Paradise Lost

Have any of you guys heard of The Brinkman Adventures? I love their audio! I want to share a story from one of their episodes called paradise lost: So, the Brinkmans were at a conference they had actually put together. They had finally gotten there and were admiring the beautiful lake. It was a man-made lake, which Ian emphasized. There was a zip-line going into the lake, a conference hall, and much more they were checking out. They all heard what sounded like a crack, and the water came rushing out of the lake! The dam had broken! Later they found out that only about half the people were at the camp and they were all stuck there. The guest speaker did not make it either. They felt pretty discouraged. Then, they had an idea. They were going to change this around a bit, but it seemed like it would work. They had a week of missionary games that helped kids and adults realize what missionaries were going through to tell of, translate, and even smuggle the bible to other countries who needed God. They were going to have a big finally too. All of the kids went out and pretended to be missionaries while the adults were people trying to throw them out! A big storm started, and the tornado warning went off, but it was so loud that the kids could not hear it. The adults were freaking out! Then were reminded to put their trust in God and not in their own ability to round up the kids. After a while, The adults found all of the kids and praised the Lord! God had his own plan for this family camp. He wanted the adults to learn to trust Him more. The kids had a great time too! ,  I am going to trust God when I are in the middle of a storm. I am not in control of it, but God is.

Winter is here!

Hello! Today Seraiah is back at school. Yay! I, however, am still at home. Yesterday Mom finished raking up all our leaves in our yard. We have four  maples so that is a lot of work! This morning we woke up to an inch and a half of snow on the ground! I am not sure how I feel about it. It is so pretty, of course, but winter is rough. I do not like wearing coats either. But, like I said in my last post, we are so excited to go snowboarding! That might just get me to say I like winter and I am glad it snowed last night. The point is, God held off the snow for us! We are so grateful we did not have to go through the winter with leaves to your knees. I think Acts 15:8 goes perfectly with this event: And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us. God knows everything, guys! I know I can put my trust in Him, and I know I can expect peace when I do.

A Fun Kind of Busy

Hey guys, we are having a great time at school. We are having a bit of trouble getting used to being away from home though. However, I am glad Seraiah and I are there. We were on the middle school volleyball team and had a great time. We have finished the first quarter of school. Days go by so slowly now, but months go by so fast! It feels like just yesterday we were only a week in. A bug has been going around our family, so Seraiah and I are having a sick day. I am glad we made it this far though.  We are excited for winter to come so that we can go snowboarding! Comment Down below if you go snowboarding or skiing. We are also planning our church's Christmas program. We are having a lot of fun with what we are doing here. Although I am still struggling with grieving the move, I keep in mind the verse Ecclesiastes 3:11- Yet God has made everything beautiful in its own time, he has planted eternity in the human heart,  but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's plan from beginning to end. (NLT) I am still hanging on to that verse, I am choosing to believe God has a plan for me here. I want to be wherever He wants me, because that is the best place to be.

Coulee Christian

A lot has happened this last year. Moving has opened up opportunities that we did not have in Warren, MN. I have gotten to do gymnastics with Sami. Seraiah has joined the YMCA's swim team,  and we get to go hiking on the bluffs. We get to do a lot of new stuff.
We have been praying about doing another thing that we have never done. There is a private school in West Salem called coulee Christian that we have been looking into. We have decided that Seraiah and I, Bella, will be attending it this fall. It will be a challenge for both of us, but I believe that this is the time God planned for us to go. Psalm 119:133 says, "Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me." I want to let God direct my footsteps so that wherever I am, I know that I am following him.

Beautiful God

Let's talk about what's beautiful for a little bit. first, outside. The outdoors is so breathtaking to me. The sky gets so blue. The trees get so green next to it, and the flowers so bright with so many different colors. It is so relaxing to get outside and just look at God's beautiful creation.

Second, art. It is just amazing to me how God gave us the ability to create beautiful things. Art isn't just something you hang on the wall. Everyone has their own kind of art, whether that's dancing on stage, or singing in your bedroom, God gave each and every one of us the ability and passion to create art. 

What is beautiful in your life? Has God done something in your life that you are blessed by? 

The verse I want to share with you today is Ephesians 2:10: For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. [NIV]

God has a plan for everyone, and he is truly beautiful.

Scales

Today I want to give you guys a memory verse to challenge yourself on, Proverbs 29:25
Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be kept safe. [NIV]
I want to share that with you because I have been struggling with having a fear of man. There are several different ways you can struggle with this, but I have been trying to parent my siblings so that they will not bother Mom and Dad, or so Mom didn't have to spend her time being exasperated. That just made things worse. A few days ago I would not have called it fear of man, but now I realize that is exactly what it is. I was unintentionally revolving my life around trying to keep Mom and Dad from getting mad. That is not what they want, and neither do my siblings. I picture it as a scale, I try to keep the peace by balancing it, but instead, it just goes up on the other end. If I just do my part in obeying Mom and Dad and not worry about my siblings, it will balance itself out.

Birthday week!!!

Hi guys, as some of you may know, this month is birthday month for our family. Seraiah had hers on October 12th, I had mine on the 16th, and Curry's is coming up on the 28th. 

I am starting a book that I highly recommend. It's called Inspired evidence. It's about proving that there was a creator of creation and disproving the theory of evolution. I have only read a little bit, but I love how it puts science and God's truth together. 
O.K. so I read these amazing verses today, James 1:2-5 says, "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity or great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." I love the whole chapter of James 1 and I definitely recommend reading it. 
Oh one more thing, in previous posts I have mentioned me wanting to do gymnastics, well, I am going to be doing it at the middle school in Holmen, WI. I am going to be the only one in our family doing so because Seraiah, Sami, and Jax are doing soccer, and Curry is doing wrestling.