexico and when she stepped into the water she held up her little skirt so it wouldn't get wet. :) The Gulf was really neat. It definitely wasn't like the Atlantic (there were very few, little waves). It was very pretty, with the white sand and palm trees. The boys (Denver and Anthony), Benj and I played a football game on the beach, that was fun. After that we went to Pizza Hut where we were able to get to know everyone, Anthony and Denver are funny guys. I'm glad they're my cousins. :)

angel

Pretty Angel.

We drove up to Jacksonville that evening and visited my other cousin, Tiffany and her husband and chidren. The two girls, Desire and Summer were really nice, everyone was! We played ping-pong, pool and other fun games on their little table. I think I connected more with Desire, she and I just laughed and laughed. :)

The next day we drove home! But on the way we stopped at the Atlantic ocean. When I saw it I thought, "ahh...this is what an ocean is supposed to look like". Crashing waves, seagulls...

momanddad

1 lovebirds

I call the picture on the right, the Love Birds. I was running around taking pictures and I look over and there's my parents, aww... :)

BenjaminandElisaAtlanticOcean

Benj and I ran from the waves.

Then we went to a gorgeous state park where Benj was chasing me on the beach. He said I ran farther than he thought I could before getting tired, "I didn't know you were so in shape." He said, I'm wondering...is that a compliment or should I be offended? :)

Then we stopped in Savannah, Georgia. What a beautiful town! We went to the historic district and walked around. We went into a candy shop, where I tasted the most delicious praline! And then we went to lunch where I tasted my first tuna steak, I think I might be in love...with fish. Hm...not good. But it was great spending time with the family. The drive home seemed much longer than the drive there...but we finally returned home. It's great to go, but it's always wonderful to come home.

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2007-03-17 10:48:54 Please Pray... bonjourelise Tue, 13 Mar 2007 08:32:26 -04:00 You Raise Me Up
Selah

When I am down, and oh my soul, so weary
When troubles come and my heart burdened be
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence
Until You come and sit awhile with me

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up—to more than I can be

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up—to more than I can be

There is no life—no life without its hunger
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly
But when you come and I am filled with wonder
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up—to more than I can be

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up—to more than I can be

Please be in prayer for my mom. She went into surgery at 7:15 this morning. It's pretty routine, but she still needs prayer. She's getting her left thyroid removed in her neck. Please pray that the doctor's hands will be steady and not damage her vocal chords and that there will be no swelling. God bless!

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2007-03-13 08:32:25 bonjourelise Mon, 05 Mar 2007 07:54:39 -05:00 Hi everyone, I wanted to invite you to check out the Modesty Survey illustrated in my sidebar. It is very insightful and convicting.

sunrise  

This was the gorgeous sunrise God blessed us with as we drove to Florida

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2007-03-05 07:53:39 bonjourelise Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:35:19 -05:00 I Promise

By Jaci Velasquez

Lord, you know my heart
And all my desires
And the secret things I’ll never tell.
Lord, you know them well.
Though I may be young,
I see and understand
That at times, like sheep, we go astray
And things get out of hand.

So I promise to be true to you,
To live my life in purity
As unto you, waiting for the day
When I hear you say,
"Here is the one I have created
Just for you."

Until then, O lord
I will be content
Knowing that true love will come someday.
It will only come from You.
’cause I have seen the suffering
That loneliness can cause
When we choose to give our love away
Without a righteous cause.

So I promise to be true to you,
To live my life in purity
As unto you, waiting for the day
When I hear you say,
"Here is the one I have created
Just for you."

P.S. Florida pictures coming soon!

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2007-02-22 19:30:16 Florida bonjourelise Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:24:54 -05:00 Hello all,

We're going to Florida this weekend. Leaving at 6 a.m. tomorrow. Please pray for safe travel, and that we'll have a nice time.

small1  

      If I take the wings of the morning,
          And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
       Even there Your hand shall lead me,
         And Your right hand shall hold me.

 Psalm 139 : 9 - 10

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2007-02-16 18:24:54 Good Times at McDonalds bonjourelise Wed, 14 Feb 2007 08:18:48 -05:00 Ahh...Good times...

hannah2 cutie bethany

 hannah drama, drama girlies BIG MAC! charity

keeper girls she's a keeper
  ice cream! laughing1

silly

han cathy-wathy caitlin sisters

Hangin' with the girlies at McD's was like a blossom on a cloudy day. (sorry...bad poetry)

It was so refreshing just to hang out, laugh and enjoy being friends.

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2007-02-14 08:18:48 20 Special Treats bonjourelise Tue, 13 Feb 2007 10:30:01 -05:00 Here's another fun list. It's true, when you try to bless others, you end up being blessed yourself.

1. Send a card. Show someone you care by taking the time to pick out a card, write a note and mail it.

2. Leave a message. When no one’s home, leaving a fun message for a friend could be just the thing to brighten her day. Play a favorite song or try singing a tune through the phone. This will be sure to make her smile.

3. Work for free. Choose a family in your church or neighborhood for whom you can offer an evening of free baby-sitting. Most parents will appreciate an opportunity to spend a few hours on their own.

4. Encourage. Tell your siblings what you appreciate about each of them. It might be your sister’s joyful spirit, sense of humor, intelligence, wisdom, servant’s heart or even the energy she has for life. Everybody needs affirmation.

5. Lend a helping hand. Youth leaders do a lot to make youth group gatherings happen. Show appreciation for your youth leaders by offering to make photocopies, plan a game or set up before a meeting.

6. Smile. Facial expressions say a lot about a person. When you smile and show your joy in the Lord, other people will wonder what you’re so happy about. You might even have the opportunity to tell them about Christ.

7. Listen. Your friend will see that you find value in her and what she has to say.

8. Treat. Organize a thank-you breakfast for a teacher you appreciate. You and your classmates can cover the cost.

9. Decorate. There doesn’t have to be a special occasion to decorate a friend’s locker or bedroom. Show her she’s special by hanging streamers, creating encouraging signs and adding balloons. Before the fun begins, get permission from the school administration or her parents.

10. Do the dirty work. The chore I most disliked while growing up was washing the dishes. Whenever my mom found me scrubbing pots and pans without her asking, she knew it was my way of expressing love and appreciation for her. Make a person feel special by doing something you’d rather not.

11. Applaud. Go to a sibling’s game, community play or band concert and cheer him on.

12. Call. Do you have a close friend who lives in a different state? Get your parents’ permission to call her and catch up. She’ll definitely appreciate you thinking of her.

13. Be available. When someone’s had a bad day, she might not want your advice. Show her you care by acknowledging what she’s going through and just being there for her.

14. Fix some soup. Take care of your parents when they’re sick. Ask what you can do to keep the household running smoothly while they’re recovering.

15. Journal. Create a journal for a friend filled with entries about fun times you’ve shared, Bible verses that will encourage her and quotes that will challenge her.

16. Make time. Life can get very busy. So, set aside a specific time to spend with someone you care about.

17. Hug. A simple embrace can go a long way to help someone feel loved.

18. Be trustworthy. If your friend can trust you with what she shares, then she’s sure to feel important to you.

19. Create. Anything you create especially for someone else will show you care. For your parents, take photos of you and your siblings and create a collage for them to hang at the office or home.

20. Pray. Sometimes we tell people we’re going to pray for them, but later forget. Instead, pray with someone right when she mentions the request. Then follow up later to see how things are going.

Have a Happy Valentines Day everyone!!

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2007-02-13 10:26:03 101 Ways to Be Your Own Valentine bonjourelise Thu, 08 Feb 2007 18:23:08 -05:00 This is from the Brio magazine website (briomag.com). I know this is long...but it's a fun read:

 

1. Grab bobby pins and colorful clips to create a new way of styling your hair.

 

2. Treat yourself to trying something new: guitar lessons, pottery classes, join a Bible study.

 

3. Give of yourself this Valentine's Day. Hang out with family, visit nursing home residents, shovel snow off your neighbor's driveway.

 

4. Eat garlic and onion pizza without worrying about your breath.

 

5. Set your mind completely on homework, your weekend job, your chores and - most important - your relationship with God!

 

6. Wear your favorite pair of shoes to a special occasion, even if they make you taller than the guys.

 

7. Stock up on at-home pedicure supplies and treat your feet.

 

8. Watch a chick flick.

 

9. Send a valentine to your mom or dad.

 

10. Write a poem.

 

11. Offer to baby-sit for your parents or a neighbor couple who may want to have a date night.

 

12. When you're your own valentine, there are fewer worries.

 

13. Remember God's timing is always perfect. It really, truly is! And if you need proof, check out Habakkuk 2:3.

 

14. Perfect your foosball, pingpong or pool skills. You don't have to hold back like you might if you were letting a guy win. Let your full potential soar!

 

15. Take a jog, hit the gym or walk your dog around the block.

 

16. Come up with fun nicknames for your friends.

 

17. Hang out with the ultimate guy in your life - Jesus!

 

18. Find a tourist attraction in your town to attend with your family.

 

19. Got a zit on your forehead? Who cares?

 

20. When you're happy being single, you're able to set high standards for the kind of guy you'd like to go out with someday.

 

21. Watch a sad movie and have a good cry.

 

22. Ask God for an opportunity to talk about your relationship with Him to someone who doesn't have one.

 

23. Building lots of good relationships with girls and guys is way more healthy than spending every waking second with one particular person.

 

24. Don't sit by the phone. Call a good friend and chat about life.

 

25. Get rid of the clutter. It's amazing what a clean and creatively decorated room will do to your spirit.

 

26. Talk to your parents about dating and courtship.

 

27. Hit the mall with your girlfriends and take your time deciding between lilac and sky-blue nail polish.

 

28. Let your creative juices flow and put together a totally outrageous outfit. Check out thrift stores to create cheap, modest and trendy combinations.

 

29. Tell the truth to yourself and to others. Being genuine is a quality your family, friends

and your future romantic interests will appreciate.

 

30. Don't settle for being like everyone else!

 

31. Put money toward a gift for a sponsored child in another country.

 

32. Write a letter to your future husband. Write a love letter to Jesus

 

33. Test perfumes at a local department store.

 

34. Write your own children's book! What are you waiting for? Get cranking!

 

35. Enjoy a Coke.

 

36. Catch up on some bonding time with your mom or sister or long-lost friend from camp.

 

37. Tell your siblings how much you love them.

 

38. Find an older single Christian woman and invite her to have coffee and conversation.

 

39. Plan a slumber party for your younger sister or a younger girl in your youth group.

 

40. Start a band with your girlfriends!

 

41. Send the Brio staff a valentine and chocolate.

 

42. Spend a Friday evening with a bowl of popcorn, a bottle of Snapple and The Princess Bride. (This one's for Catherine )

 

43. Fill your diary with dreams, goals and answers to prayer.

 

44. Give a Brio or Brio & Beyond subscription to a friend.

 

45. Create your own board game. Hey, it was probably a woman without a guy who created Candy Land and Sorry!

 

46. It's way cool to be able to check the oil in your car all by yourself.

 

47. Try a food you've never eaten.

 

48. Pull out the sewing machine and make that skirt and top you've had your eye on.

 

49. Hey, you could even design your own pattern!

 

50. Get involved in church. Consider helping in the nursery, teaching the kindergarten Sunday school class or visiting a senior citizen who hasn't been able to attend in a while.

 

51. Spend Sunday night watching “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

 

52. Enjoy Saturday morning and sleep in.

 

53. Narrow down your college choices.

 

54. Be a friend to the girl in the hallway who is talking about her disastrous relationship; you can lend a caring ear.

 

55. God has big summer plans for you! Hey, maybe you'll head overseas on a life-changing missions adventure! (Check out the Brio missions adventure.)

 

56. Get permission to have your hair cut in a different style or even highlighted.

 

57. Enjoy a brownie topped with chocolate ice cream, doused in chocolate chips and hot fudge served with a cup of hot chocolate.

 

58. Crank up your fave girl bands on your stereo.

 

59. Be intentional about spending time with someone you haven't talked to in a while.

 

60. Hum the tune that keeps floating around in your head without feeling self-conscious.

 

61. Start a conversation with the person behind you while waiting in line.

 

62. Be silent.

 

63. Gather all the stuff no one uses anymore and have a giant garage sale. Then use the moola to do something nice for someone else.

 

64. Set goals: Ace trig, make the honor roll, start on the girls' varsity b-ball team.

 

65. Create your own brand-new recipe for mouth- watering chocolate chip cookies.

 

66. Write down five reasons you like being a girl.

 

67. Finish your steak and eat your loaded baked potato.

 

68. Think of the variety of photographs you can surround yourself with! Take lots of pictures and create some fun frames to put them in. The craft store is calling your name.

 

69. Enjoy comfy clothes.

 

70. Save money toward a car, your college education or a summer trip.

 

71. Have you been to the library lately? There are rows and rows of books there that'll pique your interest and send your mind and imagination into the lives of people from past and present. Find out more about other cool women such as Amy Carmichael and Corrie ten Boom.

 

72. Offer to go out of your way for someone.

 

73. Take a catnap with your cat.

 

74. Church, school, hockey games, Christian concerts, girlfriends . . . at this point in life, who really has time for a guy?

 

75. You're free to wear the jacket of your choice without feeling like you should be wearing his.

 

76. Put money toward stocking the fridge and cupboards at your house with fun, healthy snack foods for you and your siblings.

 

77. Find fun quotes or thought-provoking Scripture verses to post in your locker.

 

78. Take into account how you spend your time each day. Is there something you need to give up or add to become all God desires for you?

 

79. Enjoy controlling the TV remote!

 

80. Decide now what your boundaries for purity will be.

 

81. Hang out with your guy friends. Join them for basketball or even a video game after school.

 

82. Show your true colors. Learn how to apply makeup in a flattering way. Talk to your parents for permission.

 

83. Remember how you've been wanting to redecorate your room? Now's your chance.

 

84. Start your Christmas shopping early. Hey, in one month all the winter stuff will be 60 percent off!

 

85. Be spontaneous.

 

86. Be a godly girlfriend. Maintain those friendships God has blessed you with. Write an e-mail or even send a card to those special girlfriends in your life.

 

87. Enjoy your Twix. You can eat both candy bars yourself. (Or a bag of Reeses, s'more stuff...and pickles...)

 

88. Compliment someone you don't know.

 

89. Create a fun dinner for your family. Get your siblings involved in coming up with a theme, picking out the food and maybe even dressing up for the occasion.

 

90. Share your most embarrassing moment.

 

91. Get involved in your youth group: Start a drama team, join the worship band, be intentional about getting new people involved.

 

92. Check out that part-time job you've been dying to get.

 

93. Have you always wanted to try your hand at watercolors? Get out the paints and go for it!

 

94. Memorize 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.

 

95. After you've memorized the above Scripture, get some adhesive paper and create your own bumper sticker based on this verse.

 

96. Laugh really hard at a great joke or hilarious movie scene. You can laugh so hard that you snort and you don't have to be embarrassed about it.

 

97. Create your own TV sitcom. Just ask permission to borrow the video camera.

 

98. Try to find five interesting topics to talk about with friends that have nothing to do with boys. Asking open- ended questions of your friends is a great way to get them to talk.

 

99. Make a list of books you want to read, find a comfy chair and begin.

 

100. Tell yourself, "I can't help it that I'm wonderful because of my wonderful Creator."

 

101. Nothing's more attractive than a confident single gal who truly loves Jesus and feels secure in who He's created her to be.

 

Which ones do you girlies want to do this Valentines Day?

 

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2007-02-08 18:23:08 bonjourelise Wed, 07 Feb 2007 17:18:23 -05:00  Last weekend I babysat Ethan. We had a lot of fun!

On Saturday morning we made BIG pancakes!!

BIG pancake!  

 

YUM!

Ok, take a big bite!

filthy hands

Filthy hands...no...don't touch me!!

Then we went upstairs to play dress-up...

ethan

CUTE!!

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2007-02-07 13:40:10 The Monk bonjourelise Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:00:21 -05:00  

A man is driving down the road and his car breaks down near a monastery.

 

He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down.

Do you think I could stay the night?"

 

The Monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even fix his car.

 

As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. A sound not like

anything he's ever heard before.

 

The Sirens that nearly seduced Odysseus into crashing his ship comes to his mind.

 

He doesn't sleep that night. He tosses and turns trying to figure out what could possibly be making such a seductive sound.

 

The next morning, he asks the Monks what the sound was, but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a Monk."

 

Distraught, the man is forced to leave.

 

Years later, after never being able to forget that sound, the man goes back to the monastery and pleads for the answer again.

 

The Monks reply, "We can't tell you. You're not a Monk."

 

The man says, "If the only way I can find out what is making that beautiful sound is to become a Monk, then please, make me a Monk."

 

The Monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of grains of sand. When you find these answers, you will have become a Monk."

 

The man sets about his task.

 

After years of searching he returns as a gray-haired old man and knocks on the door of the monastery. A Monk answers. He is taken before a gathering of all the Monks.

 

"In my quest to find what makes that beautiful sound, I traveled the earth and have found what you asked for: By design, the world is in a state of perpetual change. Only God knows what you ask. All a man can know is himself, and only then if he is honest and reflective and willing to strip away self deception."

 

The Monks reply, "Congratulations. You have become a Monk. We shall now show you the way to the mystery of the sacred sound.

 

The Monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, "The sound is beyond that door."

 

The Monks give him the key, and he opens the door. Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone.

 

The man is given the key to the stone door and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby.

 

And so it went that he needed keys to doors of emerald, pearl and diamond.

 

Finally, they come to a door made of solid gold. The sound has become very clear and definite. The Monks say, "This is the last key to the last door."

 

The man is apprehensive to no end. His life's wish is behind that door!

 

With trembling hands, he unlocks the door, turns the knob, and slowly pushes the door open. Falling to his knees, he is utterly amazed to discover the source of that haunting and seductive sound......

 

But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a Monk.

 

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2007-02-01 18:35:04 bonjourelise Sun, 21 Jan 2007 21:09:02 -05:00 Here's a jumble of photos I decided to post:

On the 13th, Westwood had a Women's Conference. In one of the breaks some of the girls decided to go outside and play on the playground. Even though we were supposed to be acting like ladies. *wink*

 uhhh

Uhh...Catherine, you know those swings aren't for big girls...right?

swinging1

Beautiful Bethany. :)

hiya!

I'm not so sure about this pic. I think I was trying to be like a secret agent or something as I tried to kick Catherine and jump out of the swing at the same time...it ended in...uhh...tragedy.

girls

The gals at Charity's swing dance party, from left: Bianca, Catherine, Caitlin, Charity, Me, Sarah-Marie, Bethany, Rachel and Alison.

macho men

And these are the *ehem* tough guys. From left: Ben, Caleb, Matt?, Chris and Josh.

many-binkies

Random Pic of Ethan with multiple binkies in his mouth. So cute! :)

Wow, what a week this has been.

On Thursday, as you all know, it snowed. One of my favorite things is to wake up to a fresh snowfall. Glancing out the window and *SURPRISE* everything is coated in a fluffy white blanket. Then I like to bundle up and go outside to sit on the porch, and listen to the silence. I love those times, snow is just so magical.
However, Thursday didn't really produce much snow. Not even enough to cover the grass, but we Ethan, Erin, Benj and I still bundled up to go for a walk. I don't know what it is with my family, but we always go for walks in the worst weather! (or worst in most people's opinions) The other day it began to pour rain, so, of course, I took Ethan and we went on a walk. I'm pretty sure I get this from my mom, she loves rain. Anyway...back on subject.
The four of us walked down to the Davis' house (the kid's I teach piano lessons) to visit and see if they wanted to play in the snow with us. I met their grandmother, Mrs. Kathleen. She's a very nice woman. On Wednesday, the family killed their pig. So I got to watch Mrs. Kathleen make cracklin's. It was a rather interesting experience. The kids also enjoyed showing me the hog's head as well as the hog's guts and the blood icicles hanging off the plastic wrapped carcas...great...thanks kids.

On Friday/Saturday I slept over at my friend Hannah G.'s house. She and I had a great time. We watched Nacho Libre (my first time seeing it), Sky High, Ella Enchanted (remind me never to watch that movie again) and half of Benchwarmers. We also went outside and played football with her brothers (Benj was there too, he hung out with Zack and Isaac).

Then, of course, today was church. I do believe it's icing outside. I'm not sure. It was so cold this morning!!! :)

Tata!

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2007-01-21 21:09:02 bonjourelise Wed, 10 Jan 2007 08:25:50 -05:00  
A farmer promised to give the Lord one of the twin calves his cow delivered.  His wife asked him, "which calf is the Lord's?"  He answered, "It really doesn't make any difference whose calf is whose.  I'll give God one of them when they've grown."  A few weeks later he came into the farmhouse, sadness hanging on his face.  His wife asked, "What's wrong?"  He replied, "Well, the Lord's calf died this morning."
 Unknown 
 
Ok, ok, I know, that story is cheesy. But I thought it was kind of funny. :)
 
Now comment and tell me what your favorite flower and movie is!!
]]> 2007-01-10 08:25:50 bonjourelise Mon, 01 Jan 2007 13:37:42 -05:00 Happy New Year!!

Last night we had a game night New Year party! It was a blast!

Our home was filled with laughter, what a blessing to be able to laugh with friends!

newyear1

The adults playing 'Scotland Yard'. I'm not sure who was louder, the youth or the adults.

newyear2

The Hunter's brought a neat Tennis nintendo game. From left: Anna, Matt and Jonathan

newyear3

The ladies chatting :)

taboo1

Taboo!! Wow! This was a great game! :) We had a blast! From Left: Angel, Ben and Me. It was guys against girls, we were outnumbered but girls won!

taboo2

Catherine making sure Mitchell doesn't use words he's not supposed to.

taboo4

From Left: Richard and Mitchell, waiting for their turn.

taboo3

Catherine and Nathan 'debating' the rules

It was such an amazing evening full of Christian fellowship. We had a small worship time and then crossed over into the New Year in prayer. It was awesome. :)

Jerimiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' Declares the Lord..."Plans to give you hope and a future."
This was our theme verse for the night, and what a great promise to take hold of as we try to visualize the year to come. God knows the plans he has for us, plans to give us hope!

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2007-01-01 13:37:42 bonjourelise Wed, 27 Dec 2006 22:14:01 -05:00  The Joy of Christmas is found in the simplest settings‚Ķ

 

dreaming

 

Christmas Eve

 

last minute

 

We had quite a bit of last minute wrapping to take care of…

 

christmas_performance

 

That night we invited some friends from down the street for our Happy Birthday Jesus party. I teach the three oldest kids’ piano lessons. We had a small Christmas recital. They did a great job!

From left: Maizie, Jesse, Mallory and me.

 

Happy_Birthday_Jesus

 

Happy Birthday Jesus! From far-left: Maizie, Parrish, Jesse, my dad, Ethan, Me, Mallory and Gilbert.

 

Christmas Morning

 

 little_cowboy

 

Ethan is now our resident “Little Cowboy”. Before Christmas he never let us call him a cowboy because he had “no cow-boi ‘at”. So now, it’s official.

 

tennis_mania

 

Benj and I both got tennis rackets and tennis balls in our stockings. What a blast!

 

scrabble

 

It seems like every Christmas we play Scrabble. So, here I am, looking in the dictionary trying to find some killer words to out-smart Benj and Dad, I won!

 

my_stylish_converse!

 

My totally rockin’ converse shoes and socks from Benj

 

the_after_pic

 

Our living room after opening presents‚Ķhehe‚Ķit was clean 

 

December 26th

 

tennis2

 

Benj and I went to the tennis courts not far from our house to try out our ‘mad skills’. See those jeans I’m wearing? I used to wear them all the time and now they have a great, big hole in the knee. O the sorrow! (see my converse?)

 

 

tennis1

 

We also went to the courts today to play, I think I have tennis wrist, boy does it hurt! But we had a blast!

 

I got some amazing presents this year: some great, inspirational books, cute shoes from Benj, a pretty soft, pink robe, tennis racket, CD’s, a cute hoodie from Kim, a DVD, and some other small things. God has certainly blessed me this Christmas!

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2006-12-27 22:14:01 Pictures! bonjourelise Fri, 22 Dec 2006 08:36:15 -05:00    

Happy Birthday Caitlin!

surprise!

Happy Birthday Catlin! Sweet 16!

bowling balls

We took Caitlin bowling for her birthday.

bowling

teee!!

Triple 'Teee!!'

candy

Ugh, I think I ate half of that candy...

Sweet 16 cake

opening presents

massage train

Massage Train :)

hiding from Ethan

In case you're wondering, all us girls are under that blanket, and Ethan is trying to get us. :)

taboo1

Taboo...

taboo2

Charity keeping time :)

Angel came over on Saturday/Sunday. We had a blast being super crazy as always. :)

crazy pic7

crazy pic6

crazy pic4

I found a pink scarf, and we had some fun with that. :)

crazy pic3

crazy pic2

crazy pic1

Well, this is all I have room for, have a good weekend everyone, Merry Christmas! :)

 

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2006-12-22 08:36:15 Mele Kalikimaka Everybody! bonjourelise Sat, 16 Dec 2006 14:17:15 -05:00 I had a blast partying with the gals last night. It was Caitlin's sweet 16! We threw her a surprise party, what fun! I'll post pics later, trust me, between Caitlin and I, there's plenty!! :)

And tonight Angel-dear is coming over! YAY! I haven't seen her since Halloween! :) We're going to the Symphony orchestra Christmas Concert, I'm so excited!

And...can you believe it...Christmas is NEXT MONDAY!! Only, like, 8 days away! This is the first year that Christmas has snuck up on me, it came so fast! This year seemed to have flown by! :) I have so much shopping left to do!

Well, God bless you all, have a good week!

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2006-12-16 14:16:08 bonjourelise Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:10:24 -05:00 I got my Drivers Permit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tell that I'm happy??

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2006-11-30 11:10:24 bonjourelise Tue, 28 Nov 2006 07:46:58 -05:00 Happy Thanksgiving!

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."
Psalm 100

"Glorious Father, who loves me with an everlasting love and guards me with an outstretched hand. You, who watches over my by day and holds me close by night. Your awesome power astounds me. You, O God, are mighty and powerful. You can crush the earth with your finger. Yet you are so gentle with us. We sin against you, and yet you love us all the more. Thank you Father, Amen."
- A Psalm of Praise, by Elise Abele

This year let's remember who we should be truly thankful for. Jesus.

 

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2006-11-23 10:40:29 bonjourelise Tue, 28 Nov 2006 07:48:42 -05:00  
Even the fool knows we can't reach out and touch the stars, but that doesn't keep the wise man from trying.
 
 Unknown 
 
~
 
Christianity should shine through us like sunshine through a pane of glass.  We should make it shine so clearly that people will say, "What a beautiful day" not "What a beautiful pane of glass."
 
Democracy in Action
 
~
 
God offers to fill our homes and our hearts with joy and gladness if we will only let Him do it.  We cannot create the canary-birds; but we can provide cages for them, and fill our dwellings with their music.  Even so we cannot create the heavenly gifts with Jesus offers; but they are ours if we provide heart-room for them.  The birds of peace and contentment and joy and praise will fly in fast enough if we will only invite Jesus Christ, and set the windows of our souls open for His coming.
 
T. L. Cuyler 
 
~
 
People see God every day.  They just do not recognize Him.
 
L. James Harvey 
 
]]> 2006-11-20 09:05:59 bonjourelise Sat, 04 Nov 2006 13:22:34 -04:00 Hey girlies...sorry I haven't posted in forever! Life has been so hectic lately.

Kimberly came for a visit, that was so much fun. :) We always have a great time when she comes.

We went to Old Salem for the day:

aww

beautiful sister and mom

old salem

playing with 'Be'

Our trip to the park:

happy boy

swinging

Sorry, I've got plenty more pictures, but I've also got plenty of school work that needs catching-up.
Have a good weekend.

 
"I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." 
 Psalm 16:7-8 
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2006-11-04 13:22:34 bonjourelise Mon, 23 Oct 2006 16:09:01 -04:00   GO STORM!!

This past Saturday was our Volleyball/Soccer Tournament.

It was a looong day...good memories...playing pranks with Rachel...watching the soccer games...our super-duper close game...fans cheering ...pizza...good friends...playing hard...and...VOLLEYBALL!

my colorful vb socks

Aren't those volleyball socks just so 'me'?

let's go girls!

Getting ready for the serve...

making the serve

Me serving...so tense!

TIMEOUT!

TIMEOUT!

 sit-down vb

Playing an 'exciting' game of sit-down volleyball between games :)

benj in the field

My Handsome brother in the field...

yay storm!

The guys won 2nd place! YAY! Great  job, guys!

 

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2006-10-23 16:06:18 bonjourelise Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:17:07 -04:00 1

There's nothing like getting flowers from a handsome young man.

~

Especially when that 'handsome young man' is this little guy:

small3

 

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2006-10-05 15:15:38 Websites... bonjourelise Sat, 30 Sep 2006 19:49:45 -04:00 Some of my favorite Web sites (and that I think you will like too!):

- www.briomag.com (this site has a lot of great articles on health, beauty, Christian living, relationships etc. from a Christian perspective. Great stuff.)

- http://www.achristianhome.com/ (this is a huge site full of articles about homemaking, modesty, courtship, health etc.)

- http://www.typeonline.co.uk/typingspeed.php (how fast can you type?)

http://www.lydias-legacy.com/Welcome.htm (more fun homemaking tips)

- http://www.trueu.org (tips to keep yourself in check when you go off to college!)

There's more, but I'll leave you with these to begin with. :)

 

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2006-09-30 19:41:51 bonjourelise Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:43:47 -04:00  I love Autumn. Every year we drive up to the mountains and enjoy the scenery. This year we went to Lover's Leap and Mabry Mill. It wasn't quite fall up there, but it was still pretty. Hannah Gibson came with us, we had so much fun!

The drive up was rather crazy...

We were listening to Schnappi, a german kids cd. All the words are in German...it's kinda neat...:) Benj was dancing to it the whole time...lol...

We took lots of pictures...of course. :)

small2

Hannah and I in front of Lover's Leap, it was such a pretty view!

small3

Lover's Leap

small4

This is Mabry Mill, I love how it reflects off the water

small1

Ethan posing. Isn't he adorable?? Little smile, hands placed just so...cute!

We had a picnic lunch, it was so cold! So Benj, Hannah and I made up some active games to warm us up. :)

After lunch we went to 'The Poor Farmer's Market' a cute, country shop that sells just about everything. We bought a large bushel of golden delicious apples, other produce and of course...ice cream! We had such a lovely time.

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2006-09-22 08:43:47 bonjourelise Mon, 11 Sep 2006 13:33:24 -04:00 Beauty From Pain

SuperChic(k)

The lights go out all around me
One last candle to keep out the night
And then the darkness surrounds me
I know I'm alive
But I feel like I've died

And all that's left is to accept that it's over
My dreams ran like sand through the fists that I made
I try to keep warm but I just grow colder
I feel like I'm slipping away

After all this has passed
I still will remain
After I've cried my last
There'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today
Someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain


My whole world is the pain inside me
The best I can do is just get through the day
When life before is only a memory
I wonder why God let me walk through this place

And though I can't understand why this happened
I know that I will when I look back someday
And see how You've brought beauty from ashes
And made me as gold purified through these flames


Here and I am at the end of me
Trying to hold to what I can't see
I forgot how to hope
This night's been so long
I cling to your promise there will be a dawn

-


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2006-09-11 13:33:24 bonjourelise Sat, 02 Sep 2006 16:50:53 -04:00 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians13:13

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2006-09-02 16:50:53 bonjourelise Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:08:30 -04:00 Some Random pics of my weekend:

Playing around on Friday before my volleyball game...:)



Ethan and his 'Deise' (Aunt Elise)



Ethan and his 'Bee' (Uncle Benj)



Ethan 'hiding'. He thinks he's so good at hiding, he just goes behind that curtain and 'no one' can find him ;)



My carazy brother!!! :)

I want to put more pics...(trust me I have more) but I'll spare you all, I'm going to go and have a cup of tea. :) Have a lovely night!

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2006-08-29 21:08:30 bonjourelise Sun, 27 Aug 2006 13:41:51 -04:00 Friday was our second  volleyball game....we got creamed. So...we're no longer undefeated, but you know what? That's ok, because we're still champions for Christ. :)

Saturday night we went to Erin's boyfriend's family's house for dinner. It was yummy steak, potatoes, salads, and of course, cheesecake. :) We had a lovely time.

This morning was church. And then this afternoon we're going to a friend's house for a church Pool Party! I'm excited. :) I'll post some pics later!

-Elise

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2006-08-27 13:41:51 bonjourelise Wed, 23 Aug 2006 08:40:33 -04:00 What a busy weekend!

Last Friday we went to the Ambassador retreat! It was fun! Charity, Hannah, Sarah-Marie, Benj, my mom and I went. There were some really interesting and fun classes. :)

This is a picture of Hannah and Sarah-Marie singing in the van on the way to the retreat. They sang...a lot!
So that's what we did on Friday and Saturday.
Then on Sunday we all woke up and got ready for church, and just as mom got into the car she saw a snake on the driveway. It was so freaky. :) Yeah, yeah, I'm a girly-girl...most of the time...:) Thankfully we were only a little late for church, it was an experience. :)
After church I went to my new friend, Hannah G.'s house. She and I had fun. :)

Monday was the first day of school! Hooray!

Benj is in 11th grade, and dual enrollment, Ethan's in preschool :) and I'm in 10th!



Beautiful Erin and Handsome Benj off to the community college! *tear* I'm so proud. :)

Last night was our first Volleyball game...we won!!! I think I might have pushed myself a bit to hard though: last night I could barely stand, I was going around saying goodnight to everyone and kept stumbling and having to catch myself, which didn't really work because my arms are like rubber. Even as I'm trying to get this entry written my arm gets fatigued by holding the mouse for too long...maybe I pushed myself a bit to hard. :) But it was worth it, we had so much fun!! GO STORM!!
(Oh, btw, the guys soccer team won their game too! We're undefeated!)
After the VB game I got to see CATHERINE! It was so much fun! That girl makes me laugh, I'd show you a video she made of me but...hmm...it's really strange and weird :) lol

Today is another fun-filled day of school! So I'll have to go. :)

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2006-08-23 08:40:33 bonjourelise Fri, 18 Aug 2006 09:22:05 -04:00 Yesterday was a full day! It started out with mom and I going to Burlington to pick up a hundred dollar calculator for Benjamin's college classes. She and I stopped for lunch at this adorable little 'Mayberry style' diner that was in fact called, 'Mayberry in the Park'. It was so cute.
Then when we got home, I went with Erin to run some errands and than go to Wal-Mart to sell doughnuts to raise money for our Volleyball team. Erin's the assis. Coach. It was fun. :) We sold over 300 boxes, meaning we made over $1500!!

A pretty butterfly I saw by the front porch. There is a little pocket of flowers that the butterflies love, you walk by and a whole flock flies up.

Ethan in the car while we ran errands. He thought he was so cool....

CUTE! I love this picture!

This is one of the tables on which we sold doughnuts. From left to right we have, Ethan, Caitlin and Rachel. It was so much fun. Erin and I got there around 5:30 and left around 8:30, so that's 3 hours of selling! It was worth it though. :)

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2006-08-18 09:22:05 Let's Play Ball! bonjourelise Tue, 15 Aug 2006 09:38:02 -04:00 Yesterday was such a blast! Our church went to Dan-Daniel park and had a picnic followed by a baseball game! It was so much fun!

Hannah and I took Ethan and her little brother, Luke, to the park. They were holding hands! So sweet!

Ethan loved yelling through all the tunnels and slides, I love this picture.

Hannah and I

Don't you just want to give him a kiss?

Ben, my handsome brother. All the guys were skateboarding, Hannah and I sat and watched for a few minutes.

This was at the game, they were practicing, I'm still not sure who won.

And he winds up...and the pitch!

Gorgeous sunset

This is a *herm* interesting picture of some of the youth from Blanch. From left to right we have Hannah's face, Richard, Ben and Issac's hand. We had so much fun.

Lots of love to you all!
-Elise

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2006-08-15 09:38:02 bonjourelise Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:18:51 -04:00 Oh my goodness! What a day!!
After my cousins were told they couldn't come to the pool my mom wrote a 'Letter to the Editor' of the Caswell Messenger. There was some response, two phone calls, and two newpaper responses. Well, this morning, my mom got a call from WRAL news, they were coming for an interview!! We zoomed around and cleaned up the house and got ready. I had just finished running so I was a sweaty mess!
They came around 11...

This is the camera lady, she was really nice. :)

The WRAL news van!! The reporter sat with my parents on the front porch (with the camera rolling) and asked them several questions. I'm not on TV but I did get to sit and watch. They should be on TV on the evening news either 5 or 5:30!

Our TV wasn't hooked up (because we changed the LR furniture around) so I helped my dad get the wires all set up. He's recooperating from his Hernia surgery so I (using my amazing biceps) carried the ladder. I didn't go up it though.

Wow, what a day! So be sure to tune in on WRAL channel 5 news this evening to see my folks!

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2006-08-11 14:18:51 bonjourelise Wed, 09 Aug 2006 13:11:42 -04:00 Hello everyone!!

Well, yesterday was my birthday, I'm now 15! I had a great birthday! Breakfast in bed, lovely relaxation, a wonderful storm, special dinner, family time, presents, and, of course, cheesecake!
It was wonderful. Oh, and guess what I got?!?! Okay, I'll just show you:

A DIGITAL CAMERA!!! YAAAY!! So guess what this means...I'll be able to post gazillions of pictures on my Xanga. :)

Me, and my birthday cheesecake

My birthday, 'Southern Lady' shoes

Birthday Breakfast...mmm...

Mom and Dad, thanks you two for a wonderful birthday!! :)



I also got a new very pink bag, pretty pink shirt, a new book "Waiting For Prince Charming", T-shirt and purple shoes. :)

And these things remain, Faith, Hope and Love. But the greatest of these, is Love.

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2006-08-09 13:11:42 bonjourelise Tue, 08 Aug 2006 10:23:24 -04:00 Today is a special day.  

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2006-08-08 10:23:24 bonjourelise Sun, 06 Aug 2006 08:26:29 -04:00

Zackariah

Little boys come in all shapes and sizes,



Shy and adventurous

And full of surprises

With misshapen halos



and mischievous grins,

Small dirty faces, and sweet, sticky chins.



They'll keep you so busy, and yet all the while...

Nothing can brighten the world like their smile.

And no greater treasure has brought homes more joy



Than a curious

Active

and lovable boy!

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2006-08-06 08:26:29 bonjourelise Mon, 31 Jul 2006 12:29:28 -04:00 Wow, what an amazing week this has been! As most of you probably know, we've had lots of company lately.

Friday

We cleaned the house and got beds ready for Aunt Donna and Uncle Doug. They drove down from New Jersey and got in really late.

Saturday

It was a beautiful morning! We learned that my cousin Jen (Aunt D and Uncle D's daughter) had not gotten the flight from SLC because of a busy holiday so Jen and her two kids, Maddi (10) and Damon (7) drove to Las Vegas to get a flight from there. They flew to Dulles and there they sat with no way to get to our house. So around 9:00ish Uncle Doug and my dad drove up to Dulles to get Jen and the kids. The rest of us (mom, Erin, Aunt Donna, Benj and I) took this oppurtunity to get ready for the party! We decorated like crazy! The house looked great! Ethan was so cute, he wanted to help really bad, so I put some tape on the back of paper stars that we were using to decorate and Ethan went around the dining room placing them on the lower walls, so adorable! I must have blown up what felt like a million balloons! My throat started hurting!
Around 6:30, Erin's boyfriend Dalton and his parents came over. They had some appeteizers and mom started the chicken. She made beer chicken! It was soo yummy! We chatted and enjoyed eachothers company. Then around 7:30 the cousins got here! My dad and Uncle had been driving for almost 10 straight hours!
The party was fabulous! The food...delish! And the company, wonderful. Uncle Doug opened presents, Ethan got him a fish so he wouldn't be lonely up in NJ when my Aunt went back home (he was there on business). What a lovely time. Then we went to bed, I was soo tired!

Sunday

We went to church, of course, and then around 2 Aunt Donna and Uncle Doug left for NJ. Then we kids had a water fight! I got Benj really good! Then we had Erin's birthday party. Dalton came over, we had cake, and opened presents. It was fun. :)

Monday

Maddi and I organized the upstairs so that we have a 'rec-room' up there. It looks really cool, we have a 'relaxation station' complete with a bed and magazines, a computer, fooseball table, keyboard and craft area. It's so much fun up there!!

Then in the afternoon we were going to go to the pool. But when we got there, some lady who was part of the board told us that there were no black people allowed. (Damon and Maddi are both half-black) We were in shock, how someone could say that to two children is just beyond me. So we left. It was so aweful.

We kids decided to make the best of it, and had yet another water fight. Then Maddi and I went upstairs and played.

Then, that evening was our first day of VBS! At our new church, VBS goes to age 18! It was kind of strange, but we had fun. :)

Teusday

Ahh...my first day of drivers ed. I was so nervous! The lady was nice, even though I was a serious beginner. I did aweful that first day!! I went with another girl, she was nice. I was gone from 8-12.

This was the day Kimberly came! I got home and no one was there! I was locked out!!! :) But I got the spare key and let myself in. I was a latchkey kid!! hehe...
The house was a wreck, so I went about trying to tidy up a bit before everyone got back.
Finally Kimberly got here! It was so good to see her! Zack had gotten so big!  

Then we all left for VBS. :)

Wednesday

Drivers Ed again till 12.

When I got back we went to the pool again. My mom had checked the rules and there was nothing about no black people being allowed, so we decided just to ignore that lady.
We only swan for about 15 minutes, it turned into a big issue...and then we left, never to return again.

I think this might have been the day we re-arranged the living room, I'm not sure. It looks great though!

VBS again! Fun fun!

Thursday

My last day of Drivers Ed! Halelujiah!!

Played games, at popscicles, watched movies, played with babies, hung out, ate yummy food.

We had a fiesta for dinner complete with mexican food, music and decorations!

VBS! We made Pastor Robert into a human ice cream sundae, hehe...

Friday

More hang out time. Enjoying everyone's company. The kids (including me) spent some time dancing to our VBS tunes. "Artic Edge! Where Adventure Meets Courage!"
We cleaned up the house, played upstairs and outside.

Last night of VBS! It was a blast!

Saturday

This was the day that we thought the cousins would be leaving. *cry* :( Benj was going to go with them back to Salt Lake. But it turns out that their flight was full, so they came back to our house. Yay!

Kimberly, my wonderful sister, took me to get a pedicure for my birthday! It was so lovely! We went to le Nails in Danville. I got a french pedicure with a pretty pink flower on my big toe, Kimberly got a pretty coral color. We talked and laughed during the pedicures. It was soo much fun! Then we went to Rock-Ola and got a huge plate of cheesefries and a reeses cheesecake. Mmmm...we had such a nice time. Thank you Kimberly, I loved spending time with you!

Aunt Donna and Uncle Doug drove back down to take the cousins up to JFK and try to get a flight out of there. As soon as they got here we all hit the sack.

Sunday

The cousins left. Dear Kimberly left too. It was kind of a depressing morning. But after a while I felt better and got ready for church.
And that's the end of my wonderful week! And I'm ready to start another one! I've got Volleyball starting on Thursday! yay!

Love to you all!
-Elise

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2006-07-31 12:29:28 My Favorite Part of Bambi bonjourelise Sat, 29 Jul 2006 11:11:39 -04:00 This morning Ethan and Damon were watching Bambi. I walked in on my absolute favorite part of the movie: when all of the male deer come running through the fields. They are so strong and purposeful. Now, I don't see them as deer I see them as men of the fifties (which is when Bambi was made). Then Bambi starts watching the 'papas' as Ethan calls them, Bambi begins to mimick them, which is exactly what young boys should do. It was just such a strong, valiant moment, and, my favorite.

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2006-07-29 11:11:39 bonjourelise Thu, 27 Jul 2006 14:45:00 -04:00 Hi everyone! Just letting you know, I'm not dead! I'm still here, I haven't posted because my cousin Jen, her two kids Madison and Damon and my sister Kim and her son Zack are visiting. We have a full house! :) And, I've had drivers ed in the morning and VBS at night! So, needless to say there hasn't been a whole lot of time for Xanga. I'll post more details about the fun we're having later!

 

 

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2006-07-27 14:45:00 bonjourelise Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:45:22 -04:00 The garden looks so beautiful this year! I walked out the front door to take the trash out and was greeted by two bright yellow birds flying away into the trees singing their hearts out. What a blessing!
Mom planted pumpkins in the front garden, we thought we might get one pumpkin, but they're thriving!! We have like 5 green pumpkins and one orange. It's so neat! However, I only know of 2 things to do with fresh pumpkin, jack-o-lanterns, and bake the seeds. Boy, we need some recipes!!
We planted squash there too, but the pumpkins have taken over! We thought we'd have tons of squash, but we've only had like 3. Usually around here, people can't even give away their squash. There's some farmers down the road, who do what we call 'squash drops'. That's where you'll wake up to find a big bag of squash on your porch, or go to get the door and someone rang your doorbell, ran off and left squash on your doorstep. :) It's crazy.
Oh, and when I was at Daughters of Destiny camp mom purchased two old white rocking chairs, how charming! If only I could be as good a gardener as my mom when I grow up. She put pots of flowers on the front porch, some are hanging, there's a gorgeous vine climbing up the post. Just beautiful! 
Thank you Lord for a beautiful garden that mom worked hard to make possible.


 "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart..."
Ecc. 3:11

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2006-07-14 10:45:22 bonjourelise Thu, 13 Jul 2006 12:37:39 -04:00 "What is the chief end of man? To Glorify God and enjoy him forever."
-Thomas Carlyle

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our Salvation. Our God is a God of Salvation; and to God, the Lord, belongs escape from death.

-Psalm 68:19-20-

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2006-07-13 12:35:14 bonjourelise Mon, 10 Jul 2006 15:48:26 -04:00 Hello all! We have had such a wonderfuly exausting weekend! 

Saturday
 
Rise and shine....at 3:15....AM!!!
We finished packing up the car and drove off to Washington D.C.!! It was really fun, when we first drove into the city we were typical tourists pointing out and exclaiming over every monument we passed. But that's part of the fun. :) After passing serveral gorgeous tree lined streets and stone buildings we got to our first destination:

Washington Cathedral...
Washington Cathedral is a massive cathedral made entirely in the 1900's with gothic architecture. Vaulted ceilings, gargoyles, stained glass windows etc. It was wonderful just walking around looking at all the different 'rooms'. There was one main room, called the Nave, and most of the other rooms were just part of the Nave itself.
My favorite area of the Nave was probably the children's worship center. Everything was sized for a six year old. There were tiny chairs with little needlepointe cushions featuring baby animals. There was a little organ and a little fountain for them to do their little 'father-son-holy-spirit' thing. It was adorable and sweet. :)
We took the audio tour and learned about the cathedral's history and details. Because this is a more modern cathedral one of the stained glass windows was of a space scene with a real moon rock molded into the glass. We also saw and touched a large stone (in the wall) from Mt. Sianai and a large piece of molding from ancient Rome. There were Christmas rooms, Military rooms, Easter rooms and multiple prayer rooms. It was an Episcopal church so there were lots of kneeling cushions all hand needlepointed, the audio tour said that there were 1,500 cushions in all. It was a very nice experience.
We also took about 15 minutes to walk through the 'Bishop's Garden'. It was very nice, lots of shade plants, a stone gazebo and a lovely green. Benj and I had fun taking pictures of each other doing dramatic medival poses in the gazebo. His turned out better than mine. By the way, speaking of pictures...we got a camera phone! It's for Benj and I to share, how exciting! It's kind of like Angels, I think, we've taken lots of pics on it! :)
Then we left to our next destination...

The National Art Museum...

Well, we had planned to go to the Library of Congress but we couldn't find it! Mom and I had wanted to go to the Art Museum so when we turned a corner and there was the museum, we just knew it was destiny. We found a paper that had 15 'must sees' of the museum so using that as our guide we zoomed through the different rooms glancing this way and that to see the pictures. We only had an hour, and we wanted to see all the pictures. :) That was fun, I saw a Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Mary Cassat etc. We looked in the gift shop and then ate lunch in the cafe down in the lower level of the Museum.
Our next destination was...

Artlington National Cemetery...
 
The Cemetery was nice. We took a bus tour and saw John, Jackie, and Robert Kenedy's graves, the changing of the guards and several other memorials and graves. I'm not usually interested in military stuff, but seeing the acres and acres of graves saying 'unknown soldier' really helped me to respect and appreciate those who died for our country. Benj and dad loved seeing all the military history. We all did.

Our next stop wasn't exactly a 'destination' so I won't list it as one, but something interesting did happen here...we have...

The Grocery Store...

We went to the store to get some dinner, some yummy chicken, salads, and fruit and veggies from the deli. The salad bar had just closed, so my mom asked the man if we could just quickly get some food. He said yes, then we all started chatting. He said that the governement was bringing drugs and stuff over to America and giving it to all the minorities to keep them down, he pitied Ben Laden and told us not to trust anybody. It was interesting, we all talked to him about it, and suggested he read the book of John from the Bible and let God talk to him. He seemed really interested. Hopefully we were able to plant a seed of salvation in his life. So after we finished talking, we grabbed some hot chocolate from Starbucks and raced out the door to make our next destination....

The Patomic Overlook

If you want to know how to have the perfect picnic, I can tell you, because we had it. We arrived at the overlook around 7:30, and spread out blankets and lawn chairs  on the grass. There were kids running around and laughing, and bluegrass music playing on stage. We at our yummy dinner, and watched the clouds go by, listening to wonderful music. It was really nice. The best picnic I've ever had!

We left the picnic area at dark, and drove to our Motel. Sleep came very easy that night. :)

My hands are tired from typing!! So can you imagine what it was like doing all this stuff?! I'll write about Sunday some other day. love to you all!

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2006-07-10 15:48:26 bonjourelise Mon, 03 Jul 2006 14:14:37 -04:00 Happy 4th of July!

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2006-07-03 14:14:37 bonjourelise Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:52:14 -04:00

 

What a Godly Man Should Look Like
Kathy Gruben

 

"I would use these words to describe this wonderful man of virtue....

Noble, chivalrous, courageous, fun, true, wise, loyal, passionate, protector, gentle, humble, strong, self-sacrificial, adventurous, patient, loving, kind, serving, intelligent, polite, family centered, lover of truth, steeped in the Word of God, prayerful and hospitable.

 

These are not the kind of guys that you always notice first in a crowd. But they are the ones that you admire most once you do notice them. They are the ones who go to the person sitting on the side of the church looking left out, and shake hands with a smile. They are the ones that you will find at home instead of in youth group. You will see them sitting with their folks rather than passing notes in the back of church with their friends. You will find them helping in the kitchen or taking out the trash, walking the ladies to their cars and carrying diaper bags even if they don't belong to them.

 

You'll find them with other guys, in deep discussions about theology, worldview philosophies, politics, and books rather than just talking about the latest football games, computer games and girls. Yet, they can converse on these topics too when needed :- ) . These are the guys who walk on the outside of the sidewalk to protect the lady whom they might be with, and are always watching for ways to take care of her as a sister. When looking for a mate, they want the one who is at home (or wants to be) and "hangs out" with her mom and siblings more than her buddies.

 

They love a good time, but it usually entails sword fighting, ultimate Frisbee, board games, hiking, touch football,  night tag, water balloon fights and G rated movies rather than sports teams, dancing at the bar or movies with violence and sex-who cares if they are in their 20's! A big night on the town includes taking the siblings to the grocery store, the library or out for miniature golf. They are passionate about the things of God and they do not bend on their convictions, no matter what others may say or do. They don't care that some might see them as "goody-goody" or strange for not dating or for spending so much time with their family-they are proud of it!

 

You might see them on the road at 6:30am rushing to get to a 7:00am catechism class, even though no one is making him go. You will find them in family worship, singing or playing the piano, teaching God's word to his family or sitting at his fathers feet. They write marvelous heart felt letters of encouragement when needed and yet might not say too much by way of personal stuff to many. They keep confidences. You might easily see him with a crowd of little ones about him as he helps to teach them something or play with them. He will watch an old movie and play cards with his siblings or parents ,even when he would rather be playing "Stronghold Crusader" on his laptop.

 

He would give up his very life for his savior, his ideals and his family. He makes ice cream floats of all kinds-even strange concoctions- and gives his mom tea in bed. He bakes birthday cakes for his friends with his sister's recipes. He learns follow a recipe and make things in the crock-pot because he wants to be able to at least take care of his wife when the baby comes. You are likely to find him under a car, on top of a roof, mowing a lawn, mending the fence, writing a book, working the night shift to help the family-anywhere that will require hard work, initiative and drive-but not for his own sake.

 

They are so admired and dearly loved by their families because they are an indispensable source of joy and encouragement, strength of character and servitude. They are never truly independent, because they have come to that wonderful place in the Christian life where they realize, that they must be dependent on God alone in His sovereignty, and the people that He has placed in his life.

 

Therefore, he is a true man's man. A giant. One to look up to. A hero. A leader among his peers. Strong, steady, dependable and one that you could place your life and the lives of your children into his capable and loving hands-with no regrets or fears."  

 

Wow...

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2006-06-21 14:26:32 bonjourelise Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:37:20 -04:00 Yesterday was an exhausting blast!!
First, I woke up really early and Benj and I got in our swimsuits and drove over to another family's house where we spent the morning setting up their pool. Inside the pool (before there was water) was like an oven! :) Then, after lunch, the pool had about 3 inches of water in the bottom and we played slip-n-slide all day while we waited for the water guy to come and fill up the pool. He never came, but we had to leave early. That was fine though, because we had fun anyway. :)
Then we went home took quick showers and headed over to pick up Mrs. Liggit for the campfire in Raleigh! The campfire was at the Camp where Catherine and Caitlin were this week so I got to see them! When we got there we signed in and everyone was coming out of the gym, so I couldn't really see Caitlin or Catherine specifically. Then after we signed up we headed over to the snack-shack and there was Caitlin! She look so surprised to see us! She and I chatted for a bit as we headed over to her cabin and then Catherine ran up with a big hug! They showed me their cabins (they were both quite messy btw) and then we went over to the Snack-Shack and got something to eat. It was so nice, sitting at the picnic tables, eating candy and talking and laughing together. It made me feel like I had gone to camp this year, I just totally fell into the swing of things. Then we went and sat at the benches for Campfire time. We sang praise songs, and then different kids went up and gave their testimonies! Catherine gave hers! I was so proud *tear*. Good job Catherine!!!
After about an hour, it was time to go *another tear*. So we said goodbye and headed home! I miss you girls!! See you when you get back!

Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

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2006-06-16 10:37:20 Braces!!! bonjourelise Wed, 07 Jun 2006 17:58:46 -04:00 am very blessed.
However, this expander is terrible!!! When I first got it, I could hardly talk! It felt like I had a *large* piece of hard candy lodged in the back of my palette. Like an un-moveable soldier. I sounded like Sue Thomas on Sue Thomas FBeye. And I could hardly swallow, usually when I swallow my tongue presses against the roof of my mouth, but, it can't reach there so I've had to try different swallowing methods.
Everyone has been so wonderful. Mom took me to Cracker Barrel after the 'procedure' so I could get some protein before my mouth hurt and I couldn't eat. It was hard to swallow, I had to concentrate on my chewing too.
Of course I have been made fun of as well, but that's to be expected. And what can I say, if Benj talked like I have been, I'd probably tease him too.
Thankfully *praise the Lord* I'll only be talking strange for a couple of days, then I'll be back to normal. In the meantime please pray for me, the adjustment has been pretty hard.
And if you have any braces tips and tricks please feel more then welcome to share them!! :)
Love to you all!!
Elise
PTL]]>
2006-06-07 17:55:47 bonjourelise Mon, 05 Jun 2006 11:39:25 -04:00 Hello everyone,
Wow, I feel like I haven't posted in a loong time! Shall I fill you in on some of what's happened since we last parted??

On Thursday mom, Kimberly, Erin, Zackary, Ethan and I went to Richmond where mom and I dropped off Kim, Erin and the babies at the airport to go to SLC. It was kinda hard to see them all go, after all, it had been so crazy and wonderful with two toddlers running around wreaking havoc on anything they touched. :) good times. After that, mom and I drove over to the Fine Arts Museum. It was so lovely there, I felt so sophisticated. :) The foyer/cafe of the museum was made of white marble, with spiral stair cases. I got to see with my own eyes and stand right next to a Picasso, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh and a fragment of pottery from the 1st century!!! It was amazing. Mom and I got a cup of coffee in the cafe, and looked around in the gift shop. We had such a lovely time. Then we drove (I guess it was downtown) to cute little shopping area and we went window shopping. It was such a cute little area, the houses were like 2 feet apart, there were lots of tree lined streets and gorgeous flowers. We walked down a street full of cute little shops. We went into a clothes store that had some cute dresses, I wanted to buy one soo bad!! But they were *cough* really expensive. We also went into a french bakery and a paper store. Then we stopped into a french Bistro called, Can Cans for dinner. The food was sooo good! I had such a lovely time!!  

On Friday we got out of school!! Yaaay!! To celebrate, Benj and I went to the pool. It was fun. :) He bought me a snack, nice guy.

After church on Sunday I had my new friend, Hannah over for lunch. We had fun. We played Risk with Benj (she won, Benj was very disappointed), and Clue. Then Benj went to the pool and we stayed home. Mom, Hannah and I read Raising Maidens of Virtue and drank coffee, it was so nice. We discussed our positions on dating and modesty, we had pretty much the same ideas as us. We had a lovely time.
Then, Sunday evening we went back to church for youth choir practice and youth Bible study. After that we all went outside and played football and soccer. I accidently kicked the ball into Benjamin's eye, we were racing to get the ball, he bent over to pick up the ball and I tried to kick it out of his reach....hehe...you can probably imagine what happened next. I felt really bad. We had fun, those guys make me laugh. :)

Now it's Monday and the beginning of a new week. I'm getting braces on Wednesday!! gah! I'm so nervous! Pray for me. :)

Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart."

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2006-06-05 11:39:25 The Secret of a Beautiful Life bonjourelise Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:40:15 -04:00 "There lived once a young girl whose perfect grace of character was the wonder of those who knew her. She wore on her neck a gold locket which no one was allowed to open. One day, in a moment of unusual confidence, one of her companians was allowed to touch its spring and learn its secret. She saw written these words - 'Whom having not seen, I love.' That was the secret of her beautiful life."

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2006-06-03 17:30:10 bonjourelise Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:40:37 -04:00 Kimberly and Zack are here!!

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2006-05-24 12:59:12 bonjourelise Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:40:53 -04:00

hehe...

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2006-05-21 13:09:09 bonjourelise Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:41:14 -04:00 Hey everyone!

I can't write for long...I've got to start getting ready for the day.

Erin and Ethan are on a cruise. *Napoleaon Dynamite voice* Lucky!

I have Keepers today, we're finishing making the doll, of which I am waaaay behind.

We have History to do today, and math. (fun stuff)

I've been loving this rain! We've had like 4 thunderstorms in teh course of 2 days. Yesterday we went to Booker T. Washington memorial, it rained there and we 'chased' it all the way home. It was gorgeous!!

Elise 
PTL

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2006-05-16 06:43:16 bonjourelise Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:41:34 -04:00 Here's another interesting verse:

"And that is why a woman who publicly prays or prophesies with out a covering on her head dishonors her husband [for her covering is a sign of her subject to him]. Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, then she should cut off all her hair. And if it is shameful for a woman to have her head shaved, then she should wear a covering...So a woman should wear a covering on her head as a sign that she is under man's authority, a fact for all the angels to notice and rejoice in."

I Corinthians 11:5-6, 10

Wow, this is so convicting! I know that God wants me to cover my head while praying, but it's such an un-politically correct and un-socially acceptable thing that it would be hard to do. But, God has given me a calling, He's given all women the same calling, and we need to obey. So, I prayed, and told God, that if He brings me a head covering, then I'll wear it! (with His help and encouragement)

Another interesting thing about this verse: Feminists are not biblical!! This verse clearly states that women are subject to men!! Wow!

God Bless,
Elise
PTL (Praise The Lord)

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2006-05-10 08:23:31 bonjourelise Sat, 27 May 2006 19:19:44 -04:00 "In a wealthy home there are dishes made of gold and silver as well as some made from wood and clay. The expensive dishes are used for guests, and the cheap ones are used in the kitchen or to put garbage in. If you stay away from sin you will be like one of these dishes made from the purest gold - the very best in the house - so that Christ himself can use you for His highest purposes."

2 Timothy 2:20-21, NLT

"Guard well the splendid, God-given ability you received as a gift from the Holy Spirit who lives within you."
2 Tim. 1:14

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2006-05-08 14:05:20 Home, Sweet Home bonjourelise Sat, 06 May 2006 20:04:06 -04:00 I'm Back!! And happy to be home!!

Camp was wonderful! We had a blast! I learned how to silk ribbon embroider, arrange flowers etc. I was in several skits for drama class, and Catherine, Hannah and I sang 'Be thou My Vision' for the concert at the end of the week. It was quite lovely, my cabin mates were great, and I made new friends, as well as enjoying time with my old ones.

Today, I was welcomed home with a great big sign by the door saying, "Welcome Home Aunt Elisa!" It was from Ethan and Erin. It was so special, I felt very happy. They made a wonderful dinner for me, and Erin's making dessert! Benj invited me to jump on the trampoline outside with him, we had a great time, laughing and playing around.
My family is so wonderful, every last one of them is dear to my heart.
Thanks guys, for the wonderful homecoming!!

I hope everyone has a great day, and a great rest of the week!
God Bless,
Elise
PTL

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2006-05-06 20:03:24 Camp!! bonjourelise Sun, 30 Apr 2006 08:43:33 -04:00 So, leave me some 'goodbye' comments!! I shall miss you all!

Have a great day!!

In Christ
Elise
PTL
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2006-04-30 08:43:01 bonjourelise Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:43:03 -04:00 Hello Dearies

Like my new colors??

Mostly doing school lately, working on 4-H presentations, vocabulary, Bible and math. I have a lot to do today!

"Shout with joy before the Lord, O earth! Obey him gladly; come before him, singing with joy. Try to realize what this means - the Lord is God! He made us - we are is people, the sheep of his pature. Go through his open gates with thanksgiving; enter his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and his faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation." Psalm 100, NLT

In Christ,
Elise
PTL

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2006-04-27 12:43:03 bonjourelise Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:20:21 -04:00 We went to church this morning, it was fun.  

Afterwards the Pastor at Blanch and his family came over for lunch. (Now I'm going to make Angel happy, and tell you all what we ate) We had really good chunky beef stew, yummy salad, and bread (are you happy Angel?). Benj, the 3 boys (Richard, Jonathan and Benjamin) and I played outside. We jumped on the tramp, and then had a waterballoon/squirt gun/hose fight. Then we played capture the flag, hide and go seek, and sardines. Then we went inside and played board games. I was so exhausted!! After they left, I took a nap. Then when I woke up, mom told me that Caitlin was coming over! Yay!! So I changed my shirt (so I looked presentable) and changed my Xanga colors (don't you just love all these details?). Then she came over! And she was driving!! She did so good! We played Uno, ate popcorn and sweet tea, and caught up. She only stayed a bit, but we had fun.  

Have a great day everyone!!!

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2006-04-23 20:20:21 bonjourelise Sun, 23 Apr 2006 18:46:00 -04:00 Hello Dearies

Mostly just hung out and did school today. We also cleaned up for the Bible study tonight.

Oh, and I saw the first snake of the season (for me) yesterday! Ugh! It was just a dirt snake, but it was still aweful. I know, I know, I'm girly.

Let's see, what have we done lately that's interesting, anything? Hmm...well, yesterday we had a pretty aweful experience: we were all working in the backyard (wait, let me re-phrase that: Erin and mom were working in the yard and I was reading and eating a delicious cadberry-caramel egg on the swing.) and I heard a bunch of dogs barking, it sounded like they were fighting. Then we heard a young child yell and start to scream/cry. Mom and Erin ran up to the road to see who it was and what was wrong, I grabbed Ethan and followed them. It turns out that a little girl from up the street, Kimberly, had been riding her bike up the road with her two dogs, Daisy went up and got scared by the girl's huge German Shepherd and ran right in front of the bike wheel. Resulting in the girl crashing her bike, and Daisy with a black tire mark on her back leg. She was hurt pretty bad, Erin says she had blood on her head and knees. Mom drove her home, and later we went up to see if she was ok. It turned out that she's going to be fine.

Oh, and I finished my Rennaisance dress for Family Affair tomorrow. It's navy blue with light blue sleeves and gold trim. It took soo long to make!!! I started it one Teusday, worked off and on all day, then worked almost constantly Wednesday and Thursday, finishing yesterday afternoon. Phew! I was exausted! But I'm done and happy, because it's pretty.

Alright, I've got to go, time to finish cleaning up. Have a great day everyone! God Bless!

EA

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2006-04-21 18:09:04 bonjourelise Sun, 23 Apr 2006 18:46:38 -04:00 We had a wonderful Easter!!

Saturday

We woke up really early and got our Easter baskets! We do this on Saturday so we can spend more time thinking about God and the resurection on Sunday. Ethan was so adorable as he found the candy inside the plastic eggs. His face lit up as he saw it all, he said, 'Ca' and point to his mouth, which means 'candy.'
Then we mostly just hung around the house. At abnormal amounts of candy, and vegged around. Then around 11:00 we went to an Easter Egg hunt at a farm by our church. It was really fun, I searched for eggs (not as hard as the little kids...) and I found 2. It was really funny...I was truly searching too and I couldn't find anymore! So I gave mine to Ethan. We hung out on the dock and watched people in the little paddle boats, some people fished. It was so hot, I put my feet in the water. We had hot-dogs, and drinks. It was very fun. Benj got pushed in the pond, he was planning on jumping in anyway though.
Then, since he was wet, we both got to drive home in the back of Dalton's truck. I was kinda scared....
Then the rest of the day we just relaxed and spent time together. We took naps, and Benj and I played 2 man dodgeball on the trampoline.
Then, mom, dad and I watched an Easter video, I didn't even finish it, I was too tired!!

Sunday

We woke up at 5:30 AM!! I hurried and got dressed, and we left for the sunrise service. It was very nice, we were outside, over looking a large feild and the cemetery, the sun rose, the birds sang, the cows mooed (hey, we are out in the country), and the congregation sang. I enjoyed it! And I'm a morning person, so the earliness of it wasn't too bad.
Then we all went inside the church for a pot-luck breakfast. Hannah Gibson and I helped with the drinks. There was hot-chocolate, coffee, dohnuts, biscuits, fruit....i.e. yumminess.
After breakfast was over I went outside and played basketball with Benj and his friends. Needless to say I wasn't that good...:)
We went home, changed into more churchy clothes and came back for the regular church service, in which the Youth Choir sang.
Then we all went home and took naps!! I was so tired!! Then Erin and I made a really yummy Easter dinner (if I do say so myself). We had ham, sweet potatoe puree, asparegus, squash 'n onions, spinach salad, and rolls. It was soo good!!
That evening mom and I went on a walk, then I went to bed!

So, I had a good Easter. Maybe the best one I've ever had. The Lord has been so good to me!

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2006-04-18 14:32:11 bonjourelise Fri, 14 Apr 2006 07:28:54 -04:00 Happy Easter!!

I hope everyone has a good Easter weekend!

"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Matthew 28:6

And some Easter Cartoons to make you smile...

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2006-04-14 07:28:18 bonjourelise Mon, 10 Apr 2006 17:18:52 -04:00 Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas with Mickey Mantle.  Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch.  When they reached the ranch, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he checked in with his friend.  Mantle's friend quickly gave them permission to hunt, but he asked Mickey a favor.  He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind, and didn't have the heart to put him out of his misery.  He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him.  When Mickey came back to the car, he pretended to be angry.  He scowled and slammed the door.  Billy asked him what was wrong, and Mickey said his friend wouldn't let them hunt.  "I'm so mad at that guy, " Mantle said, "I'm going out to his barn and shoot one of his mules!"  Martin protested, "We can't do that!"  But Mickey was adamant.  "Just watch me."  He jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran inside the barn, and shot the mule.   As he was leaving, though, he heard two shots.  He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle, too.  "What are you doing, Martin" he yelled.  Martin yelled back, face red with anger, "We'll show him!  I just killed two of his cows!"
 
Scott Bowerman 
 
]]> 2006-04-10 17:18:52 bonjourelise Fri, 07 Apr 2006 11:14:27 -04:00  "It seems so funny and horrible to think of Diana's being married," sighed Anne..."I don't see what's so horrible about it, when she's doing so well," said Mrs. Lynde emphatically. "Fred Wright has a fine farm and he is a model young man."  "He certainly isn't the wild, dashing, wicked young man Diana once wanted to marry," smiled Anne. "Fred is extremely good." "That's just what he ought to be. Would you want Diana to marry a wicked man? Or marry one yourself?" "Oh, no. I wouldn't want to marry anybody who was wicked, but I think I'd like it if he could be wicked and wouldn't. Now, Fred is hopelessly good.""You'll have more sense some day, I hope," said Marilla.
                                                                                                    -Anne of the Island  

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2006-04-07 11:14:27 bonjourelise Thu, 06 Apr 2006 09:55:19 -04:00

This is Daisy Mae. She's a good dog. Very spoiled...:)

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2006-04-06 09:55:19
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