Good morning!

This is one of my favorite songs. It's very happy and upbeat.

Upcoming posts...I hope.

I've been pretty terrible with keeping up on this blog. Hopefully, I'll be able to change that as soon as the county fair (next week) is over. In the meantime, here a few things I'm hoping to post about in the near future:

-Freedom's Bonds Editing Update
-Putting together a portfolio for writing
-Preview of a collective novel idea
-County Fair pictures
-Writing Day, July 26

It is the Soldier

It is the Soldier, not the minister

Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter

Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet

Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer

Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer

Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician

Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,

Who serves beneath the flag,

And whose coffin is draped by the flag,

Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

-Charles Michael Province, U.S. Army

Tools for Story Building

One of the most helpful things you can do to make your story better is to build to the story. Now, this does not mean going out in your backyard and building the whole story world. I think everyone would agree that’s a little extreme. Your friends would think you were crazy and your parents would lose their backyard. No, story building is something you do on paper and in your mind. “How do I do this?” you might ask. I’m about to give you a few tips that should help you out with building your story.

"How do I do this?"

First off, you want to let the Word of God fill your story. That doesn’t mean it has to be allegorical or you have to have references to every Biblical truth. An example of this could be from the opening scene of Sherwood Pictures movie ‘Courageous’. The overarching theme in the movie is Biblical fatherhood and that’s shown right off in the opening scene. A father is at a gas station filling up his truck. He notices that there’s a smudge on the windshield so after checking in the back, goes to get something to clean it up. Unknown to the viewers at that point, his baby is in the backseat. Suddenly, a gangster runs up, jumps in the truck and starts to drive away. The father (Nathan Hayes) throws himself part-way through the window. It progresses until the bad guy finally can’t hold on to the wheel anymore and runs into a tree. Nathan was holding on to the wheel this whole time and jumped off the truck when it struck the tree. The gangster runs and gets into his accomplice’s car while Nathan painfully limps toward his truck. Two women had seen the last encounter and called 911. They tried to stop him from going towards the truck, but he refused. He reaches it an opens the door, at which point the viewers are shown his screaming baby. This scene right off shows the Biblical example of fatherhood without telling us Bible verses. It shows us that a father is supposed to be willing to lay down his life for his family, not tells us.

"Let the Word of God fill your story."

Another thing that I’ve found helpful is to start your story keeping the ending in mind. If you have no clue what your ending is, it’s going to be obvious to your readers. The characters need to be working towards something. It sometimes helps to write the ending first. “But I don’t have just one solid ending in mind!” you say. That’s fine! Sit down and think of all the possible endings your story could have, good and bad. Then, just write them all. They don’t have to be long or perfect, but it helps (believe me—I know!) to get the ending down. The story then sort of keeps you in line, because you already have things written. Writing things down helps so much.

Characters are obviously a very important part to your story. No one would want to read your story if it weren’t for the awesome, colorful characters you have, right? One of the things that makes characters interesting to the readers is the depth. Create backstories for your characters. It doesn’t necessarily have to be told in your story, but as you figure out their past you’ll be able to figure out their personality. It will make it easier for you to learn how they react to different things, what their passions are and what their dreams are. Characters also have to be different from each other. For example, the protagonist and the anatagonist obviously can’t act the same, talk the same and like the same things. There’s got to be an obvious difference (other than the fact that they’re fighting against each other) between your characters.

Claudius, a page in medieval times, walks up to his page friend Damian. After Damian acknowledges him he says, “Hey dude. How’s it going?” Confusion starts to muddle your brain. This is a medieval story…they aren’t supposed to talk that way! Yet another thing that helps your story is research. I can’t say this enough, so I’ll say it again—Research the time you’re writing in! All of us are guilty of not researching enough sometimes, but even though we may not enjoy it, it’s a necessary part of writing. It will help you out in writing and make it easier, so that you’re not constantly worrying about breaking rules. You know the rules, so you won’t (hopefully) break them. Simple as that.

"They aren't supposed to talk that way!"

God gave you this wonderful talent for writing—use it to glorify Him. Pray that He’ll give you ideas to use in your novel that will glorify Him and show His truth and His glory to a dying world.

Scene from Freedom's Bonds - Chapter 1

Hatred contorted his face as he stared at me in disbelief. We stayed locked in that position, swords above our heads, for several minutes. I stared directly at him and tried to be as intimidating as possible. It was hard considering the fact that I was only five foot four inches tall and he was at least six feet high. I pushed against his sword and threw him off balance for a second. That was all I needed to get the upper hand. I put my sword to his neck and watched as a small stream of blood trickled from the scrape.  

“What are you doing here?” I asked, placing great emphasis on the ‘you’.

“I could ask the same of you. Do you know the penalty for threatening one of the king’s soldiers?”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. I knew well the penalty – years of work in the labor fields, followed by torture, then death. Yes, I knew of it. Still, it didn’t keep me from challenging this one.

“Of course I know the penalty. Only a brainless person would threaten a soldier knowing the penalty.”

He smirked and countered, “Then I suppose you are the brainless person.”

I felt the blood rushing to my face as I tried to keep my anger under control. Withdrawing my sword and re-sheathing it, I replied, “No. I am not the brainless person. I am simply protecting whatever freedom we might have left in this land. Which is near none.”

The soldier took this opportunity to scurry for his sword and picked it up without stopping. I had expected this and so I readied myself for his attack. He raced towards me, twirling his sword in an intricate pattern. I recognized it from the training I had done when still living in the palace and reacted with the same series of intricate twirls.

Steel clashed on steel as our swords met, still moving so fast they were almost a blur. Sweat poured down my brow as I fought him. I had never fought someone as strong as this, but then again, I hadn’t fought someone for a while. The last time I used my sword was against some wild animals that attacked our village, but they were no match for me. This general…he was different.

One Thing Remains

Our worship pastor started playing this song at church recently. 

Modest Swimsuits!

We're going to be doing a lot of camping this year to places with swimming areas. While I was looking around for some modest swimsuits last night, I found a site that has patterns for them!

Above is an example of one of the suits. I read over some customer reviews on the patterns/suits and it seems everyone is really happy with it.  A lady wrote that she had no previous sewing experience, but this was easy for her. I'm now super excited to make some for my sisters and I, because having some sewing experience I'm hoping I could get them finished in a few afternoons. The best thing about the swimsuit is that my Dad approved it! So (hopefully) I'll be sewing them soon. (and look below for another picture, as well as the link to the site)

Simply Modest Swimwear

Raising Pure Daughters in a Generation of Darkness--Notes from session by Sarah Mally

These are the notes from one of my favorite sessions at a conference we went to about a week and a half ago. I read through the notes and I think they make sense, but it could just be because I was there and heard the talk. If you don't know what I meant by something in my notes, feel free to post a comment and ask. :)

______________________________________

Purity makes people curious. As young ladies, we can demonstrate the purity of Jesus to the world. God’s word has the answer to everything we have questions for.

Tips for Parents and Daughters:

1. Give her a vision for the very best marriage

Marriage is a beautiful creation of God

Don’t think about right here, right now

Two kinds of purity

Innocent

Cleansed

2. Explain the Dangers of the Dating System

One main reason for unbalanced relationships is dating

            Dating starts out recreationally, but it’s emotional and bonds form very quickly.

World’s Way (dating)

Temporary

Now

To get

Pleasure

Human thinking

Culture

Pain of separation

Flesh

Preparation for divorce

God’s Way (courtship)

Permanent

Future

To give

Commitment

God’s Word

Bible

No separation

Holy Spirit driven

Preparation for marriage

3. How easily a heart can be stolen.

     Guard your heart.

4. Help your daughter know how to handle a crush

     Don’t panic about it

     Talk to parents

     Springboard approach

     Memorize Scripture

     Take thoughts captive

     Fill the mind with truth

     Wait on the Lord

5. Teach her what it means to guard her heart

     Avoid situations that breed emotional thoughts

     Don’t seek attention for yourselves

     Help young men grow in the Lord. Be more concerned in their spiritual walk than what they think of you.

     Be a Proverbs 31 woman

6. Replace enemy lies with truth

     Lies the enemy feeds girls:

You need to experience the real world

You’re too sheltered

You know better than your parents

There are no godly guys left

Everyone does it

How are you ever going to meet someone?

You’re old enough to make your own decisions.

You should tolerate evil.

7. Leading her to make personal commitments and decisions

     A young lady’s personal commitment to Jesus Christ

     Send young men to their father

     Marry only a Christian

     Keep no secrets from parents

     Save physical affection for marriage

     It’s not just about trying to avoid the worst. We’re waiting for the best that God has for us.

8. Lead others in the example of purity.

     Be radiant in your purity!

9. Give your heart to your parents.

Teach young ladies to have a life purpose bigger than marriage.

10. Delight in the Lord

     The earthly relationship between a husband and wife is only a picture of our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Blessings in Disguise

One wouldn’t think that we’d call our trip down to South Carolina a good one. We left around 9 AM and drove on without any complications until lunch time.

“Pam, let’s take the kids to the park and then you can go get some lunch. Kelly could go with you,” Dad said.

Mom nodded her head and started to look at the GPS, trying to figure out where it was taking us. She had set it to take us to Subway first, but something messed up and set it so we were going to the park. We wouldn’t know until later what a blessing it was.

“It’s right there Jason!” Mom yelled as she frantically pointed to the driveway.

Turning into the driveway, the kids started to bounce in their seats. We’d been in the car at least three hours by this point, so it was a welcome break for them. Our neighbors, the Kauffman’s, were also traveling with us, so they came with us for lunch and their kids played. After getting the kids settled at the park, Mrs. Kauffman, Mom and I left for the Subway we had seen at the TA station, which also happened to be a huge truck stop.  We accidentally turned into the driveway for trucks first, so that was a little awkward getting out, but we figured it out. Mom and Mrs. Kauffman went inside and left me sitting in the car. I pulled out the camera and started videoing the traffic going by while making funny comments about it.

Suddenly, the battery died. The radio had been playing and just shut off. The gauges weren’t working anymore and everything in the car started beeping at once (okay…maybe not EVERYTHING. Sure seemed like it though). The moms came back out with the food and I told Mom what had happened. The first thing she did, to my surprise, was turn off the van.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” she said.

Out came the cellphones and the calls to the knights in shining armor started. I stood out in the middle of a parking space, playing the part of a damsel in distress I suppose. Before long, Mr. Kauffman showed up and started to jump our van. He left the cables on for several minutes, but it wouldn’t start. Finally, it got enough of a charge to get it back to the park. We drove about 2 miles to the park and as soon as we parked, it died again. This is when we knew it wasn’t the battery.  No…it was the alternator.

We ate lunch and the kids continued to play. Dad and Mr. Kauffman replaced the battery in the car (or jumped it…I’m not sure which) enough so that we could drive it to an ACE hardware store. We got there and they started to replace the alternator. The kids and moms went to the ice cream place next door. It must have been surprising to see so many kids on a school day, so the lady thought we were a day care group. Laughing, Mom explained to her that we were just two homeschool families.

The knights in shining armor got the car fixed in about 45 minutes so as I’m writing this, we’re on the road again.

Blessing 1: The kids were at a park, instead of a grungy truck stop, when the battery died.

Blessing 2: The kids were at a park when it became obvious the alternator died.

Blessing 3: We went to get ice cream while the knights in shining armor fixed the van.

New Blog!!

Two friends and I are going to be sewing stuff over the summer and then blogging about our progress. Here is a link to our blog, Summer Seamstresses.If you would like to join us, feel free to shoot me an email at princess00kacia@gmail.com.