Encourage one another!

The other day, a friend of mine made this comment, "Boys are just all stupid!". While I tend to agree with her on most other things, this comment somewhat concerned me. So, I decided to do what any writer does and write a bit of a rant about it.

Feminism is so prominent in our culture now. Women are now saying that they can do just the same things as men and that men are dumb animals. Instead of letting a man be a man, he's now belittled and sometimes teased or not taken seriously when he does something manly. By acting this way toward a man, women are discouraging him from stepping up and taking the lead!

Eric Ludy says in his co-authored book 'When God Writes Your Love Story', "when a woman says something to a man, it stays with him forever and can change him."

Ladies, we not realize it, but our words have SO much power. If all we ever say to our brothers or fathers or male friends is, "Oh you're just a guy, you're so dumb," they'll act like it. Nothing else is expected of them but to be a big meathead, so why on earth would they strive to do anything better? 

However, on the flip side, your words can be used for encouragement and so much good! Thank a guy when he opens a door for you and he'll feel more motivated to do it again. Encourage your brother when you see him step up and take the lead and he will want to do it again to impress you. The comment of a woman stays with a guy forever, whether it be good or bad. Pick your words carefully and use them to help, and not harm, our brothers in Christ. 

We're called to be encouraging to each other and this applies not only to our brothers and fathers, but also the guys around us--our brothers in Christ. So ladies, next time you're tempted to point out something that's annoying and condescending to a guy, rethink it and consider what effect it will have on him. Instead, encourage him towards Godly manhood.

Let no corrupting talk come from out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.--Ephesians 4:29

Cricket night (description)

I lay back on the hammock and push off with my feet. It sways side to side slowly and I close my eyes. A cool breeze blows through the pines around me and I inhale the fresh scent. Crickets chirp all around, their chorus almost deafening. The soft hum of an engine can be heard in the distance and I open my eyes. A plane flies overhead and I can barely make out its lights through the tree branches.

The breeze starts to blow stronger and I wrap my jacket tighter around me. Pine needles  click against each other above me, adding to the cricket’s chorus. A owl hoots in the tree above me and I open my eyes wide, trying to catch a glimpse of him. The light from the full moon reveals his silhouette perched high at the top of the tree. I can barely see his head turning from side to side as he searches for prey. Silently, he launches himself from the branch and glides down into the grass behind me. 

Weekly Description--Cold

Cold wind whistled through the ice-covered trees. The branches clinked together, sounding like hundreds of little wind chimes. I shivered and wrapped my arms tightly around me, trying to keep out the cold. The flannel coat I wore for protection did little more than give my hands something to grab. Snow drifts covered the ground and were lit up with the blue light from the moon. A dark shadow passed over the ground. Gasping, I whirled and looked up, only to see a solitary owl silhouetted against the moon. I watched as he flew further into the trees until I could see him no more. A sharp squeal came from the direction he had flown and I knew he’d found his prey.

Trudging forward, I stumbled on the slick surface. Ice covered most of the snow, making it nearly impossible to walk on. At least my feet are somewhat dry. The forest began to get more and more dense as I walked forward. Soon, I could no longer see much light. Little beams let their way through the tangle of ice covered branches. Occasionally, the light reflected off several ice covered limbs at once, making them look like Christmas lights. 

This might be going into a short-story-turned-novel-that-needs-planned that I'm working on for an English class. No, the assignment is not to write a novel. I'll submit a short story and probably turn it into a novel afterwards. I have trouble doing short things. :P

The muse I need...

I've decided this would be an effective way to actually get something written:

Now if only there was a drink or something labeled 'inspiration' or some medicine called 'anti-writer's block'. Ah well. 

Is a day really a day?

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.-Exodus 20:11a

There are many theories about how the earth was created, when it was created and how long it took. The Biblical view of Creation states that God made the world in 6 literal 24-hour days. Evolution theory says there isn’t and Intelligent Designer and the earth came to be by a huge explosion (that’s a topic for a different post.) Other people believe that God did indeed create the earth, but there are varied opinions on how He did it. These theories include Theistic Evolution, Day-Age theory, Gap theory and others. I’ll only be discussing the Day-Age theory this time.

The Secular view of Creation

The Biblical view of Creation

The Day-Age theorists believe that the earth was created by God, instead of 6 literal 24-hour days, each day stretched on for millions of years. Genesis 1 is the entire story of Creation. Each day for 6 days, God created things and then rested on the 7^th (that’s where we get our week). The Hebrew word used in this chapter is ‘Yom’, which is always in conjunction with a number. Whenever the word ‘Yom’ is placed with a number, it always means a literal 24-hour day; ‘and there was evening and morning—the first day (Yom)’—Genesis 1:5a. If each day had been millions of years long, there would have been death before sin. How then, after each Creation day, could ‘He saw all the he had made and it was very good’. (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25 and 31)

Genesis 3 deals with the curses God places on man and woman after sin. It also records the first death (Genesis 3:21). Instead of the fig leave coverings that Adam and Eve attempted to make for themselves after they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, He used animal skin to make garments. ‘‘By the sweat of your face, you will eat bread, till you return to the ground. Because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’—Genesis 3:19. If there had been death before sin, this curse wouldn’t have been placed upon man. There already would have been death in the world.  To quote Answers in Genesis:   “In a secular worldview, there has always been death. So, the Christians try to incorporate secular history of millions of years into their theology, two main questions arise. Was there really a change when Adam and Eve sinned? And what will heaven really be like. . . ?”

It’s interesting that Genesis 1 is the only place the days are attacked. For example, nobody questions the fact that Jonah was a big fish for three days, it rained for 40 days during the great flood or the Jesus rose from the dead after three days. Why is it that Genesis 1 is such a big issue?

Think about it logically. How can you believe the rest of the Bible if you don’t believe the beginning of it? Genesis is the foundation for everything in the rest of the Old Testament, New Testament and our world today. In Answers in Genesis’ video Millions of Years, the speaker puts it this way, “The church in America is just worried about the cross. Sure the enemy may be hitting the foundation, but as long as it doesn’t hit the cross, they don’t care what the attacks are on Genesis.”   

The issue here is really an authority issue. It’s a problem that has gone on since the Garden of Eden and a problem that will continue until Jesus returns. In the Garden, the serpent tempted Eve and twisted what God had said. In the same way, the devil is attacking a literal interpretation of Genesis by twisting what God has said.

 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”—Genesis 2:16-17

Pretty straightforward. However, look at the exchange between the serpent and the woman in Chapter 3:

[The serpent] said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

“Why does it matter?” you may ask. “Isn’t it enough that I simply believe God created the earth? Does it matter what I believe about how He create it?” If you think about it, taking Genesis literally really is a big issue. If the foundation of the Bible—God’s inspired word—isn’t believe, what’s to say the rest of it should be? Jesus Himself quoted the Old Testament many times and clearly showed that He took Genesis literally (see Mark 10:6, which is referring back to Genesis 1:27). So, if the Son of God took Genesis at face-value and believed what His Father said, why shouldn’t we?

(Graphics belong to Answers in Genesis. www.answersingenesis.org)

Weekly Description

I'm going to start posting a description from things I've written. I will post it once a week. The description could be short or long...one paragraph or several. Hopefully, this will help me stay a bit more motivated to actually write (yes, I admit I've not been the best at my writing time lately) and try to come up with a good mental picture for things. When I went to the One Year Adventure Novel  Summer Workshop, there were several speakers who talked about description. It's really important that you describe things in your novel so that your reader has a clear mental picture of what you're thinking of. If you neglect this, then either they'll come up with their own idea or the story won't feel real to them. Another thing could happen (especially so with character descriptions). If you don't show how a character looks until the end of Chapter 1 or beginning of Chapter 2, the reader has already formed their own idea of what they want the character to look like. When you finally do get around to describing that, it makes it harder for the reader to switch to what you pictured in your mind.

Anyways, moving on with the post now. Here is description number 1:

The lights that still worked flickered. All of the fixtures were dusty and covered with spider webs and dead bugs. Mildew stained the floors and the walls certainly looked like they’d seen better days. Graffiti covered most of them, proclaiming profane statements and some things I couldn’t even read. Remnants from the spray paint accented the floor. A cold, musty smell filled the air.

--Excerpt from Chapter 2 of a futuristic/sci-fi/dystopian/young adult collective novel. 

Writing Day

I attended my very first writing day at the Mustard Seed Retreat July 26. When I first got there, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

The retreat and yard surrounding it are lovely. It’s an old farmhouse with beautiful flowerbeds around it. Lots of cats and kittens roam around and really like to get attention. A red barn is outside and Miss Pam (the lady in charge) said that she holds classes out there.

Inside the retreat is just as nice as the outside. There is a small kitchen, where candy, fruit and drinks are kept for the writers. Miss Pam has three different rooms set aside for writing. One it a library and has a shelf of books and a whiteboard. Emily and I had a good time doing some character development on the whiteboard near the end of the day.

I arrived at 10 AM. Miss Pam greeted me at the door and showed me around the house. Reagan  had already arrived and Emily texted me to say she was on her way. I met two of the other writers who were there that day and settled myself on the couch in the library. It was such a quiet environment that it was actually a little hard for me to concentrate the first 15 minutes or so. I’m used to being at home with my siblings running around and playing, so it was definitely a switch.

Before lunch (around 2 PM) I managed to get about 1,000 words written using my new idea for ‘Freedoms Bonds’ (look for a post on that in the near future). During lunch, the 6 writers sat around and chatted.

Reagan and I got some brainstorming done for a futuristic, dystopian, sci-fi idea we had. I’m not going to say too much about the idea though. I decided, for now at least, that all of you who read my blog (all 8 of you :P) will be kept in suspense.

A huge storm blew in around 3:00 and we got a little distracted. At least, the four females who were there did. One girl left after lunch, so there were only five of us at that point. It was raining so hard that sheets of water were pouring down the windows. The internet access went out, followed shortly by the electric. The electric only stayed out for 5 minutes. I don’t know about the internet.

No,this isn't the storm. I just thought this was an interesting picture.

Starting around 4:45, I started to lose any ability to focus. I think that’s when the coffee kicked in. It was either the coffee or the tiredness from the fair week. Either way,  Emily and I were struggling to find any semblance of focus. So what do writers do when having focusing issues? Character development, of course!

We used Emily’s medieval character and my futuristic character and started it on the whiteboard. For some reason, my character was a grouch. Maybe it was just because I don’t know a whole lot about her yet. The two of us had quite a lot of fun, since some of the things my character (Alexis) mentioned, were things that Emily’s character (Kesiah) had never heard of before. Take nail polish for example. Alexis was complaining that her nail polish chipped and Kesiah couldn’t figure out what she was talking about and why her nails were an unnatural color.

Overall, I absolutely loved being able to go somewhere and just write for a day. I wrote 2500+ words, edited and read both Em and Reagan’s chapters, brainstormed with Reagan and character developed with Emily. I’m anticipating the next writing day very much.

2012 County Fair

(WARNING- Long post)


Saturday, July 21
Abbie and I went to the fairgrounds around 9 to help put bedding in cages. The man in charge of poultry wasn't there yet, so we put bedding in all the rabbit cages (they share a barn). After finishing there, we visited our Dad, who was helping with special interest judging in the armory. Abbie and I headed back to the camper for a little bit and chilled in the AC (no pun intended). By the time we found out the person in charge of the poultry part of the barn had arrived, they had already gotten all the bedding in cages. We helped put the stall cards on and picked where we wanted the cages for our club to be.

The afternoon was filled with bathing chickens. We had four tubs full of water with soap, bluing, vinegar and a rinse. Ever since I started showing chickens 7 years ago, I now know the true meaning of the expression 'as mad as a wet hen'. Believe me, they are pretty furious.

Sunday, July 22
My family actually went to church the first Sunday of fair. This has been a rare occurence the past 6 or 7 years because we usually have my horse at the fairgrounds. Of course, the entire fair I wished I had her at the fairgrounds. After church was over, I drove to the armory for the girl's judgings for Horseless Horse. They all got an 'A' and it looked like they did excellent in their interview.

Kit-Kat and I gave a fair tour to one of the members and her friend. We then headed back to the campsite and helped Kit-Kat's mom and brother set up a few of the canopys. After that was finished, I went home to help with the chickens. We moved them to the fairgrounds and got them in their cages about 30 minutes before weigh-in, pictures and barn meeting started.

The barn meeting began at 5 and was for both poultry and rabbit members. Immediately following, we started the weigh-in and pictures. Rabbit members went first, with the broilers and turkeys following. Weigh-in is basically just getting a starting weight on your bird at the beginning of the fair. This determines where you are placed in the market class and, as long as you don't get Grand or Reserve, where you are placed in the sale order. A picture is taken with you and your market animal and then placed on a plaque. This given to your buyer after the livestock auction on Saturday.


Monday, July 23
Chicken show day! We got up early to take care of the birds before 9. Abbie, Tim and I cleaned out the cages and then started to bathe our show birds. Thankfully, only the light colored ones and the broilers needed washed, so it was a much shorter ordeal than we at first thought.

The show started at 1pm. I was in the second class of showmanship. I took my Black Australorp hen for the class and she did pretty well. Showmanship, in chickens at least, isn't judged on your animal. It's judged on how you show your bird and the knowledge you have. I guess I didn't have a whole lot of knowledge this year, because I only got third. :P

The three girls and third place ribbons. I felt so short. :P

Abbie and Kit-Kat also got third in their showmanship classes. Tim on the other hand, got first! He was so excited that he couldn't stop smiling during the championship, or Showmen of Showmen, class.

We finished off the night around 9 PM, which is a record time for poultry day. In previous years, they've had all the poultry (waterfowl, fancies, pullets, turkeys, broilers, etc.) on the same tday. This year, they only did fancies, pullets and broilers on Monday. So it was much shorter and it gave the judge a lot more time with the kids instead of having to try and rush through.

Tuesday, July 24
Kit-Kat and I had Jr. Fairboard office duty. We sat in the office for 2 hours and got to answer questions. Quite fun.

The style review for clothing projects was at 3 PM that afternoon. My grandparents came to watch, so it was great to see them. Abbie and one other girl from our club did sewing projects this year and they both did very well! Christal, the other girl, modeled a skirt that she had tye-dyed. Abbie modeled her modest swimsuit.

Directly following the style review were the awards for special interest. All the girls in our club who took horseless horse got an award, whether it be Honorable Mention or Outstanding. Both Tim and I are State Fair Representatives for the rifle project and will be going to the State Fair on Friday, August 3rd.

Our club's family pizza party was that evening as well. We sat around and ate pizza and then I went to work at one of the concession stands, Brain Freeze.

Wednesday, July 25
Kit-Kat and I again had Jr. Fairboard office duty. It was this day that we decided animals were having some major problems. Or at least, animal's owners were. There was a new rule put in place this year that all pens must be cleaned, watered and fed by 9 AM. Seems like a rather ridiculous rule, but you'd be surprised how many people don't properly take care of their show animals.

Two pig pens were reported as not clean and they had no food/water, so the vet went to award the 'Dirty Pen Award', as she called it. A man from the chicken barn brought his daughter's barred rock bantam hen in looking for the vet. Apparently the rooster had pecked at her overnight, so she had no skin left on her head. The vet gave him an early release form and sent the bird home. There were also some problems in the rabbit and sheep area, but I don't remember what exactly they were.

After we got off office duty, we headed to the camper to finish things for the Poultry skill-a-thon (knowledge test, basically). We filled out our record books, which list how much we spent on feed and things like that. I read 22 pages on Avian Influenza out loud to Abbie and Kit-Kat, that way we knew what the tie-breaker was on. Kit-Kat's mom (Ms. Brown) said that she really liked it because it put her to sleep.

The poultry skill-a-thon went by pretty quickly for me. The stations seem to be getting easier and easier every year. The only one I had problems with was the breed station. As a senior, you had to name over 20 different breeds of chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks. So it was a little difficult. The ones that I did name I got right, so that was exciting.

One of the mom's in our club organized the annual scavenger hunt and that's how we filled out afternoon. It started with a shaved ice eating contest and my team won. I was pretty surprised, becuase it usually takes me 30 minutes to eat a small. I managed to eat it in 3 minutes, with several brain freezes and interesting faces I'm sure.

That evening, my friend Rachel Ramm (check out her blog. She's an incredible artist!!), her grandparents and younger siblings came. I showed them around the fair and then we went on a few rides. It was quite a fun evening!

Thursday, July 26
I wasn't at the fair most of the day. Instead, I went to an 8 hour long writing day at the Mustard Seed Retreat. My friends Emily and Reagan (check out his blog too) were there as well. I got 2,500 words written in Freedom's Bonds, edited one chapter of Reagan's book, Renengades, did some brainstorming for a collective novel idea with Reagan and near the end of the day, did some fun character development with Emily.

Emily and I left at 6 and went back to my house. My parents had just gotten home with the new horse trailer, so I was very excited to see that. It's supposed to be red, but it's weather-worn right now, so it looks pink. Personally, I like it pink. Dad would like it to be red.

We grabbed the movie equipment and returned to the fairgrounds. It was 4-H girls night. That night in the grandstands was the bull riding and girl's barrel racing. The girls in our 4-H club and I stayed for the first half and got to see a double rainbow. We went back to the camper and sung songs from various musicals and Disney movies.

Mom and Ms. Brown started the tye-dye activity while I got the movie set-up. All the ladies and girls got to tye-dye a shirt and watch Sound of Music. Of course, we turned the captions on and sung. It was a lot of fun.

I went to bed in the middle of the movie because I was so tired. Both Kit-Kat and Emily stayed the night.

Friday, July 27
Another morning of Jr. Fairboard duty. Kit-Kat and I actually got to something interesting this time. We glued the pictures of livestock members onto the plaques that would be given to the buyers.

I didn't do much Friday afternoon. Kit-Kat and I lounged around the camper for a bit and then went to TSC, her house and Chipolte. We both laid down and took a nap and then I went to work at Brain Freeze again.

Saturday, July 28
Sale day. Finally. The morning started with the annual 4-H pancake breakfast. My brother, sister and I went and ate some pancakes and then went to the poultry barn to care for the chickens. Thankfully, none of the broilers needed a bath before the sale.

Livestock awards were presented in the Show Arena at 9:30. Tim and Abbie both got outstanding in the poultry skill-a-thon. I got outstanding and third place in the senior division. We went back to the camper afterwards and chilled out for a couple hours before the sale.

The broilers didn't start selling until around 3:30. Businesses in Union County are very supportive of the Jr Fair. The lowest amount that someone got for their birds (a pen of 4 meat birds) was $250, I believe. All the little kids usually got more, because they are much cuter. The Grand and Reserve Champion broiler got over $1,000 for the birds. Broilers are the best project to make money on at the fair. About $15 goes in to raising each bird, so you don't have much that you need to recover from after you get your sale money.

Kit-Kat and I worked in the Jr Fairboard office for the last time that afternoon. Nothing too exciting happened, other than the fact that I managed to get my ice cream bar all over myself.



That's a pretty typical fair for my family and I. Next year, I'll be showing my horse again, so the '2013 County Fair' post will be much, MUCH longer.

Look for a post soon about the writing day at the Mustard Seed Retreat!

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