August 31 Through The Years

I haven't done a history post for awhile because the emails I get from Wikipedia haven't been as interesting as I usually find them. Either that or I didn't have time to post about the topic because my opinions were screaming to be shared. =P But today I will share some history with you instead of doing the normal youtube video(s).

Today in 1422, Henry the Sixth became the King of England at the ripe old age of eight months when his 35-year-old father, Henry the Fifth, died unexpectedly.

A quick biography from Wikipedia:

Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. Until 1437, his realm was governed by regents. Contemporaneous accounts described him as peaceful and pious. His periods of insanity and his inherent benevolence eventually led to his own downfall, the collapse of the House of Lancaster, and the rise of the House of York.

On this date in 1888 the body of Mary Ann Nichols was discovered at 3:40 in the morning in Whitechapel, about 150 yard from London Hospital. Her murder was the first in a set of five Whitechapel murderers which were attributed to the legendary "Jack the Ripper."

An interesting note from Wikipedia:

Unlike murderers of lesser fame, there is no waxwork figure of Jack the Ripper at Madame Tussauds' Chamber of Horrors, in accordance with their policy of not modelling persons whose likeness is unknown. He is instead depicted as a shadow. In 2006, Jack the Ripper was selected by BBC History magazine and its readers as the worst Briton in history.

The last one I'm going to mention is perhaps the most famous. In 1997 Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris. A lot of controversy has surrounded the accident and Diana's death, but it was determined in court in 2008 that the drunken driver was solely to blame.

Pulling Down Strongholds

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high things that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Last night at church, my pastor preached a message titled "Demolishing Strongholds" from this passage in 2 Corinthians. It was a message that I really needed to hear and I would encourage any of you who have time to go and listen to it yourselves. [The link takes you to the audio portion of the church website. Right now the sermon is at the top, but if you're reading this after Wednesday, look for a message titled "Strongholds 2 Cor 10:3-5]

One of the quotes that pastor shared really stood out to me:

A stronghold is something in your life that you know is not pleasing God that you feel powerless to change.
-Mark Schmidt

I have to admit that I have a stronghold (or two or three) in my life. And they give me seemingly endless grief. But it's true. I feel totally powerless to change.

Here is the list that Pastor made for tearing down strongholds:

1. Acknowledge the stronghold
2. Grieve over it
3. Repent/confess
4. Claim the cleansing of Christ's blood
5. Ask God to reclaim the ground on which your stronghold is built
6. Tear down the strongholds with truth (Deal with whatever it is that may encourage you to run to your stronghold)
7. Build fortresses of truth (memorize scripture)
8. Fully forgive your offenders

This week I'm working on my strongholds. Again. And I'll have to work at them some more next week. Maybe eventually it'll get easier. For now, though, I covet your prayers.

What about you? Do you have strongholds in your life? Are you seeking to destroy them? If so, let me know and I'll be happy to pray for you as we tear down strongholds together!

Silence

So after posting multiple times a day, I'm suddenly being rather quiet, aren't I? Well, the truth is: I can't find the words to say. I've started to type up several posts, but they just weren't flowing. They weren't saying what I wanted them to say... except that I wasn't even sure what I was saying. So you find me here, trying the third post in the last hour. And I think this one will actually get posted.

Simply put: Sorry if you're disappointed in me. I really do want to blog, but I don't know what to blog about. To be brutally honest, I get discouraged when I look at my posts and see the lack of comments (though I LOVE the comments I get, please don't stop!) and when I look at my sidebar and see that I only have thirteen followers. I keep asking myself: "What am I doing wrong? Why does it seem like I'm the only blogger that has this problem?"

Does anyone have any ideas what I could do to improve my blog? Or should I just leave it the way it is and love the few people who care to be involved? (And I do love you guys!)

Any suggestions are welcome!

Youtube Tuesday - Laughter, the Best Medicine

Are You an AT&T Christian?

My youth group is going through Ephesians right now, and we recently got to the verses in Ephesians chapter five that talk about redeeming the time. Pastor Jono (my youth pastor) mentioned the AT&T commercials that play on TV. And I thought it was a pretty good picture of the way we should be.

In case you're not familiar with the AT&T commercials, they show a mom frantically trying to keep all of her family's rollover minutes. She doesn't want to waste ANY. One of my favorites is a commercial where her son is selling his minutes at a garage sale and she won't let him. Her sons and husband are always throwing minutes out, but she does her best to save them.

Redeem them.

What about your minutes? Are you like the sons, selling them or even throwing them out? Or are you like the mom, hoarding each minute and trying to use it? The last few weeks, I've definitely been one of the boys. I'm not proud of that fact. But I can change. So here's to a week of AT&T Christianity!

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

It's Here!

Sorry to post three times in one day... but I just finished designing my blog button. =D It might still be a little on the wide side, but I guess I can change that if I need to. The code for it is on my sidebar!

Without Ceasing

Do you know what that means? No stopping. That's how we're supposed to pray. Okay, that just means every day at mealtimes, right? Absolutely not! Without ceasing means without ceasing! (Surprise, surprise) That's the way you breathe. Or at least I hope it is. Is it the way you pray?

Answering this question honestly, I have to say, "no." I don't pray the way that I should. Here is a post about prayer that I found very helpful. There are several good ideas in it for helping each of us pray more.

I wrote this on March 10, and for some reason it never got posted. So even though I feel like it's incomplete, I'm posting it now. It's a good reminder whether the post itself is complete or not.

A Little Friday Randomness

Item number one: New Voyage of the Dawn Treader footage!!!!!!!! I am really excited about what these clips show. They are obviously chopped up preview type clips, but they are still pretty cool. I'm very happy with Will Poulter. =D Although these clips do raise a few questions and at least one concern, overall I'm thrilled!

Item number two: Okay, I know it's not Tuesday, but that doesn't mean I can't post videos, right? This one just makes me laugh:

Item number three: Today I'm going to spend a couple of hours at Barnes and Noble. I will probably read Austenland by Shannon Hale or Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter. The Ally Carter books are... for entertainment purposes only. LOL They have absolutely no value whatsoever. Shannon Hale's books, however, move a step beyond entertainment because I love her writing style and try to analyze it to make myself a better writer.

Item number four: My dad made me an invisible book shelf this week and we finally got it in place yesterday. I'll try to remember to take pictures so ya'll can see it. If you're interested.

Item number five: I have an awesome new Bible! Before all of the newly graduated seniors leave for college, the church presents them with a new study bible. All of the seniors got one last Sunday even though half of us aren't going to college just yet. =)

Item number six: My sisters and brother are starting school on Monday. It feels really REALLY weird to me to not be getting my schedule and supplies together with them. I'm going to be helping teach Seth some things. Oh, boy... hehe I'm looking forward to it, mostly. We'll see how it goes.

Item number seven: Okay, I totally do not get why everyone liked my handwriting. =P But thanks, guys!

Well, as seven is a number of perfection in the Bible, perhaps I should stop there! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

A Beauty and a Beast

As I'm writing my story of the beast, I am reading lots of fairy tales to make sure that I'm staying original but still sticking to the heart of the story. Of course Beauty got pulled off the shelf and read again. Because Belle: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast is so similar to Beauty, I didn't bother reading it again. But I looked for other stories. And I found out that Robin McKinley, who wrote my favorite Beauty, actually decided to try again. The result was a remarkably original and captivating new version of Beauty and the Beast. The title of the book is Rose Daughter, and though I'm not quite finished reading it yet, I have a very strong feeling that I'll be adding it to my personal bookshelf in the near future. It is truly a beauty of a book.

Unfortunately, I also met a beast of a book, too. Titled Beastly, this book completely lived up to it's name within the Prologue. I hoped for something better and read the first chapter, but finally tossed it aside and said, "Enough is enough!" This book has recently been made into a movie, which is how I first discovered it. I watched the trailer and thought that the story sounded pretty interesting. There was swearing in the trailer, but I hoped that it was just the way the movie was rather than the way the book was. Well... so much for that.

One last note before I go: I love Belle, even though it is so similar to Beauty. I think that the fact that I read Beauty first just helped make it my favorite. I'd highly recommend reading either one or even both! =D

My Handwriting =D

I saw this on Lindsay's blog awhile ago and finally got around to doing it. =D

Here are the rules:

• Write down the following, snap a picture (or scan the document), post it, and tag others.
• Name/Blog Name
• Right handed, left handed or both
• Favorite letters to write
• Least favorite letters to write
• Write: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
• Write in caps: CRAB HUMOR KALEIDOSCOPE PAJAMAS GAZILLION
• Favorite song lyrics
• Tag 7 people
• Any special note or drawing

P.S. Blogger won't let me put a larger picture up, but you can click on it to see the larger version. =D

Youtube Tuesday - Ethan Bortnick

Okay. Not only is this kid an amazing pianist... he's also quite the comedian! What makes it even funnier is that he's not trying to be funny, he's just being honest. =D

Pretty cool, huh? In case you want to find out more, here's the wikipedia page on Ethan.

Knights on Terra Earth

Arrethtrae... Have you heard of it? I can't remember if I've mentioned it before. It's a fictional land created by author Chuck Black. The name is earth and terra smashed together and spelled backwards. The Kingdom Series is a series of biblical allegories that take place in Arrethtrae. I loved them! There was a little romance in them that I didn't find totally necessary, but other than than they were wonderful!

I'm not wanting to talk about The Kingdom Series right now, though. I want to talk about the Knights of Arrethtrae. This series goes alongside the Kingdom Series, and they're even better. My favorite so far is Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart. It dealt with the subject of doubts. How often is it that I find myself doubting God's (the King's) perfect plan? More often than I want to admit. Although these books are fiction, I think that they can be an encouragement as well as teach some lessons that a lot of people need to learn. Lessons that I need to learn.

The reason that I'm mentioning the Knights of Arrethtrae right now is that I saw Chuck Black's status on facebook the other day. The next two books are about ready to be released! I'd encourage you to take a look! Why not check the books out at your local library or even ad them to your own shelf?

Awesome Giveaway!

Hello, everyone! You should go over to my friend Lindsay's blog for her amazing giveaway. She is so talented and makes some really cute stuff!

Packing Up

I hardly expected that I'd be saying this any time soon, but I'm packing up to head back home to the Denver area. Dad is being put on another job that's closer to home. I knew this would happen eventually, but I have to admit that it feels much *much* too soon for me.
Dad would probably disagree.
Anyhow, we're leaving either tonight or tomorrow morning. Not sure how we're going to fit everything into the car, but I guess we'll manage.
I really wish this could have lasted just a little bit longer. Independence is something I love and that I feel I don't have in the city. Here it is so easy to get around and walk around town, visit the library, etc. I've probably mentioned this in previous posts, but I hate being unable to go anywhere when I'm at home. My whole life is completely dependent on my mom's plans or her mood. Everyone keeps saying, "Get your license, then you'll be independent."
Wanna bet?
1. I still wouldn't have my own car, so that would probably present problems at times
2. I don't have a job, therefore I can't pay for gas, which I assume my parents would want me to do
3. I can't get a job because I don't have a car

Anyhow... I guess I'll just keep chillin at home and hopefully finish the last of my schoolwork and then see where life takes me.

Random question for the day: Ixnay or exnay? I have seen many people spell this word both ways. Which way would YOU spell it? (I do know the correct spelling, but it seems to be the least used of the two. =P)

Inspiration

I love fairy tales. Beauty and the Beast is probably one of my favorites. Last November I wrote a book called The Looking Glass. It's the story of a girl who gets into the world where fairy tales actually took place. At the time I knew I wanted to take things further with my kingdom of Aeroth, but I had no clue what I was going to do. Were other kids going to get into Aeroth and discover things about themselves and build character, or what? I thought about rewriting some fairy tales, but decided against that. Cameron Dokey has already done a marvelous job with that - how on earth could I compete???? I figured it out. I'm not even sure where the idea came from, but on Sunday I wondered, "How long was the Beast in the castle before Belle came? And what did he do?"
That was just the beginning. After a long drive from the Denver area back up here to Steamboat (lots of time to think!) I couldn't wait to get down to business and work on a series. The Kings of Aeroth. I'm so excited about it! The Looking Glass is going to be a prequel to the series. My focus is going to be on the GUYS in the fairy tales. And it's been tons of fun so far! A lot of work, though. I've found that it's hard to
1. Get into a guy's part. How on earth do guys think? Most of my books are about girls.
2. Figure out the Beast. His history (the way I see it) kinda helps me understand his character, but he is SO moody and unpredictable
3. Stay in Aeroth. Because the Beast is such a rebellious teen and has so many issues, I find it easier to put him in a modern-day earth sort of setting. It's hard to keep him in Aeroth... speaking the way he should speak, etc.
Another thing that I'm doing that I never did before is to write in first person. Several authors that I have read say that this is difficult. In some ways it is. But in many ways it's easier. I just have to focus on being one character (yeah... I actually have to BE the character for it to work out.) With The Looking Glass it was sometimes hard to have to get so familiar with so many people. I had to know the way they were on the INSIDE to make it translate to the OUTSIDE. Working on the Beast's story, I still have to know some of that, but what's going to come out in my writing is the appearance of things... the way the Beast perceives Belle, her father, his family, etc.
Anyhow... now that you're all bored to tears, I'll wrap this up. =D

Youtube Tuesday - To Do or Not To Do

Do ya'll even watch any of the videos I post on Tuesdays? Should I just quit? Should I do them less frequently? Should I stick to any specific type? The Youtube Tuesday posts are the ones that I get the least comments on, so I was just curious. I realize that last time I went WAAAAY overboard with it.... Sorry about that.

Anyhow...

Whadaya say?

YouTube Tuesday - Villains

Once I got going, I had a hard time stopping, so I don't really expect you to watch all of these. =P But you should really watch the first one! =D

This first one is probably my favorite villain moment. LOL I just saw this movie for the first time the other week and I loved it!


Cruella de Vil used to be my favorite villain ever. So here's a couple of scenes from 101 Dalmations. I wish I'd found one other scene, but I wasn't sure you'd all appreciate it in Polish. =P




This is kinda mixed up and missing some of the story, but I think it gets the point across. =P


I hated this when I was little.


This song makes me laugh. I wish I could've found the original Rodger's and Hammerstein one, but oh well.


Snow White was my absolute least favorite movie growing up. The queen just scared me to death!




I love some of the lines in here! (The movie underneath this one actually comes first)


I couldn't find the part where Giselle actually bit into the apple. At least... not in English.