The Battle is Not Yet Won

I will not give up in America. My home, my country. God yet has great plans for this nation. Do not give up in your beliefs. Stay strong in the word. Darkness has fallen, but our journey is not over. God is the light, and when light shines, no darkness can interfere. The Lord, Yahweh, may He always be with us.
-Stephanie Wolfe

Lovely Autumn

I haven't written in a longg time. It's not Summer anymore is it? :P

Autumn has been amazing this year. CBA always helps to make autumn feel just right.

I'm not afraid to get my picture taken anymore (:

My cake credit is coming good and strong. Starting on course 2.

I hope to be updating more often now ;)

Have a great week!

I'd rather be thrifting

    It's always exciting to go thrift shop shopping. You never know what you'll find. It will either be a treasure that you'll keep forever or something that you will sooner or later regret that you spent a dollar or two on. But yesterday was a more than fabulous buy for me!

   I found 8 ADORABLE chef figurines.  I asked the lady how much, since there was no price for the set and she said $8. I couldn't resist. I had to! They're each special and different in their own little way. I've started my chef figuring collection.

   It's not everyday that you can find a Japanese/ Chinese( I can't tell which on it is) calligraphy set. Yet alone it being only $2! They can range up to over $20 on ebay!!
  9 items for $10. I call that a steal!

Simply Springtime

                                                                                                                                                   

Rabbit hole in Mandie's pen

     When the weather gets warm around here, exciting things start to happen and new things are discovered.  Just a few days ago, my mother and father were working on our dog's pen- since we'll be going away on vacation soon they had to fix it since it had collapsed under pressure- the tarp couldn't hold the heavy snow from the Winter, so it bended the pen as it collapsed. So we bought a side panel for $80 at TSC in town; while working in there we came across a rabbit hole with five little precious baby bunnies!!




     My mother will sometimes constantly nag me during the Summer about me be lazy/ not doing anything, and normally asks me "So, whatch'a gonna do today?" So sometimes I get frantic since I don't have things planned out that I just come up with random ideas.

     Yogurt drops! I used Britney's cake decorating kit and made little droplets of yogurt, put them in the freezer for 15 minutes to a half hour and ta da! A healthy and delicious snack for those hot Summer days .

     And of course, who wouldn't want to try making Rock Candy?!? 4 cups of water & 8 cups of sugar. It's supposed to be 10 cups of sugar, but I sort of ran out. Wet your string/ sticks in water and roll them in sugar, let it dry REAL good before you put them in the cups. When the sugar and water comes to a boiling point, turn off the burner and let it cool down. Do not pour the hot liquid in the cups until it is completely cool or it will melt the sugar off your sticks as well. As I've learned from my previous experience. Let them sit in a window that gets plenty of sun for a whole week. Enjoy!

I made some cute cupcakes for our mother's day party last Saturday. The whole family came over to our house for a evening of fun and games. I'm really having a lot of fun with cupcakes.

           Me relaxing on Mother's day, fishing at a peaceful lake. It can't get much better than that.

                         A beautiful yellow butterfly was regularly visiting my tackle box.

Just some random shots of the lake

We have some lovely flowers growing right outside my bedroom window. Couldn't resist getting a few shots of them.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Springtime!!

P.S. I finished school last week, so that's where I've gotten all this free time to do all these things ;)

Shall we dance?

      This is a picture of me and some guy that I forget the name of last night at the dance. It was awesome (As usual)! It was a very light night though. An estimate of 30 people in all. And half of the guys were too chicken to ask any girls =P
I actually lost count of how many dances I got. I think 7 or 8..
     Favorite dances? Probably all the swing dances I did, there was a lot of them last night. And of course I love the cha cha cha. I'm starting to go with the more extreme version of it now. (:
Oh dear. My last dance...I couldn't figure out if I liked it or not.. It was some homeschooler senior guy named Joesph, stiff, really full of muscle guy, and he took strange steps, so it was hard to keep up with him. We danced..close...I'm also not sure if I liked that or not either. But near the end he said I was a really good dancer. Haha so I guess  I was doing something right (: He thought I was a sophomore..He said something like "So are you a sophomore?" I shook my head and he was like "freshman?" I shook my head again "junior?" I laughed and shook my head again "are you not in highschool?" I nodded and told him I was in eighth grade. He said I  look older and I told him that I get that  a lot. Joesph said that it wasn't really a bad thing, unless people still think I'm older when I'm 30! Haha.
     I danced with Michel(Luke's little brother) for the cha cha cha. He's so cute, and he's grown up so much now. :) It was pretty hard to dance with him because some guys were break dancing behind me so of course, he wanted to watch them. Eventually he made it so that if we both looked to our right we could both watch them.
    The next dance is May 19th. I really hope I can go!
The guy in the picture with me was explaining to me why there weren't a lot of people there last night, he said that a homeschool play was going on Friday and Saturday and the people that come to the dance are in it. Sooo that explains it (:
Lovely night!

Meet Frella

   Meet Frella, our newest family member. My mom found her just outside our downstairs sliding glass door yesterday. At first we were having fun with a toad in the yard, but I soon realized that her left back foot was completely lame...(is that the word?), it sort of drags behind her, depending on what position she's in. And not too soon after that, I saw that she was also missing her front right foot, the leg is there, just not her foot, so she props herself up on her leg.
   We soon figured out that we couldn't just let her go on like this,out on her own. So  I ran down to our red shed and got out our old aquarium, and  mom looked up what was required for a wild toad; which is basically 2-3 inches of damp dirt, a rock,  and  a wood thing she could go under.
    We've had her for two days now. I haven't seen her eat anything so I'm a little worried she won't be making it long, a website said to feed them at night and night only, otherwise you'd end up with a very hungry toad.  We've put in some apple, strawberries, lima beans and I even caught some live ants.
I'm hoping she'll eat them tonight, they're still in there crawling around.
 We shall see (:

Disagreed

Ahem. Disagreed. We are NOTHING near excellence. And it is defiantly not a habit of us humans! We are such fools. GOD IS EXCELLENCE. When God looked down and saw what He made He said it was good. GOOD.  Not excellence. Are you seeing my point here?
My sister's friend, had a youth group challenge. If anyone said awesome about something other than God, they had to donate a dollar to the church. You see, nothing is awesome, but God. We use so many word references to ordinary things in these days, that we never leave any greater words just for God.

 I almost forgot! I made this last night with my Bamboo Create (=

Spring's awakening

Hello world! I must apologize for not writing in a while. I've been..un-inspired to write lately, to say the least.
There are so many interesting and exciting things going on.
CBA classes have ended for the year. It's so sad to see it go, but I give it a graceful goodbye. I've grown so much from this year. I always had an issue with peer pressure, I only want people to like me. But 100% of the time what everyone else is doing is wrong. And it's okay to stand up and be the one that says no.
The bible says in Romans 12:2 :
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.

And I don't think I need to remind you of everything that the world is doing. Stop trying to fit in,  God created you to stand out.

Community Bible Study's last week is this Tuesday. I've had issues of what  they believe. But I was talking to my mom about it. Me and my sister, Britney have been pretty much sheltered from the "outside world" half full of unbelievers, that could mess up our thoughts if we hang around them too much. So seeing all these different views aren't really a bad thing. It's more like a training ground for us. They're making me and my sister stronger in our faith, so we won't be so quickly swayed. But we'll stand on our solid rock.

The ballroom dances I've been going to, has taken off the month of April. I'm surprised how much I miss being there. It's already become a part of me and is quickly becoming a deep and favored passion. The next one is May 5th. Don't be surprised if I write a blog post about it! (:

CBA recently had their Spring picnic. I was super excited because I was able to hang out with my friends. It has been three weeks since we've had classes. Me and my friend, Rachel spent pretty much the whole time together. My two favorite times that day was when  Rachel and I were going on a walk to see the football game and to find out where our third musketeer, David was. So once we get close up there everyone was heading back. David, Rachel and I decide to linger behind and walk together.
I found a caterpillar on a stick and i put it on his shirt, thinking it would be funny, until he flicked it off and it landed on me. I screamed big time. Totally wasn't expecting that. But I wasn't freaking out. I'm not extremely girly! (:
And number two, we were walking across this bridge thing and I saw a glove, so i went to move it off the bridge, not knowing a runner guy was right behind me. And apparently David even said "Steph! Look out" they thought i was trying to trip him! Endless fun times. So many of my favorite memories come straight from CBA.
That is all for now!
Hope you all are having a great week (:

Shine

There’s a place you can go
Where your heart is free
There’s a rhythm
That’s right for your soul

Take a breath, find your courage
And make the leap
Cause your feet always know where to go

And you dance and you dance in an endless flow
In the grace of a perfect design
Stepping out of the dark and into the glow
And the whole world will see when you shine
You can shine (shine)
Shine (shine)

There’s a beauty already inside of you
There’s a difference that only you’ll make
Every place that you spin brings you somewhere new
Finding hope every step that you take

And you dance and you dance in an endless flow
In the grace of a perfect design
Stepping out of the dark and into the glow
And the whole world will see when you shine
You can shine (shine)
Shine (Shine)

Suddenly sparkling bright (shine)
Making a magical light (shine)
You will (shine)
Sisters are there by your side
Love will be your guide

And we dance and we dance in an endless flow
In the grace of a perfect design
Stepping out of the dark and into the glow
The whole world will see when we shine
We will shine (shine)
Shine (shine)

(And we dance and we dance in an endless flow)
Stepping out of the dark and into the glow
(Stepping out of the dark and into the glow)
We will shine (we can shine)
(And we dance and we dance in an endless flow)
Stepping out of the dark and into the glow
(Stepping out of the dark and into the glow)
We will shine (we can shine)
(And we dance and we dance in an endless flow)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z11AdDZXYJ8

Simply thoughts (2)

    You might remember some of my earlier posts being about working at Tom and Rays.
I went there Saturday to help out my Aunt. They were having a huge party of 45 and all the dishwashers were busy. The kitchen was basically a mess. The party had called in saying that there would be 30 people and it turned out there being 15 more. And they expected the food to already be ready.
Scotty...is a mess. He was throwing out every single cuss word I knew and even some I didn't; about the whole situation.
I was sitting in church yesterday. The sermon was Tested and Tempted part two.
Recognize tests and temptations when they arrive.
know your weaknesses.
Make wise choices about people, places, activities and exposures.
Bad company corrupts good morals.
Know that you can say "NO" to sin.
Endure the testing time.

I believe I've caught myself in a test.
Money is a weakness for me and I enjoy earning it. But Scotty...and Cody. It wasn't just cussing but also inappropriate stuff I can't even mention on here.
They're the bad company. And if i continue to help my aunt there...They'll also corrupt my good morals.
The only thing I can think of is asking my aunt if Scotty is working when she calls me to come in.
Is working there really worth it?


                                              Piano vs. Horses
I really don't like piano. I never have. And I don't practice it that much either.
This whole year at piano I've gone to Ms.Julie with the same pieces, I just don't work on them.
Piano isn't cheap. And I feel like I'm wasting that money.
I try to talk to my mom and dad about it.... Mom normally says "Well if you practice more you might find out that you like it." I've been taking piano for 5 years okay? I still don't like it, and that's why I don't want to practice. And dad would say "Nope. Not until you're 18."
See, my dad took piano for 2 years when he was younger and he found out he didn't like it and he quit.
Later through his years he really wished he had continued through piano. So he decided for his children to play the piano until they were 18, unlike he had done.
  I'm really sorry he didn't continue with the piano, but if he hasn't noticed..I'm practially nothing like him. I don't hold his same interests and I shouldn't be forced to do something I don't want to do.
I wanted to take horse back riding lessons this spring. I haven't mentioned it to mom and dad for a while. It's not cheap. And if I'm taking both riding and piano...it's a bit expensive.
So i haven't brought it up. I've held back my riding dreams and I've been holding on to the piano thing. It's such a waste! I don't enjoy it. I'm not practicing. Wednesday is the worst day of the week for me because of piano.
I really want to do riding. Piano was never an intrest for me. I told mom about it but this time I told her to listen. And I also told her not to say: but if you practice more, you might find out that you like it.
She was taken a bit aback. I just all the sudden came out with this new piece of information, something I've been holding back for a long time. She told me to talk to dad about it. And I said that he won't listen. He'll just cut me off about not stopping until I'm 18.  She told me she'll tell him to listen to me.
Hopefully. It might work this time. He has no idea how serious I've been about quitting piano.

Not the typical teen

The world looks down upon the teenagers of this day and time.
They forget that we're all different. They probably figure we all fall in the same peer pressure.
I'm not typical and I don't want to be. Here's some reasons of how I'm a bit different than the average person.
Number one: I'm homeschooled. I finish my school as quickly as possible in the morning so I can draw and work on the things I love doing. (And yes for Pete's sake..I socialize!)
Number two: I hardly ever have my cell phone with me. Only if i feel like texting someone- which is rare in itself.
Number three: I'm a regular thrift shop shopper. That's where i get most of my clothes. I make up my very own outfits. I've never bought anything out of hollister or all the top name brand stores. It's so sad how people feel they have to buy from there. It's so expensive and not worth it. Overrated might be the word.
Number four: I'm a Christian. It doesn't mean I'm a saint. It means I've fallen to my knees at the feet of God saying I am not worthy. I'm broken and crushed. I cannot stand on my own. By saying I'm a Christian I'm saying I can't go on my journey of life alone and that i believe in Christ as my savior.
Number five: I'm 14. I've never been seen as my actual age. For example I'm in eighth grade and people think I'm 16. I've been told I just act so much more mature.
Number six: I'm a mixture of loving new and old fashion.
I love books. And I am never going to turn to those e-readers. It takes all the fun out of it.
I love letters in the mail. I mean seriously. What happened to that?!?
I'm so in love with the new fashion. Can't wait until I'm older so I can wear some of the stuff I see on blogging sites.
Number seven: I love being outside. There's so much room to think out there.
You may not get what I'm saying here..
Have you gone to the kid's toy section lately? I have :P I've gone with my older sister and we've been disgusted by these new toys. I'm not sure if you've seen this or not but there's a tea pot and when you tip it over it makes a pouring water sound. At first Britney and I thought it was so cool. Then we got talking about it. And Anne of Green Gables came to mind. She hated and loved being at her friend's grandmothers house because it was so fancy but there wasn't room for imagination.
I feel so bad for the children that have to grow up in this day and age. They're leaving absolutely no room for the imagination for these children in the toys.

Simply thoughts (1)

I have a feeling this is going to be a really really good Summer. It's confidential why i think so..but it has to do with my Nana and I'm so happy that she's okay and we'll be together with her again.

My dad has been planning a 10 day vacation in Florida (my idea :P) for about a year now and we'll be going this Summer. I'm super excited. I haven't been to Florida since I was five!

Last Summer I did absolutely nothing. This year I'm not allowing that to happen. I was basically letting the seconds tick by without making something of that time.
I want to do something....different. Something no one would think of a 14 year old to do.

One of my dreams is to be remembered as a hero. I want to change the world for the better.
People are ruining the world and i don't even have a say in the matter.
I don't want to join the army or the navy or anything like that. That's typical. I mean very heroic but..that's not..me.

Eventually I want to be a medical nurse or doctor, i could discover something there...i don't know really.
I just know I want to change the world for the better somehow...while I'm young. I don't want to be famous. Noo Sir. Just the honor of helping the world.

Have you ever looked up at the stars and just been amazed and speechless?
Outer space is so beautiful and beyond imaginable. I would love to go out there and look back on the earth and say "That's my home." But there's so much dependence on man made equipment to be out there and such a trouble with oxygen. I don't really trust to be out there, but I would love to.

 I know this blog post has been all over the place. But I just needed to write it down. (=
I hope you all have had a lovely Sunday.

Captured in a prison

I'm captured in a prison called Facebook. It's enough said right there. Facebook is just like a prison. It wasn't like this before for me but lately I've been getting on all the time and scrolling through the news feed. But the sad thing about it is is that I'm checking it 5minutes after I checked it the last time. So there's nothing new on there, i exit and return in 5-10minutes.
So I've been thinking. Forget Facebook and forget the Internet.
I mean really! I should take a month off.
All this time I'm spending on facebook scrolling through other people's posts isn't going to do anything for my life-except steal it from me. I'll never get back the countless hours I've spent on the Internet doing nothing.
It needs to change and i have to get in control of my computer habits.
I'm only living a fraction of my  true potential right now.
There's so much more to life and so much more i want to discover.
When I'm old and sitting in a rocking chair with my husband next to me, I'm pretty sure I'll be regretting all the time i spent on the computer in my younger years.
 I'm ready to start living. Here I come world.

Crazy things I've always wanted to do

1. Go on a triple date and play Twister.
2. When a man comes to deliver a package- I've always wanted to act like a strange hobo girl with  uneven pony tales and buckteeth. Haha i'd take the package and give him a big, swingy handshake "How ya doin'?"
(Haha, I'm kidding. I'd never do that. But I still think it would be funny)
3. When there's only one other person in the elevator with me, I'd tap his shoulder and then when he looks back, i'd pretend it wasn't me.
4. Draw a face on the back of a bald man's head.

Simple things that make me happy

1. Folded over potato chips. My Nana and I would always fight for them. Good times.
2. Hanging out with Kurtis/ going to get a milkshake with him and Britney.
3.Seeing that Elizabeth got online.
4. Letters in the mail.
5. Guys that open the doors for the ladies.
6. Playing card games at cba.
7. Falling asleep next to Mandie (My dog).
8. Getting "Good morning, did you sleep well?" texts.
9. Tight hugs.
10. Seeing someone smile/laugh because of something I said.
11.Finding a quote that expains exactly how i feel.
12. Laughing.

Learning the basics

Believe it or not, its harder than it seems. So I'm starting out with basic shapes, and shading them in.

I tried doing darker shades in the shadow of the circle to make it have a "pop"/ 3D effect.

It didn't turn out too bad, but i didn't use the right shade on some of them.

But hey, it was my first time coloring on the Bamboo. (:

Finally Fourteen

Its been a very interesting three days of being fourteen.
Action-nonstop.
It's all working out though. And I'm finally at ease. I still have a busy weekend ahead of me, but at least i can focus better.

So I got the bamboo create by wacom that I wanted for my birthday!
It is very awesome.
I've been going through learning sessions (roughly 10 minutes each)
and there is wayy more to this tablet than I thought.
If you ever get one, make sure you save your drawing on the doodler before exiting the app.
I did that today and lost a very good drawing i had been working on.

More goals

1. Adopt a brother and a sister (preferably Asian and in the US) when I'm married, and if my husband allows me to.
2. Talk to him. I've told myself so many times "Okay. I'm actually going to talk to him today." and I never do. Now the thing is doing it. I'm going to do it. Start with baby steps and eventually, we'll be having a full conversation with no problem. Suck it up and talk to him. Oh and don't act nervous, stay cool and in control of yourself.
3. Draw more often.
4. Finish homework before Wednesday.
5. Stop worrying about who it is he's bringing. All you can do is make some space for them, and always be there. I'll always care about him more then he'll ever know..*sigh* why do I always fall so hopelessly in love?  I'm afraid to do anything about it... I'm too young and it would totally ruin the friendship we don't even have. He's so clueless. And it's been over a year that I've liked him now!

Bible Study

  I learned some interesting things at CBS tonight.
Donna had a cereal box and the name of it was "Crunchy Cinnamon corn flakes." (Or..something like that..but you get my point.)
I forget where she was going on this point but I saw it as: the cereal is exactly what it says it is. Its not that complected. It's crunchy cinnamon corn flakes. plain and simple. It's just like what God says in  the bible. It is what he says it is. There's no word puzzle to try and solve it. It is what it is. God sees us as his CHILDREN. It's not that hard to see what he means. Some people just go WAY too deep and think way too much.
  The second thing that interested me was one of the questions in our workbook: "What created things do you see being worshipped in our culture today?"
My answer was "Ourselves."
Its strange to think about it. But we really make more time for ourselves than anything. We always think how WE'LL do it. How YOU'LL solve the issue. YOU are always the first person that enters YOUR mind.
Hard to think about..