Words

The last BL lesson was on Words......mainly what words to avoid and what we should say.



There are five area's we should avoid:



1. Bad words--Satan likes to make good look bad and bad look good. There are words we shouldn't say at all, and words that are good, but used in a bad way.



2. Harmful words--this is like gossip, teasing, sarcasm etc. Satan may have a hard time getting us to say bad words, but he may try extra had to get us to say unkind words or gossip. Often we don't realize how much our words can hurt someone. Before you say anything, ask yourself, "Is it true? Is is kind? Is it necessary?" If not, don't say it!



3. Deceitful words--lying, exaggeration, etc. Don't just avoid lying, but avoid all forms of deceit, "white lies" and anything like that.



4. Proud words--this is often subtle and hard to catch, but always be on the lookout! Remember, let your praise be in the mouth of another and not your own mouth. Proverbs 27:2



5. Inappropriate or Unnecessary words--their are a lot of things, we as young ladies shouldn't be talking about (boys, etc.) Also, it is easy to talk about unnecessary things. Not bad, just unnecessary. If we possibly can, bring the conversation to the next level, are talk about worthwhile things. God says we will have to give account for every idle word we speak! Matthew 12:36



So what word should we say? Psalm 100:4 gives the answer: "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name." There you have it--Praise, Thanksgiving, and Blessing.

Today we had a full run through of Seussical--the musical we are in. It was fun to see all the work we have done since September come together! The performance isn't until April, but it will be here in no time!

Tomorrow is Grant's Birthday. He and Vince have a basketball game at 9:00am tomorrow.

Thanksgiving BL Lesson!!!!

Thanksgiving!
Giving God Thanks For All He Has Done, Does, And Will Do For Us!

Ephesians 5:20
“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

　What do you think of when you think “Thanksgiving”? Do you think of turkey, pies, and family parties? Well…..I have to admit, those are what I think of, although those aren’t the only things.

Have you ever had a time when you were not as thankful as you should have been? It isn’t too late to go back and correct it!

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Esther (you should all go and read it!). In the story, it tells of Esther’s cousin Mordecai, who took care of Esther since her parents were dead. Mordecai would sit in the gate, listening to the news from the palace, and the rest of the city.

One day he found out that two of the kings servants wanted to kill the king. Mordecai told Queen Esther who in turn told the king, and it was taken care of.

Soon after this, the king promoted a certain prince, Haman, above all the other princes of the kingdom. All the others people of the kingdom were supposed to bow to Haman, but Mordecai, who knew that we should never bow to anyone but the one true God, didn’t bow. Haman was furious! In fact, he was so furious, he talked it over with his wife, and she advised him to ask the king to kill Mordecai.

But, that night, the king could not sleep. Now the king, he didn’t count sheep, or watch late night television. Instead, he had his servants stay up and read him the records. They read him the story of how Mordecai had reported those two men and saved the king from death. King A-has-u-e’rus asked, “What was done for Mordecai, to thank him?” The servants answered, “Nothing!”

The next morning Haman came into the palace, and the king called him saying, “What should be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman was so vain, he thought, “Who could the king wish to honor besides ME!” So he said, “Well…he should wear the king’s own clothes, and have the king’s own crown on his head, and ride on the king’s own horse, having one of the highest princes of the kingdom lead the horse through the city crying before him, ‘This is what will be done to him who the king wishes to honor!’” The king said, “Great! Go do just what you have said to Mordecai, the Jew.”

Haman was horrified! He went to Mordecai and did as the king command, because the king’s word was the king’s word, but he wasn’t happy!*

The story goes on of course, but that is the part I wanted to tell you. I think it is interesting how the king forgot to be thankful, but as soon as he remembered, he went and made it right! Now think, is that what you do, or do you just forget again? How often do you thank your Mom, for instance? I bet you could count off a half dozen things she does for you every day, but how often are you thankful for them? I want to challenge you to be thankful to everyone, for everything, all the time! After all, that is what the Bible tells us to do! Eph. 5:20 says, “Giving thanks always, for all things unto God and the Father in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Being thankful might be more important than you think! In Romans 1:21, it says, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” If one of the first things God notices about people who have fallen away is that they weren’t thankful, it must be pretty important!

Several years ago, (probably three or four), one of our aunts, who lives in Oregon, came to visit. While she was here, we spent some time with her, going to the nearby nature center, and visiting the Apple Butter Festival. We had a lot of fun, and when she was back in Oregon, we sent her notes telling her how much fun we had, etc. That was that, right? Well, not quite. Just a couple weeks ago, she called Mom, and said, “I was going through some papers, and came across those notes all of you sent me. I wanted to let you know I still have them and read them!” We were amazed!

As you can see from this little example, it means much more to people than you might at first think. Try it and see!

If we are to give thanks always, in everything, do you know what the ultimate thing to be thankful for is? Jesus dieing for us! We are all sinners, condemned to hell. But God, in His mercy, sent His Son to die for us. We did not deserve it, but He took our blame, opening the gates of heaven. God judges by the Ten Commandments. If you went through the list, how would you do? We all have told lies before, right? (Even if they were little!) So what does that make us? Another commandment says to honor our parents. Have you ever talked back? We’ve broken that commandment too! So, we can see we are guilty. There must be a punishment. But, instead of punishing us, God punished a substitute. Jesus died for us because of our sins, and we only have to accept Him to be washed clean by His cleansing blood. It is your decision. Will you make the right choice?

*Note: If you want to read this story from the Bible, it is found in Esther 2:7, 21-23, 3:1-5, 5:12-14, & 6:1-12. However, I would greatly encourage you to read not only this story, but also the whole book.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Remember what Thanksgiving is really about---not the food, or friends, or family, but giving thanks! Give thanks to God today for all He has done for you!!

Family Camp

We had a terrific time at Camp Barakel Labor Day family camp! The weather was great, and chapel sessions good.

Beautiful Sheer Lake
The Zipline! It was a lot of fun once, but it wasn't worth the time it took to get all the gear on and walk all the way up.

Lots of fun can be found on the lake!!

Our family's favorite is the kayaks!

The nights there are beautiful! With no light pollution, the stars are amazing! Many nights though, the moon was so bright the stars were hard to see.

We did an A,B,C scavenger hunt, and B was "Bluegill". Though small, this bluegill fit the bill!!

Mom, geared up for the zipline!

Vince, happily kayaking.

Since we were on the East side, and everything else on the West side of camp, it was a half hour walk to get anywhere!

"Want some??"

The only marr was that on Saturday night, there was a teen ambush. We were playing "ultimate" hide-n-go-seek and Lydia ran down the hill, was stuck with a stick, and we had an hour drive to Greyling, 4 1/2 hour wait in the emergency room, and an hour drive back. It was a nightmare! We were exhausted on Sunday morning and late for chapel. I had a piercing headache, but towards the end of the day it went away.

We had a great time though, and it will definitely be remembered for a long time--both for the fun and nightmare!

The Zoo.....

I really should have done this post a while ago, seeing we went to the zoo for Vince's birthday, which was September 15th, but we've been really busy, and time flies!

We went to the Detroit Zoo for Vince's 8th birthday. It was a lovely surprise! We didn't know that Dad had taken the day off, and he got all ready for work as usual. He even left, coming back after a couple minutes saying, "I forgot! I took the day off!" We were thrilled!
It was a hot day, and the misty fountains around the zoo were delightful.

The elaborate exibits were fun to look at. We read nearly all the signs for the animals we visited.

Noela enjoyed the day, too! Lydia pushed her around in the stroller.

These little ducks don't seem very small here, but I could have easily held them in one hand.

Noela's favorites were the turtles--I thought they were pretty fun myself!

This flower was in the aviary.

We thought it was pretty fun to see the cobra with his hood out!

Everyone's favorite was probably the under-water seal exibit. The tubes were nice and cool, and the seals were very active. It was fun to see the seals gliding about on every side of you!

We had a great time, and it was a wonderful day!

Looking back over the post, it is funny to see I have more pictures of people and plants than animals!

Summer Happenings....

Hello! I know I have been really bad about posting..........but we've had a wonderfully busy summer! I'll be posting another post on what we have done this summer, but here's to start you off:

We spent a whole week at our grandma's trailer! It is an hour away from our house, and we don't go there very much.

Everyone decided to gang up on ME! We were having a great time!

The tiny kitchen.

We went to our cousin's wedding, up in the Thumb. Noela is asleep on the be in the hotel room.

The wedding cake was beautiful! Our cousin made it.

We had a great time blue berry picking this summer! On this trip I think we got about 50lbs. We went 3 times this year.

My wonderful brother, Grant.

Little Audrey, who went with us along with her sister, Mary.

Mary picking blueberries!

Ryanne, Lydia, and Mary.

Noela with cherries all over her face.

Doesn't she has cute little lips?

Lugnuts game!

Dad, Vince, Grant, Lance, and Uncle Kyle.

Little Kailey.

Sarah (our cousin) and her little girl, Kailey.

Neola and Kailey had a great time together, playing in the sand box!

We were really busy this year with baseball. Grant was on two team, and he had games nearly every night!

Grant pitched for his U10 team. He's kind of tired in this picture. :~)

Lydia and I spent a day (and night) with Grandma & Grandpa (on Dad's side). We had a great time, helping Grandma clean.

Pretty little Noela........she was upset at us for trying to take her picture though!

Here she is feeding Anthony Bee Balm.

Our suite was right above the Tigers' bullpen.

One of the highlights of this summer was a once-in-a-lifetime Tigers game. Uncle Kyle rented a party suite and invited all eight of us (Dad, Mom, Me, Lydia, Noela, Grant, Vince, Lance) along with some others to come and celebrate his birthday with him. The tickets were $85 apiece! We had a terrific time. The whole way to the stadium, it poured. We were afraid that the game would be rained out. We were praying and praying that it would stop raining. It rained all the way until we parked and were entering the stadium. Then it stopped raining, and the sun even came out! The game was played, they ended, and not five minutes later, it started to rain again! We were thanking God! The only down was the Tiger lost.

Inside the suite.

Grandpa John, Vince, and Lance. Grandpa John and Grandma Rose came up from Tennessee for the game!

The view from the party suite was magnificent!