2 Giveaways!

Here are two, yes two giveaways from The Design Girl's Blog! They are both equally adorable, so you should go check them out! I have both of the pictures on here so you have an idea of what they look like. Good luck if you enter this fantastic giveaway!

Did you know?

I have this cool, funny, interesting, and kind of wacky science teacher this year. I enjoy going to her class each day, because it is such a blast! Each day she has a little fact or what my class calls it a "did you know" on her white board. You might find this amusing, but I write each fact down on a piece of notebook paper so I can share them with my family. :D Here are a few of the neatest ones that I picked out...

Did you know?

• A ducks quack does not echo. No one knows why.
• Butterflies taste with their feet.
• A giraffes heart weighs 25 pounds.
• Once in England because of a water spout it rained frogs!

Here is the most important fact you should know of all. Jesus died on the cross for you, so that you could be saved, and cleansed you from your sins. He did it just for you so you could be in heaven with him for eternity! That means for ever and ever! It doesn't get better than that! Now you might be wondering, how I can get to heaven to be with Jesus? It is as easy as this. You just accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord. You also believe that he died on the cross for you, and saved you. Here are a few scriptures from the bible that talk about this.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Romans 5:8

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us."

John 14:6

"Jesus answered, I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Romans 10:9

"If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

John 1:12

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

For more information on this go to this website.

The Gift of Good Books

These are a few of the books on my bookshelf that I would like to share with you. Each book is also written by Irene Howat. Every book has a good message and greatly interests me, and I hope it will you too. So here I go.

.

This first book I will introduce is called Ten Girls Who Changed the World. I have three other books in the series that I will show you later, but basically what it is about is what the title says! :D These girls include Gladys Aylward, Mary Slessor, Isobel Kuhn, Elizabeth Fry, Jackie Pullinger, Amy Carmichael, Jony Eareckson Tada, Catherine Booth, Corrie Ten Boom, and Evelyn Brand. Each of these girls in this book shared the light that Jesus gave them, and shared it with the WORLD! I found all of their stories very interesting, and I believe if you go and read this book you will too!

The next book that I have in this series is called Ten Girls Who Made History . These girls include Florence Nightingale, Henrietta Mears, Mary Jane Kinnaird, Ilisabeth Elliot, Ida Scudder, Betty Green, Jeanette Li, Bessie Adams, Emma Dryer, and Lottie Moon. Each of these girls made history, and changed the world also just like in the first book. One thing you outta know. They did it with Jesus. This book encouraged me, and also helped me.

The third book I have in this series is called Ten Girls Who Didn't Give In . These are the names of the girls who didn't give in. Blandina, Perpetua, Lady Jane Grey, Anne Askew, Lusken Dirks, Marion Harvey, Margaret Wilson, Judith Weinberg, Betty Stam, and Esther John. All the girls in this book grew up to be women who didn't give in. They chose to do the right thing instead of the wrong thing like the bible says in Matthew 7:13-14. Each of these girls never lost faith in Jesus, and always followed Him.

The last, but not least book in this series is called Ten Girls Who Used Their Talents . The girls in this book include Helen Roseveare, Maureen Mckenna, Annie Lawson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sarah Edwards, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, Mildred Cable, Katie Ann Mackinnon, Patricia St. John, and Mary Verghese. Each of these gals used their God given talents to spread the gospel, and truth around the world. How inspiring!

I hope you enjoyed these book reviews, and will get to read them some time!

24/7/365

Draw near God and He will draw near to you.

James 4:8 (NKJV)

A few months ago my dad switched to a new job flying helicopters. When he is away it is easy to become disconnected, or lose touch for awhile. There are lots of different ways to keep in touch with dad while he is gone though. It isn't like we never get to talk. My family can call him, video chat, send him e-mails, letters, and we can text. I am sure you can think of lots of other ways we could talk to.

The same thing can happen with God. If we don't walk with Him by praying, worshiping, and, reading our Bibles it is very easy that we can become disconnected. But when we do practice these things and draw near to God, like James 4:8 says, we build a relatinship with Him, and when you build relationships you become stronger in your spirital life! Try to do this everyday. You know the saying 24/7/365.

What are you going to do about this? Do you want to build a relationship with God? Just remember this God is our Abba, our heavenly father, and he wants to spend just as much time with you as your earthly father does.

My First Tag

I was tagged by Miss Monica June. It is kinda long, but oh well! More fun for me!

What are you doing right now?
This tag.

Are you hungry?
Now that you bring that up I am going to the pantry to get some gold fish. :P

What did you do last night?
I went to the airport.

What was the last movie you watched?
Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs

How many blog awards have you gotten?
7

Where do you wish you were right now?
At the pool

When is your birthday?
November 2, 1997

What book are you reading right now?
Anne of Avonlea

Is it a good book?
Not sure I have just read the first to pages.

What is your favorite book?
A Little Princess

What is your computer wallpaper of?
A July Fourth themed wallpaper from Leelou Blogs

Are you bored?
Yes

What are you doing tonight?
Going swimming and watching a movie

What are you doing tomorrow night?
Going to church and seeing my brother get baptized

How many blogs do you have?
1

Do you spend a lot of time on the computer?
Not really. Only when I am bored.

What is the title of this post?
My First Tag

When was the last time you rode a horse?
I think when I was five.

What was the most recent blog award you've gotten?
Sister in Christ Award

How many people have you helped set up a blog?
3 including me!

What is the title of your background?
Caitlyn

Where did you get your background from?
Shabbyblogs.com

What template are you using?
Minima

How many items do you have on your desktop?
50

Do you have a cat?
Yes

What is your favorite thing to do on a sunny day?
Go swimming and play outside.

What are you going to do when you get off this computer?
Maybe go watch TV.

I tag any one who wants to do this tag.

I tag any one who wants to do this tag.

Happy Independence Day!

BOOM CRASH BANG, Today is Independence Day!

Yippee woo hoo! Look at the lights what a wonderful night.

Family and friends meet altogether.

Cooking up treasures of so much fun say it together everyone!

"Independance Day Independance Day, tonight we declare our freedom.

Be joyful, make memories this only comes around each year!

Happy Birthday America,

Everyone cheer!"

Picture and poem by Lady Olivia.

A Special Way to Pray

I was reading this magazine/devotional book. (I couldn't really decide what it was.) It had this little devotional that I wanted to share with you. This isn't the whole thing, but it is basically the main idea. I put it in my own words.

Do you ever get in a habit that when you pray it is kinda like you are just asking for things? I know I do. Here is a little model that we can follow called ACTS.

The "A" in ACTS stands for adoration. That means to sort of brag on God. Praise Him for how awesome he is. Adore Him. When you pray rember the things you love about him. Examples would be praising Him for His perfection, ability to forgive, His power, how much he loves us, and His gift of Jesus. Adortion helps us to take all our attention off ourselves and put it on God.

The "C" in ACTS stands for confession. Confession means to tell God what we did wrong, asking Him to forgive us, and to ask Him to help us to not do that thing again. Confessing our sin everyday helps us remember that sin is serious to God.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

The "T" in ACTS stands for thanks. We should have thanksgiving everyday, and thank God for His wonderful blessings. Since it is sometimes hard to forget to thank God you can have a prayer journal where you write down things your thankful for, blessings, and prayers.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:8

The "S" in ACTS stands for supplication. That means asking God for somthing for ourselves or for others. Try to think of others before you think of yourself when you are praying. We should talk to God like we would with our mom or dad or even with our best friend. Tell Him everything!

ACTS helped me think more about the way I prayed. It helped me alot, and I hope it will help you.

Now, let me remind you of a free resource for girls like the book that I mentioned above. Growing in Grace is an online magazine for young ladies. You have to buy what I just reviewed, but GGM doesn't cost a thing! Be sure and give them a visit because the new July edition is out! Enjoy!

Fruit Pizza

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galations 5:22-23

The other day we had a get together with my dad's side of the family to celebrate June birthdays. My mom wanted to make something fresh, but still sweet for everyone to enjoy. We decided to make Fruit Pizza. This recipe is a great summer treat, and will satisfy your sweet tooth.

What you need:

• store-bought refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• cream cheese
• any type of fruit you want to put on your pizza

Directions:

Press your cookie dough into a pizza pan. (You may need a rolling pin to flatten.) Bake according to the package's directions. Because of the cookies size you may need to bake a few minutes longer. While the cookie cools off, mix 8 ounces of cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in a bowl. Next spread the mix on top of the cookie. Put sliced fruit on top of the pizza. I used blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, and kiwi. Once you are done place in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat. Voila! Fruit Pizza.


This is my favorite treat to eat and I hope you can enjoy it as much as I do.

Photo Contest

Hannah at Farmgirl in Flipflops is having a photo contest. Today is the last day to enter. I am kinda last minute, but oh well. Here are my pictures I took...

This one is for the catagory still life.

These two are for the nature catagory.

Ni Hao!

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15

KJV

I am guessing you probably don't get the title of this blog post. Am I right? Well here lately I have been learning Chinese, and Ni Hao means Hello. When I told my mom I wanted to learn a new language she asked me what language I was interested in so I told her Chinese.

She replied back, "Are you sure you don't want to try something a little easier like Spanish?"

I said," No I am up for the challenge."

At first my mother and I didn't know how I was going to learn. I sugjested Roseta Stone, but then my mom informed me that it could cost alot of money. So after figuring that out we shoved that thought out of our minds. Next we went to Walmart.com and serched for a Chinese lesson game. Up came on our computer screen a little picture of a Nintendo DS game called My Chinese Coach with a desicription about it. It was only about 30 dollars and looked like a much better deal. I saved up my money and before I new it I was at Walmart purchasing the game! Walmart has lots of other games that are simular to the game I bought. Including My Japanese Coach, My Spanish Coach, My French Coach, etc.

The reason I wanted to learn Chinese is becase someday I want to be a missionary in China (see verse at the beginning of this post). Also I want to meet the little girl we sponsor in China named Lisa. You can read about her here.

I think My Chinese coach is just as good as Roseta Stone just at a better price. It teaches you Chinese using a thing called Pinying. Pinying teaches you to learn Chinese through the latin alphabet. My game also teaches you how to write the characters for each word. Also in chinese there are four tones so things could look the same to us, but they have different meanings.

Now that you know that would you like to learn a few simple words in Chinese? Ok here we go...

Hello: ni hao

Thank you: xie xie ( You say the x like the word she)

How are you?: ni hao ma?

Good/Fine: hao

Goodbye: zai jian

You're welcome: bukeqi

My Alarm Clock Today

Do not watch until you have read the story that goes a long with the video.



It is summer time at my house right now. That means sleeping in, swimming, playing outside, etc. This morning I was sleeping in my bed when I suddenly was woken up by this racket at 8:30am. (You will get that once you hear the video.) The speaker was also turned up all the way and there was a lot of loud laughter. I am sure you can imagine my reaction to this. I jump out of bed. A chill goes through my body. I open my door to check and see if any aliens are invading and go up to my mother and ask in a loud tone, "What just woke me up, and why is it so loud?"

She then answers " Oh I am sorry I thought you were awake." She then told me I MUST watch this video. Guess what? I am suddenly caught up in the laughter too! Although I am still kind of drowsy from being up so early.

Since then I have probably watched this video ten times, and I am still not tired of it! So you absolutely must watch. Listen to my mother's advice. You will get a kick out of it! Trust me.

P.S. Make sure you don't have any siblings still sleeping!

Image Chef

A while ago I went to this place called Image Chef and made something cool. I posted about, but I haven't been since then... So I decided to go today and look what I made! My favorite shape is a peace sign and I love the saying "Live Laugh Love", I mixed them together and there you go! I made a master piece. ;D

From the Learning Room

What I am reading: The Swiss Family Robinson


Bible Verses: 1John 4:16, Romans 12:21, Luke 12:24, Psalm 46:1, and, Psalm 37:4


Prayer: For my Grandpa to get better, Miss Wanda, and my mom she has skin cancer.


Cooking: nothing right now


Homesteading: Cleaning up around the house


Pet Chores: Feed and Give the cat and dog water, brush my dog, Zoey and, take her for a walk


A photo I would like to share with you: You can't see me in the picture here, but I was feeding this dolphin at Sea World. I was on a field trip with my shcool. I might post a bout it a little later.

Growing in Grace

Hi everyone. The new GGM (Growing in Grace) is out for June! You will have to go check it out. It has a pretty theme this month. The cover girl is Miss Virginia. If you go and see the magazine you can find some articles under these topics...
Summer Fun,
Articles from the whole team to dads for Fathers Day,
An Interview of Miss Virginia, and so on.

I hope you enjoy!

Awards

Miss Monica June gave me two new awards. She gave me The Sister in Christ award and The Cutest Blog award. Here is what they look like...

Thank you Miss Monica! I will award the Sister in Christ award to Miss Hannah. For the Cutest Blog award I will give that to Miss Gina.

My Little Sister in Christ

My family and I just sponsered a little girl all the way from China. Harmony Outreach is the orphanage in China where we sponsered her. Here is a picture of the girl we sponsered...

Her name is Lisa, but her origanal Chinese name is Xin Xiaoling. Once you sponser a child the company sends you all of their information and the even send you a handmade doll made by the chinese people. Here is a picture of that...

It is kinda like she is a part of our family now because her picture is right next to our portrait.

At the Harmony House they made a little bio about her. This is it.

"Lisa is full of life and energy and is always engaged in some activity and fond of smiling. Her growth is good and her body is strong. She is smart and understands many of the nanny’s words already. Sometimes she is stubborn. She likes playing with toys, with other children, climbing, and taking walks. She isn’t choosy about food and eats very well. She likes to put her finger in her month when she is sleeping. She arrived in our care on November 28, 2008 from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province in the extreme West of China. She is named after Lisa Bentley. "

There are still losts of children that need to be sponsered. You can even sponser children from other places like the Kaifeng Deaf School.

These are the children that go there. Harmony House is partners with this school.

John Bently offical started the program Harmony House you can read all about it at the website http://www.harmonyoutreach.org/.

Martha and Mary

Luke 10:38-42 (King James Version)
38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Character study on Martha:
In Luke 10:38-42, Martha talked to Jesus and said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me. It seems that Martha would get distracted by preparations. She loved Jesus, but it was easy to get distracted. Words that describe Martha are demanding, questioning, loving.

Character study on Mary:
Mary sat at the Lord's feet and listened to everything He said. Jesus was very important to her. Here are some words describing Mary...loving, good, attentive. In Luke 10:38-42, Mary did not talk. She listened.

In comparing Mary and Martha, I feel that they were very different from each other. Martha pretty much yelled at Jesus, while Mary was sitting quietly at His feet.

I think I am most like Mary, although I have my Martha moments. Who do you feel you are most like?

Awards

I have been awarded!

I have been given The Lemonade Award from Miss Hannah. This award is presented to bloggers who show thankfulness and gratefulness! Thanks again!

I will award:

Miss Monica

Gina

Jess

Miss Wanda

I have also benn given another award which is the Excellence of Blogcasting Award from Alli.

I will award:
Growing in Grace
Sonflower

Jesus Loves

This was my first post. Some of you haven't been looking at my blog since then here you go...

Jesus died on the cross

He did this because He loves

Jesus took away our sins

He did this because He loves

Jesus healed the sick

He did this because He loves

Jesus finds the lost

He did this because He loves

Jesus loves

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!

Kari Jobe Concert

This Sunday my family went to a concert at my church. It was a CD release concert for Kari Jobe. It was so amazing! Everyone and their dog was there. We didn't get there in time to get a seat in the church auditorium even though we were thirty minutes early. My family had to go to the overflow room. It was still neat from there though. After the concert ended I got to get my CD signed by Kari herself! Here is a picture...

It is a little blurry and I was blinking my eyes, but oh well it was on my mom's IPhone. My favorite song is Beautiful.

Bookmark Giveaway!

My friend Miss Hannah is holding a bookmark giveaway. Here is what they look like.

Fantastic Floral

Lovely VintagePerfect Polka Dots

For rules to enter go here. Deadline for entry is Jan. 31.

Beging to End

I started as a plain and dull piece of pottery

will someone see me and swoop me up in their arms?

All of a sudden a girl lightly picks me up and says, " This is the one mother."

She sets me down and ponders such things out loud like colors.

Finally she decides on brown polka dots and a flower in the center with a pink background.

She paints and paints until she is finished,

they leave me here in this place and I wonder why they do not take me.

At the store, the owners put me in a hot container.

Once I come out I am beautiful.

Later in the week my new friends pick me up and take me to their home

I am shiny and have a new feeling, and I am wanted right where I am.

If I Were

If I were a tree

I would be a cherry blossom tree,

mounted on top of the highest hilltop in Mongolia.

If you sat under my canopy,

you could hear all the laughter of the little children down in the village.

I would be the perfect cherry blossom tree.

Every day someone would sit on one of my branches and eat an apple.

The sun would shine through my flowers

and make the most beautiful shade of pink.

Children would point at the sight and ooh and aah.

I would too if I could.

I never get lonely on this hilltop of mine,

even though I am the only one here.

Every season each day someone new visits me.

Oh what a joy, oh what a joy it would be if I were a cherry blossom tree.

Shalom~Peace

When I heard that the theme at Growing in Grace for January was peace, I was excited to hear this because it is one my favorite fruits of the Spirit. It is special to me because it is the meaning of my name. I wasn't very sure of this until I saw Miss Jocelyn’s article where you type in your name and it comes up in Hebrew. My name on there meant peaceable and perfect. After that, I was really sure that is what it meant.

The dove is a symbol of peace. In the Bible, a dove was released by Noah after the great flood in order to find land. The dove came back carrying an olive branch in its beak, letting Noah know that the water had gone down and there was land once again for man to live on. You can read this story in Genesis 8.Jesus is the Prince of peace. Whenever I feel the presence of the Lord I sense this great peace come over me and all of a sudden I feel calm and relaxed. That only comes from Him. You can even feel His peace in hard times.

Interesting Fact...The peace symbol was created in Britain as a sign of nuclear disarmament, which means they wanted to get rid of nuclear weapons.

Now, the LORD bless thee, and keep thee. The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Numbers 6:24-26

Book Giveaway's

At GGM they are hosting lots of new givaways. First of all there are to two books from the Girls N' Grace series. One is about a girl named Sydney Claire, the book is called Discovering
Grace in the 60's. You can read the review here. The next Girls N' Grace book is about a book called Mesi's Season of change. You can read that review here. Both these books are written by Pam Davis All these giveaways end January 31 so follow all the instructions on the review pages. Hope you have fun with it and good luck! You can check out the Girls N' Grace site at this link...http://girlsngrace.com/






~Olivia

Is This Cool or What?

ImageChef.com Flower Text

Do you see what it says? Liv Laf Luv! Just a little fun to make your day a little better.