Blogging Break

Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that we are going to have to take a break from blogging for a little while. Things are just too busy around here right now!! Hopefully we will be able to get back to it in a week or so.
In Christ,
Marissa

Honest Scrap

Hi everyone! We were awarded the honest scrap award about a week ago and have just now gotten the chance to do it. Sorry this is late! Anyway, here are the rules:

1. Say thanks and link to the person who gave you the award. (Thank you, Anna and Miss Raquel!) :D

2. Share ten "honest" things about yourself.

3. Award this to seven people who's blog design/content you admire or who have encouraged you, and inform them of their win and of the rules of this award.

We are going to *try* to think of 10 things that apply to both of us.... we'll see how this goes!

1. We LOVE to read. (Our cousin thinks that's all we do. Haha.... it's not.) Christian devotionals, adventure, and everything in between.
2. We sing a lot..... sometimes too much. Whether we have music or not.
3. Photography is a favorite pastime... especially flowers and our adorable siblings. :D
4. Soccer is our favorite sport. Andrea....obsessed. Marissa...just likes playing. :D haha
5. We like to bake and cook. We have fun making up recipes, which sometimes are delicious and once in a while are a disaster!!!
6. Our friend Erin's chocolate chip cookies are our favorite. Sorry.... running out of ideas here....
7. Andrea likes neon and bright colors, Marissa likes brown, blue, green (fall colors!).
8. Marissa-perfectionist. Andrea-........
9. Our whole family loves the country, but so far God has kept us in a neighborhood. His plan is perfect and He is teaching us patience through it all! Your prayers about this would be very much appreciated. (That His will would be done and we would learn whatever it is that He is trying to teach us.)
10. Most of the time there is some instrument being played in our house!

That was not easy! :D And I guess they are not all about both of us. We're alike in many ways, but not all!!!

This is probably against the rules, but we're going to skip the awards. There are just way too many excellent blogs and encouraging bloggers out there. Thank you so much for faithfully keeping up your wonderful blogs and glorifying the King! You are such blessings!

Serving Him,
Marissa and Andrea

Peace

Webster's definitions: To be, become, or keep silent or quiet.

Okay, so maybe when it's loud or chaotic you mom might say "I need some peace!" Or something like that, and that's is true, we need to keep peace and order. This verse, I think, symbolizes that:

"May the Lord bless you...and give you peace" - Numbers 6:24


"A child has been born...and he is named...Prince of Peace"- Isaiah 9:6

Jesus was an example of peace and therefore was called 'The Prince of Peace'. God also commands:

"Return no one evil for evil...live at peace with everyone" -Romans 12:17

That’s a hard one to live out. We’re not perfect, and of course we’re going to make mistakes. We are going to get into a fight with someone and we’re not going to live at peace with everyone! But that’s definitely not the way to think, even if it is true. We need to think “Well, God commanded it, so I’m going to do the best I can with His help.” God can do anything and he can definitely help you to live at peace with others.

The other part of peace is this:

‘Living at peace with what is in your life.’ God has everything under control. It is wrong to say: “Well if God would….” , “If only God could….” , “Why won’t God….” .

No! God has it under control! He know how to fix it and can! Don’t ever say, “If only God could…” Of course He can! Whether He chooses to or not is His decision and whether or not you’re going to live with His decision is your decision.

Peace, brothers and sisters in Christ!

-Andrea

Joy

Webster's definitions: A state of happiness, A source or cause of delight

Nehemiah 8:10b
.... Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

This is one of my favorite verses. Whenever I am feeling less-than-joyful, I think of this verse and it never fails to help me remember where my true joy comes from.

Joy is being glad in the Lord even when things aren't going your way. When something bad happens, we can still have inner joy because of the Lord.

There's not much else that I can think of to write about the fruit, but joy is such an important fruit of the Spirit. It is one of my very favorite qualities in people. Often you can tell by a person's joy whether they love the Lord or not. When someone has true joy, it's obvious. Non-believers sometimes will have a false joy that they can fake when they are with people, but their real character will come our sooner or later. Let's show the world true joy that can only come from Christ!

Serving Him,
Marissa

Two kinds of LOVE

Webster definitions of love:
1. Unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another
2. As the fatherly concern of God for the human kind
3. Brotherly concern for others

We are going to talk about two kinds of love:
Love for God and love for others
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.... Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."
Mark 12:30-31

Love for God
But may those who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.-Judges 5:31b
I love you, O Lord, my strength.-Psalm 18:1
If you love me, you will obey what I command.-John 14:15

Q. How do we love God?
A. With all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. We love God by obeying His commands. We love God by caring for His people (helping those in need and spreading the gospel). We love God by loving others. Just as a parent wants others to be kind, gentle and loving toward their children, so does God want us to love His children. Which leads us to our next question...

Love for others
A friend loves at all times....-Proverbs 17:17a
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.-Romans 12:10
Love.... always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres.-1 Corinthians 13:7

Q. How do we love others?
A. Let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 13
Selected parts:
Love is patient- Our time is all God's anyway
Love is not proud- Everything we have-all of our gifts, abilities, talents, skills- come from God. We couldn't do anything on our own anyway. Being proud does not show others that we love them.
Love is not self-seeking- This means putting the needs of others before our own.
Love always perseveres- Here is an example for this: If someone asks us to do something, we need to do it right away (if possible), diligently, and wholeheartedly.

1 Corinthians 13:8
Love never fails.

Fruits of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

For the next couple of weeks we are going to be sharing with you a study on the fruits of the Spirit. We probably won't do one every day, but we would like to get this done in two weeks.
We hope it challenges, edifies, and encourages you!
In Christ,
Marissa and Andrea

Don't waste any time!

I've been meaning to post about this for a few days, but haven't had the chance until now. This is an idea I adapted from the diligence booklet (I posted about it a few days ago).

For a week, keep a list of what you have been doing every half hour. For example:
For the last half hour I have been:
6:30-Getting up...etc.
7:00-Quiet time
7:30-Breakfast, helping siblings get ready
8:00-Math
8:30-Math
9:00-Helping siblings with school
9:30-Practicing an instrument
etc. etc. etc.... :D

This is just an example list I came up with. Also, I did not do this for a week, I did it for a day. :D It was very eye-opening, but I just couldn't remember to do it every half hour for that amount of time.

After reading my list, I was fairly satisfied with what I had accomplished that day, but did notice that there was some wasted time in there. Sometimes for me, the problem is waiting for other people. If we are going to do a character lesson or some school thing all together, we often have to wait for someone to finish practicing or to finish math... etc. It doesn't give me enough time to start something else, but it is too much time to just sit there waiting. If no one needs help or anything like that, I try to keep a book or something else I can do for any amount of time sitting nearby. That way I am not wasting any time while waiting.

Thanks for reading!
Serving the King,
Marissa

What a Savior

Marissa, Elaina and I singing What a Savior (Bliss; arranged by Kauflin).
Sorry our camera makes it sound muffled.
Hope you enjoy it anyway!
In Christ,
Andrea

"Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of His name;
make His praise glorious!"
Psalm 66:1-2

To our family in Christ

To our family in Christ,

I just want to thank everyone for the blessing that you have been to us through blogger. We have met so many neat people and are so enjoying getting to know you all!

I was thinking the other day... "I really wish that I could meet some of these people in real life!" and then I thought..."One day we are all going to be able to spend eternity together!" How neat is that going to be?!?! Whether I meet any of you here on this earth or not, I am so excited to spend forever with you!!!

Thank you for the amazing blessing you all are! God is really using you and is raising up a generation of warriors for Him! Keep serving the King!
Love you all!
~Marissa

I do hope and pray that everyone reading this is going to be in heaven one day. If you don't know where you are going when you die, please take the time to find out. Eternity is a long time.

What do you think?

Hi Everyone!

We are wondering if there is anything specific that you want to see or hear more about on our blog. Such as: More pictures, more writing, or certain topics (Scroll down to labels for examples). If you have any suggestions let us know! :)

In Christ,
Marissa and Andrea

Diligence Checklist

This week we are reading the booklet, "How to Develop Diligence" put out by IBLP (Institute in Basic Life Principles). By the way, if you have never read one of their character booklets, I would really recommend doing so. You can order them at store.iblp.org Anyway... here is a checklist for diligence that I adapted out of the book.

--Get up early in the morning
--Make your bed as soon as you get up
--Adopt unpopular chores around the house
--Complete studies with enthusiasm
--Finish ever job you begin
--Do projects with brothers and sisters
--Work on ideas for home industry
--Let neighbors observe your diligence
--Find ways to serve those in need

Diligence is.....
welcoming each task as a special assignment from the Lord and using all my energies to accomplish it.

I hope you will join us in working on diligence in every task (large or small) and accepting it as an assignment from the Lord!

Our first try at braiding onions

We are so grateful to have onions this year! This was our first try at growing them and they turned out great. :D

Well... maybe not raw...

Hopefully they will stay attached and aren't falling all over the floor as I write...

~M~

After the rain....

... it is beautiful outside!

~M~

Labor Day with the Pendletons

Today we got to go to our very good friends the Pendletons for Labor Day.

It was a beautiful day here! :D

Being silly on the way to their house.

Of course, Dad wanted to look at the garden.... and the Pendletons were only too happy to let him pull weeds (he actually likes doing this! :D).

Apparently my brothers (after having three girls in the family) were deprived of "boy" toys.
They had SO much fun learning about Rescue Heroes.

Mom: Ian, can I tell you something?
Ian: You can tell me anything you want, just please don't tell me to stop playing!

Mom: We get to take these home with us!!!!

The Pendleton boys are all done with Rescue Heroes and the toys were looking for a new home....
My brothers were..... let's just say VERY EXCITED.

Talitha :D She is so sweet!

Luke and Andrea.....
More of this "camera fun" that I don't understand....
I don't necessarily like having my picture taken. :D

They have beautiful flowers!

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day!

In Christ,
Marissa

Pictures from yesterday

The joys of homeschooling... a 10 year old girl and 5 year old boy are best of friends!

That is one cooperative insect... or Andrea just has a way with grasshoppers. :D

What a good big sister. :D We love Elaina!

Dad, Seth, Ian, Elaina, Grandma and Charlie (the dog) taking a walk.

It was a beautiful day!

Happy Labor Day!

Hey Everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day!
God Bless!!
~Andrea~

Proverbs 4:18

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
Proverbs 4:18

I love my Siblings!

Every day God shows me more and more how precious my siblings are and how he made them perfect for me....to fit in our family. What a wonderful family I have!!

Ian

Marissa

We went to my Aunt's house, in Brighton the other day....it was a lot of fun! That's why I only put on a picture of Ian and Marissa because they're the only ones I got...how bad am I!?