What's Been Happening...

Hello! Just thought I'd try to fill you in a little on what's happening with me! :)

Well, last Thursday morning, my four-member family left on a two-day-one-night camping trip - something we haven't done in AGES! We had an extremely enjoyable time, sitting and reading, swimming, hiking, playing UNO, and just visiting, knowing there was nothing 'pressing' that was demanding our time, and nowhere we had to go. We took our new tent (we've only slept in it twice before, and both of those times were in our backyard, which doesn't count ;) ), and Dad made hamburgers and hotdogs on the little grill provided at the camp site (yea, I know, we cheated) and we roasted marshmallows over a campfire. All in all, we really enjoyed the two days.

Next week (beginning Monday) is Vacation Bible School at church, and Trissy and I have been over there every day this week (except today) helping Lindy and her mom decorate Oliver's classroom. Yes, Oliver is one of the teachers - he's got the kindergarten age group. He's had to work most of the week though, and couldn't work on the room himself, so he was really grateful for the help. We've had alot of fun, but we're about ready for it to be finished! We are really praying for the Lord to get glory out of this VBS. We've been praying for the kids that will attend, and even for adults that might be affected as well.

I made tacos for lunch today, and they turned out pretty good, even if I do say so myself ;). I'm not much of a cook, so that's always 'iffy' - how the meal will turn out, that is. :)

I'm supposed to start a summer class Monday. It's online though, so that is a REAL blessing! I won't have to drive to the college that way, and I might still have a chance at some of the summer trips going on around here. There is a camp in June (I might have mentioned it before) run by some people who go way back with my folks. They used to be missionaries together, and now some of the kids are great friends with Trissy and me. I am so praying I can go to that camp! The Bible teaching is so good, and it's a great challenge - plus I get to see friends (family, almost) who I only get to fellowship with once or twice a year.
Speaking of these friends-who-are-almost-like-family, one of these friends' mother is expecting a baby any day now. Her parents have been wanting more children for years now (she has two sisters), and they've lost about five. This one was supposed to come Tuesday, and she promised to send me a postcard as soon as he got here. I should have gotten it by now, and I'm getting afraid something went wrong. Please pray for this!

Well, I've got to run - So long for now! :)

Catch Up...

Ok, yeah, I know I haven't posted in a LONG time, but you have to understand that I can't spend all my time on the computer ;)! Anyway, with finals in school, and finishing that up, then trying to get at least somewhat caught up on my 'other' life, I just have not had the opportunity to blog for several weeks, as I'm sure you've noticed (my visitor counter tells me you have been faithfully visiting - I'm sorry I haven't had anything fresh for you in so long!). I don't think I've even looked at another blog in about four weeks or so, except for just a short, unsatisfactory glance. So I appologize for the lack of comments on the blogs I usually follow regularly - I hope to do some back-reading, to try to catch up on what's been going on with y'all during my month-long 'blog silence'.



So, what's been going on with me lately? Well, (in a nutshell) of course besides finishing up school, I've been doing alot of picking-up-clutter, vacuuming, yard/garden work, feeding animals, doing dishes, and just in general trying to catch up on all my chores that have been, out of necessity, sadly neglected and/or left on Trissy's and Mom's shoulders while I scrambled with finals and end-of-semester assignments. I've also had the privalege of starting a book (for pleasure, this time - not a textbook!), spending evenings with Dad, Mom, Trissy, and my grandparents instead of studying, being outside, putting in a couple of extra days at work (saving for a camera), being available when my family needed an extra hand with something, planning a baby quilt for a friend, getting in bed before 2:00 AM, and other little pleasures of ordinary, every-day existance that, I regret to say, I took slightly for granted before I aquired a second life and identity called, 'college student'.



So that's it in a nutshell. I'll try to begin posting again in more detail as I get the chance.



I never filled y'all in on the chicks we were supposed to have hatch. Well, out of the dozen-and-a-half, only seven broke the shell. Of those, five actually hatched. And one of those is crippled. But he/it has certainly taught me lessons on patience, perseverance, compassion, responsibility, and determination. It flaps it's wings and kicks with one leg and scoots on it's stomach instead of walking, but it is slowly learning how to get around. The other four are big enough that they are already out in the chicken pen with the big chickens, but this little guy is still up here at the house in a cardboard box, and I feed and water it every couple of hours or so. Since it has such little control over it's fine-motor mobility, I have to hold it so it can reach into the little cup of feed or water, and it pecks and drinks that way. Alot of people would/do think it's an awful lot of trouble to go to for just one crippled chick. Why not just go ahead and put it out of it's misery, and save myself alot of time and trouble as well? But here's the thing: It seems like a principle - I/we prayed that it would live, when it first hatched and it seemed like there was no way it could survive. And the Lord caused it to live and even thrive, except for it's crippledness. Also, I feel like the Lord is using it to teach me lessons in character like the list I mentioned above. He doesn't just throw us away when we're hurting does He? And a parent (at least, a Godly one) doesn't give up, when they have a hurt or handicapped child! Of course not! So, as I try to help it along, I'm praying the Lord will teach me lessons in the situation, and I'm still holding out hope that eventually the chick will become independent and I will be rewarded for all my efforts.

Well, that is all the time I have for tonight. Lord willing, I will be able to update y'all on some of the other things that have been happening to me ;) , hopfully soon, but if not, please bear with me and rest assured, I do plan to come back! :)

May the Lord work mightily in your lives! 'Til we meet again -

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

-Kyrie<><

Last day - thank the Lord!

Today is officially my last day of college for this year - thank the Lord!

I've only got a minute (I'm working frantically on my last assignments), but I wanted to post about this - it gave me a smile :)

Well, I'm up to my nose in the middle of my last assignment that has to be turned in in just a little while, working as hard as I can and, frankly, quite stressed! All of a sudden my phone rings, I answered it, and it's Mom.

She just called to say "I love you" :)

So I answered "Hello", and she just says, "Hello - I love you." And she had this cute little smile in her voice.
"How's it going?" she asked.
(I don't know exactly what I answered, but something along the lines of 'Working hard, but it's coming along good.')
So she says, 'Ok, well, bye!'

Anyway, it was just cute and sweet, and made the work I still had to do a little easier!

Will try to post later after things have calmed down just a little... Maybe in a couple of days. Hope things are going well for you!

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

Large and Small: Chickens!

Hello all! Just a quick post on: Chickens!

My instructor at the college (the one I've asked you to pray for) knows we have chickens, and like farm life and all that. She knew another girl at the college who had a couple of roosters she was needing to get rid of, and Mrs. H (my instructor) asked me if we wanted one. Dad and Mom said we could take one, even though we've got a rooster, but we have plenty of space since our chicken population has been declining over the past couple of years, and besides, the rooster we have has pretty much NO dominating spirit whatsoever, even over the hens! So anyway, here is our new little rooster! :



See the feathers on his legs? He's a Silky and Mrs. H said feathers on the legs, and a sort of silky down instead of feathers are trademarks of Silkies. Uncle David and his family were down visiting when I brought him home, and the two cousins helped us name him: Brainerd. Because, according to them, his comb looks like a brain, and his "brain" makes him look like a nerd, and also Brainerd was the name of a missionary, so that's always good!
I know, crazy huh? But Trissy and I agreed it was kind of cute; and the logic worked, if you're not too picky, so Brainerd he became! :)

Mrs. H has also been wanting to loan me her incubator for quite some time so that we could hatch some chicks. So finally several weeks ago, she told me she had a neighbor who was "needing to get rid of some eggs", and said we could have them to hatch if we wanted them. So she brought about a dozen and a half to school, and her incubator, and they're supposed to hatch Tuesday!



Ok, well, I'm going to go for now. Told you this wouldn't be very long, but anyway... I'll try to post pictures of the chicks when they hatch. So long for now!

Spring And School

Well, they say that Spring is finally here. And while the sun shines, the days warm to a comfortable in-between temperature, I'm reminded of God's mercy that is new every morning. He is so good to give us just what we need, when we need it. How kind He is!



{Photo property of Image Nature (images of nature). May only be used with permission.}


Please pray for me this week in school. It's kindof tough right now. But I'm encouraged, for my instructor is seeming to become slowly more open when I talk about my faith. Please, please pray that I would be the kind of witness I need to be so that she would see Christ in my life and want Him. What an honor it would be if I could be privaleged to be the one to lead her to Jesus!

Have a wonderful day everyone

-Kyrie<><

TV Tales, Country Expirements, and Basic Random

Hello dear people! My gracious, I have not posted much in quite a while! But I do have a legit. reason, though you have probably gotten as tired of me using it as I have: school. Yes, school. *BLAH!* I am on Spring Break this week, but it has not been much of a "break" really - though I am so thankful for it, for it has given me a chance to catch up with all the homework that is coming up due, and that I haven't had time to devote to yet because of all the other assignments that were due "now". Thankfully so far I have all A's and B's, even in the two classes that have really been whipping me. Thank the Lord! My desire is to be a Godly witness for the Lord in whatever I do, and it will certainly not be a good reflection on Him or other believers, if I miss deadlines or do poorly. So I have devoted most of my time this week to HARD WORK - which never hurt anyone, but which sometimes threatens to make me scream! ;) So if I haven't commented on your blog in a while, and you are someone I 'follow', it's because I just haven't had computer 'free time' to do it in. I hope to catch up though before too long!

Well, moving on, I wanted to take a moment's break from my school and tell a little bit about the things other than school that have been going on lately - not much, but I still thought I'd share it.
Uncle David and his family were down visiting all last week, and though I had college, it was Spring Break for the Christian Academy, so I did not have work. That was very nice, so I got to spend more time with my two young cousins (even if alot of it was just being in the same room with them, while sitting on the couch doing homework on a borrowed laptop! LOL). But seriously, we did get to do a few things together. On Tuesday evening since I didn't have work, we got to sit down and watch a movie (all together) that I had heard about a while back. Aunt Winny's mother had gotten it for the kids after that, and they had been wanting us to see it. It's called "Pendragon: Sword of his father".



It is EXCELLENT. It was made by two homeschool families and a small army of friends and volunteers, and gives glory to the Lord while sweeping you off on an adventure ride back into the medival days of Britiania. There were a few goofs in a couple of places, and at times the acting wasn't quite as convincing, but for this to be their first movie, the quality was unbelievable. Add to that the fact that it was clean, wholesome, and God-honoring (which is ALOT more than I could say for most "Inspirational" "Christian" movies), and I was an immediate fan. If you have seen it, I'd love to hear your opinions! And if you haven't seen it - TRY TO! It really is a great movie! Click on the image to visit their website.

Still along the lines of TV, we've recently been introduced to a show that also seems like something worth watching. My grandparents have cable, and my grandmother started watching it, and got us started. It's called "DOC".



It's about a Montana cowboy/doctor who moves to New York, and is really too tender-hearted for his own good. He always takes his patients into his heart, and goes above and beyond his call as their doctor to help them. The staff at this clinic are not ashamed to talk about God, the Bible, and family values. Now, I haven't seen all the episodes, so it may not end up being as good as it first seems, but so far I have been quite impressed (the fault I have is that Doc could use a haircut). It comes on on the Gospel Music Station, and we enjoy watching it whenever we are free at 4:00 in the afternoon. If any of you knows more details, has seen it, or has opinions, I would love to hear more about it from another "angle". There's also a show that comes on right before it called "Sue Thomas, FBEye" that looks pretty good, but we haven't seen it as much as Doc.

Well, I was going to also post some new pictures of my "inside garden", but I guess my little camera really has given out at last. The pictures took fine, but when I tried to load them onto the computer, it was as if they had dissapeared off of the memory card. So anyway... But all my little plants seem to be doing well, except for the Lavender - only one little plant finally came up, but I still have seeds left over of all my plants, and after I get these set out in the garden (which I really need to do soon), I want to start them growing too.

This morning Mom and Trissy went into town to hopefully get Trissy's driver's license, and as they were leaving we noticed that one of our front Oaks (the younger one) was full of lady Cardinals! They were all facing South. There's alot of cloud cover right now (it's supposed to storm later on), but it seemed so strange. Do any of you, who might be a little more nature-wise than I, know what would have caused them to behave this way? Unless I'm mistaken, all the birds were female red birds, all facing the same direction, all in the same young oak tree, and there must have been seventy of them or so. I took pictures too, but couldn't load those either. Anyway, it just had us puzzled, and I wondered if any of you would know.

One more thing and then I've got to go. One of my instructors gave us a bunch of chicken eggs and loaned us her incubator so we could try to raise some chicks! We are down to five chickens (four hens and a rooster), none of them are setting, and almost every time we have tried setting our own, it has resulted in trajedy of some sort. So we are really hoping (and even praying) that all these will hatch and do well. We've put plastic Easter eggs, and golf balls out in the nests, hoping that will encourage some of our hens to set, and then when these chicks hatch, maybe they would "adopt" them so that we wouldn't have to keep them in a box in the house until they were old enough and big enough to fend for themselves out there!

Ok, well I really need to go. I just wanted to take a break and fill y'all in on a little of what's been going on. :)

Til later, Keep Looking UP!

-Kyrie<><

"Inside Garden" Update

Just a little update on my "inside garden" experiment :) . I noticed yesterday morning (or maybe it was the night before) that the pot I had planted the Asters and the 'mix' in had little sprouts in it! I was so excited!




And then last night, the dish I have the Shasta Daisies, Forget-Me-Nots, California Poppies, and Carpet of Snow in had sprouts on the Carpet of Snow row, and this morning the Shasta Daisy and California Poppy rows did too! So now in that dish (and yes, it is one of those trays you buy ground meat in. We recycle, OK?! ;) ) the only thing that hasn't come up (yet!) in that dish are the Forget-Me-Nots, and I'm hoping they will soon.
You probably can't even see the little green sprouts in the picture - they are very small still. Maybe if you look really close...




None of the seeds were even supposed to come up for at least a week, but every time the dirt even looks a little dry on top, I've been misting it with water out of Mom's spray bottle we use to dampen the clothes with when we're ironing :D ! So I think that has really encouraged them to go ahead and grow :) .




The only pot that doesn't have anything yet is the Lavendar pot. Hopefully they will start coming up soon.




I have all the dishes in front of our dining-room window during the day, to catch as much sun as possible. Then when it begins to get cold in the evening, I move them away from the drafty window and put them against another inside wall. I can't wait to have little plants to put in the garden!




Don't you just love my Americana flower pots, by the way?! I am a very patriotic and crafty person, and one year while Trissy and I were still young enough to be in 4-H, at one of our end-of-the-year closing programs we had a patriotic theme, and pots like that were used as centerpieces for some of the tables. I commented on how I liked them and would like to paint some myself, and our 4-H leader heard me and just gave me two of them! Wasn't that nice?!

Well, class is about to start so I'd better go. Have a wonderful day!

Reading And Crafting Are A Good Combination

Good evening to you all! I hope you have all had a wonderful and profitable Monday!
I have been working hard on school pretty much all day, but I'm looking forward to an evening of rest. Mom often reads out loud to us as a family during the evenings, and we've been through lots of good books together that way! Lately she has been reading "The Gentleman From Indiana" by Booth Tarkington. It is a pretty old book. Have any of you read it? If so, please tell me what your opinions/thoughts were about it.
Anyway, while she reads, I work on crafts (Trissy does too sometimes), while Dad watches the backsides of his eyelids (he deserves the rest)! I've made lots of things that way, and it makes the whole evening so enjoyable! I finished my blue/green/yellow dishrag/washcloth Saturday night and started on a stormy blue one, which I finished last night (Sunday) while she read a little while after we got back from church. I thought I'd post pictures, and y'all tell me what you think please. Any suggestions on improvement?

I took these pictures this morning on our dining table, and just as I finished taking the varigated one, the sun came streaming through the dining room window, and so that's why the stormy one looks all lit up like that :) .

Oh, I posted pictures of my finished shawl, so if you want to see them, you can click HERE. Tell me what you think! And not just if you like it - I value constructive criticism as well as praise :) !
Well, I'd better go. I've still got a little school work that's due in the morning. Y'all have a wonderful evening, a good night's sleep, and may the Lord guide your day tomorrow for your good and His glory!

Odds And Ends, And Recent Happenings

Ok, this post is just sort of random stuff that's been happening in my life lately, and I thought I'd share it...

This is just something small that happened about a week ago, that reminded me that the Lord just likes to make us smile sometimes!
I have a keychain that a friend gave me for my birthday years ago, but it is probably my most treasured possession next to my Bible. It is a sturdy little metal cross with ivy engraved on it, and the words, "With God, all things are possible." I was getting ready for bed the other night about a week ago, and thinking about some things I'd like to see happen, but that seemed almost impossible. I flipped back the covers to crawl in, and there was that keychain, in the bed! "With God, all things are possible" My mind immediately jumped... maybe it would happen! Then, almost as soon as I thought that, this verse popped into my head, "...I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. ..." Of course, this is the Apostle Paul addressing the Athenians on Mars' Hill, but the timing was just so perfect, that it made me laugh out loud! I believe the Lord truly does have a sense of humor!

I've been working on a crocheted shawl for about two weeks now, and finally finished it Sunday! It didn't quite turn out how I thought it would, but it works, and was fun to make! Here are a couple of pictures of it:

Thanks to my friend W. for "modeling"!
If you want to try it yourself, click HERE for the pattern. Just a warning though, if you want the triangle to be very deep, you've got to make the beginning chain longer. I have a friend who made one out of the same yarn as the pattern calls for (I made mine out of maroon acrylic), and hers turned out BEAUTIFUL! She even wears it to church over a black top, and it looks so elegant!

Well, in about twenty hours my grandparents, Mom, Trissy, and I will be headed on a six-hour car ride to attend the wedding of one of my cousins! Trissy is going to be the 'bride's assistant", and I'm a photographer! Not the main one (I'm not THAT good LOL), but she (the bride, our cousin) liked some of the just personal pictures I've taken at other cousin's weddings, and she wants me to be sort of a 'candid photographer'. I'm really looking forward to it! The wedding's Saturday afternoon, we'll be staying for church Sunday, and come back on Monday. I hope it's not too hectic, 'cause I have classes early Tuesday morning! Oh, well, it'll all work out. :)

This past Saturday we (Dad, Mom, Trissy and me) went to an evangelism study being started at the church. Justice and another man in the church have been 'trained' to teach the material, and it's designed to teach how to share your faith in a non-confrontational but thought-provoking and loving way. Saturday was the all-day introduction, and now classes will be every Wednesday night starting Mar. 4th. My family, Oliver, Landon, two older ladies in the church, and Ashlyn ( I haven't told about her yet, but I'll try to soon) are the ones who are taking this class. I'm hoping it'll help me share my faith in college. We'll see how it goes.

Tonight's college Bible study, and I'm (of course ;) ) looking forward to that little boost. I still haven't told about last week, and it was about the best one we've had so far, I think. It was so good. Maybe I'll get a chance to tell about it, but with the trip and everything, I may not.

One last thing I thought some of you might enjoy: Hannah Paige is having a photography contest on her blog! The theme is "Color". I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of entries she has! Click HERE to find out more, or to enter!
I'm going to accomplish two things here at once :) This is my entry in her contest, and it's also a mystery picture:




Several of my blogging friends have done mystery pictures, and they have been alot of fun, so I thought maybe I'd try one! You have until next Thursday (a week!) to guess, mainly because I probably won't have much blogging time between now and
then :[ ...

Ok, I'm at the college and class is about t0 start, so I'd better go. Maybe I can come back later today :)

In the mean time, have a wonderful day, and Keep looking Up!

-Kyrie<><

Pecan Pie And College Challenges

Yesterday evening after a relaxing day working around the house and catching up on some things, Trissy and I made some pecan pies! Ours didn't turn out this pretty (!) but they did taste good ;) ! We just need a little whipped cream and we'll be all set!

Please pray for me as I try to live for the Lord at college. I know I've talked about this already, but it is so hard sometimes to know what to do when there's trash all around you (both hearing and seeing), and you're only one person trying to be an example for Christ. Even worse is when there are people in your class who laugh at the nasty jokes, wear the revealing clothing, and then claim to be Christians!!! Those are the kind of people who are REALLY hard to keep a good attitude towards! If they really are saved, they should either straighten up and live like it, or just keep their mouth shut about being saved at all!!!!! Because they're just giving unbeliever's "a bad taste in their mouths" for everyone else that IS sincere and trying to live by the Bible!!! There are some people like that in my classes, and HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO COMPETE WITH THAT!?!?

*Sigh* I'm sorry for all the ranting and raving - I started off just going to ask you all to pray for me and my classmates, and then it turned into a tirade... it's been a kindof hard day...

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all theses things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM THAT LOVED US" Rom. 8:35 & 37

Praise Him ~

To Be A Light

A new year, and a new semester to start at college.
Once again, I'm taking two classes online, and two at the college. Last year after enduring being surrounded by the trashy language and unashamed immorality in those two classes, I decided I was not going through that again! I would take all classes online - except for any (hopefully just one) web-related classes I had to follow up with from the first semester. Weeell, wouldn't you know it, half fell under that category, and I am again finding myself at the college for approximately 10 hours each week. I got to thinking though - why shouldn't I go through that stuff?! (If I've learned anything from having Bro. Dennis as a Sunday School teacher, it's to ask 'why am I blessed?' rather than, 'why am I suffering?') Many, many believers have gone through MUCH worse, and were staunch witnesses through it all. Surely I am no better than them, that I should be spared meerly to be in the presence of sin. It is everywhere. Sometime, each person faces it, if they are living here, and where else is there to live? Mars?!
The Lord has truly blessed so far though. Seemingly the students in my classes are (for the most part) hard-working and civil, if not sensible. My prayer over and over is that I may be a bright and Godly witness - that they may have no doubt of where I stand, but that they know Who gives me the convictions, the peace, and the witness I have!
Please pray for me, that I would be given the privalege of leading some of them (including my instructor) to the Lord. That I would be a LIGHT in this dark world.