A hiatus

For the few of you who read my blog, I'm sure you've noticed that my regular posting has slacked off. So I'm "officially" taking a blogging break. School and life are so busy right now, so I just wanted you to know, that's why I won't be blogging! Be back to posting sometime......

~Livvy

Vintage Pearl Giveaway!

These necklaces from The Vintage Pearl are so adorable! Check them out here.

Time flies.....

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I've posted! I'm sorry to have neglected my blog for so long; life has been quite busy, and school occupies most of my time. I have three Honors classes this year, and they require a bunch of extra work! But it's been a good couple of weeks. Our school went on our fall retreat, which was very good. The flour-water tank wars were so intense! We had to build our own tanks out of cardboard and duct tape, and then bomb each other with flour and water-soaked socks. So fun! The sessions of worship and teaching were so good too!! We had some good times of student prayer; it was so neat to see how God confirmed some things to a some of us! How have the past few weeks been for you?

The Vintage Pearl

I've enjoyed looking over the various creations from The Vintage Pearl, and I thought you might too! She is hosting a giveaway; here is the link. Enjoy!

YLCF

Take a peek at the YLCF's post for today. The link is down on the right.

Life and school

Actually I guess school is my life right now. :) Just kidding. School has been really good lately. Everybody's getting ramped up for Fall Retreat!!! I did a post on last year's FR, but for those who weren't reading then, my school takes all the highschoolers away for about two days for a time of fellowhip, worship, speakers, games, food.... :) They break up the students into groups of about 12, and I'm very happy with my group this year. Fun teacher, fun classmates; it's all good! School itself is going quite well too. I was a little busier than usual tonight, but better tonight than over the weekend. Sophmore year really doesnt' seem so bad so far. How did your week go? Let me know!

Pictures

Yesterday was just so pretty out, so Mom and I (and Bono!) went out to take some pictures.

Modeling!

I modeled some of Mom's designs for her yesterday. So fun!

Inspector Bucket

Lucy Beret

Cassandra Hat

Lucy Beret

First Day!

Today was the first day of the 2010-2011 school year! Thankfully it was a half day. :) I have Apologetics, Geometry, Spanish I, Honors English, Honors Biology, World History, and Creative Writing. My class is divided in some interesting ways. The sophmore class has 22 students, but we're in two different maths, so half of my classes have 22 students and the other half have 8! Funny how the schedule works.... All my teachers seem very nice and fun (I've had most of them before), and my classmates are great people too. Now, why don't you tell me about your first day!

Jane Austen Charater Quiz

I found this on the YLCF's archives. Try taking it, and then let me know what you are! (I'm an "L" for anyone who wants to know.) Jane Austen Character Quiz

ADDED LATER: On the request of a friend, here is a link to another Jane Austen Quiz: Jane Austen Quiz

Post from the archives of YLCF

I really enjoyed this post. It was very good...and very convicting. :) I don't always treat my brother or other guys in my life as I should; it was nice to get the reminder of one of the reasons that it is so important! Encouraging Boys to Manhood

Hair and more hair!

I know that a couple of you blog readers have dogs, and most of you know that I have two Golden Retrievers, Bono and Tallie. They shed like you wouldn't believe, but I never thought it was possible for a dog to have as much hair as Bono does. I brushed him for close to 15 minutes and this was the result:


The box was half full of hair by the time I finished, filled all the way up to the handle! Bono looks like he's lost about 5 pounds....

"By Our Love"

I read this post this morning and really enjoyed it. I think it's a very good and timely reminder of what it truly means to be a Christian, especially in our society today. Let me know what you think about it! Lies Young Women Believe By Our Love

Look at YLCF!

This month, the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship is rerunning certain posts of theirs. I really liked the one today, and would encourage you to take a peek. I was inspired to apply it to my own life, through school! I can work harder at not complaining about teachers or homework, I can try to do my best in everything, I can be productive, and I can also be nice to those classtmates that maybe get on my nerves. Anyway, take a look and then what I've just written will make more sense! :)

Life stays exciting...

I have two basset hounds that I regularly pet-sit; they're a bunch of fun! However, this morning when I went over, there was evidence that the owners hadn't left yet. I kept hearing noises, but I wasn't sure. Then Mrs. K came down after I'd fed the dogs, medicated the dogs, and given them their rawhide chews. At least her job with them was mostly done for the morning. Oh well. Life would be so much more dull without happenings like this!

Pencils: proof of God's immense grace

Today I was cleaning one of our old pencil boxes, weeding out the stubby, unusable ones. And it struck me. We are so blessed to serve a Creator who isn't like I was with those pencils; He doesn't get rid of us when it seems that we are past our use, when we feel like we have no drive to accomplish anything. No, He takes us, and He sharpens and refreshes us again and again, as much as is necessary; He makes us new and whole. He'll never throw us out, He'll never leave us by the wayside. He'll never treat us like an old pencil...

"Because of the LORD's great love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

~Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV)

"The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made."

~Psalm 145:13 (NIV)

Little laughs....

I just found this on a blog I follow. Try it and see!

• Go to google.com (the actual website, not a search bar)
• Type in "google Chuck Norris" (make sure to include the word google)
• Hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button (not the regular search button)

See??

Tooth update

Thank you so much for all your prayers! The procedure went really well, even though it took about two hours to get me properly sedated. I'm well on the way to a full recovery, and today I'm feeling ever so much better. I go back probably on Thursday to get the sutures out, and then I'm done with wisdom teeth forever! Thanks again!

~Livvy

Summer Stars

Summer Stars

Bend low again, night of summer stars.

So near you are, sky of summer stars,

So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars,

Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,

So near you are, summer stars,

So near, strumming, strumming,

So lazy and hum-strumming.

~Carl Sandburg

Tooth take-out....

My dear blog readers, this is a request for prayer! Tomorrow I'm having all four wisdom teeth extracted. Needless to say, I'm not bouncing off the walls with joy. :) I start on medicine this evening, an anxiety reliever (how timely!), and then will be on antibiotics for a week. I am allowed to eat a diet of almost totally ice cream and milkshakes (!) for 48 hours, but I still have quite a bit of trepidation about the procedure and would appreciate your prayers and thoughts. Thanks!

~Livvy

True Faith

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

~Martin Luther King

Indiana vacation

My mom and I spent three lovely days with my older sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. Jen recently got a compression fracture in her back from a whale-watch [look out for those zodiacs! :)], so we thought we'd go up and spend some time with her. We met at a beautiful lavender farm to pick lavender to make wands, an oh-so-fun and easy project. We also enjoyed watching the 4th of July fireworks in downtown Indianapolis and eating scrumptious barbecue wings. :) Yesterday we spent the morning shopping, visiting multiple yarn stores, Penzeys Spices, and the ever-popular Trader Joe's, which sadly we don't have here and are therefore required to stock up on their products whenever we frequent a TJ's store. They do have the most delicious chocolate mints. :) Mom and I also got to see Jen's Outdoor Learning Center, a cabin from the 1800's. So much fun!

Quotes

"Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way." ~American Proverb

An excellent reminder

This is a really great post!

Lies Young Women Believe HALT!

His promise to us....

Today I was looking through a journal a friend had given me. On each page is a Bible verse. The one I opened to was:

"God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble." (KJV)

I feel that this is a really good reminder. God is always with us. He promises that He will never leave us, He will never forsake us. (reference Hebrews 13:5) He will never abandon us or leave us to work everything out ourselves. God is there and He always will be!

Book Review: Mark of the Lion Trilogy

I recently read A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness, and As Sure as the Dawn all by Francine Rivers. I really enjoyed these books, staying up into the wee small hours to finish them. The books are much to complex to go into much, but I'll try to give a small preview. The chapters rotate between characters, so that makes it a little more difficult to review too. However, here are the individual reviews of each book:

(Spoiler Alert!)

• A Voice in the Wind: The touching story of a young Jewess and Christian named Haddassah. All of her family is either killed by the Romans or die of exhaustion and starvation. Haddassah alone is left alive, and even she is taken as a slave. She is bought by a Roman family as a maidservant for their young daughter, Julia, who is wild and ambitious. Haddassah ends up falling in love with Julia's brother Marcus. Near the end of the book, Julia agrees to release Haddassah and let her marry Marcus. But Haddassah refuses because Marcus isn't a Christian. Julia is furious and sets Haddassah up to be taken to the arena and eaten by lions. Marcus goes to the games that day and is sickened by what Julia is done, but he's too late to stop it. Thus ends Book 1.
• An Echo in the Darkness: As it turns out, a doctor waiting for the bodies when the lions are finished rescues Haddassah and treats her. Haddassah works with him, and God blesses her with healing power. She becomes know as Rapha, or healer. Through a twist, she becomes helper to Julia again without revealing her true identity! During Haddassah's ordeal, Marcus has gone to Judea to search out why Haddassah so steadfastly stuck to her faith. Marcus becomes a Christian on his journey. At the end of the book, Haddassah reveals herself, and after another twist, Marcus proposes again. Haddassah accepts.
• As Sure as the Dawn: This book is a follow-up of a sub-plot in A Voice in the Wind. A former gladiator named Atretes pursues his lost son and struggles to return to Germania, his homeland. But a young lady named Rizpah complicates matters...

These were among some of the most well-written books I've read in a long time. The faith of Haddassah and Rizpah is astounding. These books were so encouraging! There was a lot mature content, though, so just use wisdom and discernment when reading. What have you been reading lately?

Woodworking II

Last week I showed you the newly created dog table. Here's the finished product! I went over it first with basic white indoor paint to form a base coat. Then I did yellow acryllic, followed by green stripes, and then Mom put on the polka dots and names. Cute and a moneysaver!

Homemade Fajitas

Yum!

Summer Reading

Our local Knox County library hosts a summer reading program every summer. The teen summer reading only requires five books. I've often participated and have some good books that I'm planning on reading that I thought I'd share with you!

My required school reading for next year is The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway and Night by Elie Wiesel. I'm also in the process of rereading The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare. And I just put A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness, and As Sure as the Dawn (all by Francine Rivers) on hold at the library on the recommendation of a friend. I'll be posting reviews as I read them. I'm eager to hear your reading for this summer! Who has some good books?

P.S. I'm also in the process of writing a book! It's definitely a little kid book, a spoof on the forming of the United States of America. My brother likes it though (as a 13 year old), so I may post some snippets as I write...

Patriotic Pavlova

Mom and I made a pavlova for our Memorial Day get-together this evening. It turned out really great!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! Today, take a minute to think about the sacrifices made by our countrymen and to pray for those currently serving to protect us...and our freedoms.

Woodworking

Because of Tallie's back problems, Dad and I decided to build a little table for both dogs' food bowls. Tallie and Bono were a little skeptical about eating off of it, but in the end, with a little encouragement (and a few treats) they gulped their food down. I'll post some pictures of the painted version later (after we paint it), but here are the current pictures.

Listen to this......

"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare." ~Mark Twain

Broken-Armed

Yesterday, my brother sustained a buckle fracture to his left wrist. He'll have to wear a cast for about a month, so at least it's the end of the school year, since he's left-handed. He's already gotten a few signatures on his cast, and one in German and Russian!

Doggie travels

I was just going to take Tallie with me, but.....

Finals

School will be out on Friday! This week, well, Monday-Wednesday is finals for the highschool. This morning I had my English final which went pretty well. It was totally over Romeo and Juliet so it wasn't too difficult. My teacher has already graded them, so I got a 90 without the extra credit. Tomorrow is math and geography, neither of which am I too worried about. In math, we have a safety net of 10 problems, so it's fairly simple to get a good grade. Geography is the maps of Asia and Europe, along with the flags and capitals of Asia, Europe, and Oceania. It sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. Wednesday is Spiritual Life II and Physical Science. Science is the only final left that I am really worried about. It'll be a mixture of chemistry and physics, which is hard on the brain, at least on mine. :) I see some very detailed reading and studying in my future........

Checkers

My dad and I enjoy playing checkers a lot. We got a mammoth cloth checker board, so we usually play on the floor. This means that the dogs join us. Tallie and Bono are usually quite helpful in offering advice. Here are some pictures from today's game, which, ahem, went fairly unhindered. :)

They do love to rest their chins on whoever or whatever is there!

From the Inside Out

From the Inside Out

• A thousand times I've failed

Still your mercy remains

And should I stumble again

Still I'm caught in your grace

• Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

• My heart and my soul, I give You control

Consume me from the inside out Lord

Let justice and praise, become my embrace

To love You from the inside out

• Your will above all else, my purpose remains

The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

• My heart, my soul, Lord I give you control

Consume me from the inside out Lord

Let justice and praise become my embrace

To love You from the inside out

• Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame

And the cry of my heart is to bring You praise

From the inside out, O my soul cries out

• This is a song we sang today in Chapel, and it was like I was just hearing it for the first time. I realized that this song is really what I want; I want God to consume me from the inside out. I desire to lose myself in him, to put his will above my own. I will be forever thankful that when I stumble, God is right there to save and rescue me.

Mothers' Day Preparation

With Mothers' Day tomorrow, Dad, Ev, and I went out this morning and purchased gifts for Mom. I decided, instead of using purchased wrapping paper or a bag, to paint my own wrapping paper. And that way I can personalize it! To make your own, all you need is a piece of paper big enough to wrap your present, paint, and brushes. For Mothers' Day, I wrote: # 1 Mom!, Mommy, I love Mom, Happy Mothers' Day, etc. I also did my handprints. It was fun and easy! Below are some pictures:

Just to keep you updated.....

I was looking at my archives, comparing this year's posting to last year's. I'm not posting as much, but as my mother pointed out, "You weren't a highschooler last year!" Quite true. Life only gets more busy as time goes on.
Today I went to a farewell party for the senior girls. It was quite fun and an enjoyable time of fellowship. I also am in the process of helping my nextdoor neighbor train her new Cocker Spainel puppy, Cocoa. Today she was introduced to the electric fence with her proper collar. She did not enjoy it, but that's hardly suprising. :) And if the rain holds off until 8:00 tonight, Ev will be able to have his baseball game.
Oh yes; There are only 15 school days left!! (And have a Happy May Day...)

Busy!

I seem to be doing a lot of apologizing lately for not posting much. :) Life has been keeping me rather busy. There are only 24 school days left (but who's counting?). I also had my school banquet and overnighter Friday/Saturday, and that was quite fun. I'll post some pictures later. I slept in until 4:00 pm Saturday, which was a new record and one I don't plan on repeating until next year's banquet rolls around. :) I decided which Honor classes to take next year; hopefully I'll end up in Honors English, Honors Bio I, and Honors Social Studies. For my electives, I'll be taking Personal Finance and Creative Writing. Anyhoo, that's the news from here.......

Massachussets trip!

On Tuesday, I got home from having spent five days with my older brother and sister in MA. It was such a wonderful time! Their dog Selchie had eight puppies in mid-February, four girls and four boys. Last July, they had invited me out to stay for a few days, and thanks to Frequent Flyer Miles, I made it out there. :) Most puppies are cute, but I think Irish Water Spaniels are among the cutest. With curly dark hair all over and the sweetest eyes ever, these puppies were probably the most adorable I've ever seen. On this trip, I.....

• got to spend awesome time with my older siblings
• cuddled the puppies!!
• experienced the frenzy of feeding eight small puppies
• cleaned up more poop than you would think eight pups can produce
• flew about 1000 miles by myself
• saw the pups on their second trip outside; they absolutely love the outdoors!
• did crafty stuff, such as making zipper pulls and putting together binders for the new puppy owners
• went to Flatbreads, the BEST pizza place in the entire world
• throughly enjoyed myself: Jer and Kim, thanks for such an awesome time!!!!!

Since I didn't take the camera with me, I have no pictures to show you, but if you click this link, you can see plenty of puppy pictures!

Spring!

Happy first day of Spring, everyone! Today, we put the screens back in the windows so that we can enjoy fresh air and keep the bugs out. :-) It was so refreshing to see the sun and be able to spend time outside! I was also able to pick some daffodils from underneath our pine trees and out in our back woods. Spring is here!

Nashville

On Tuesday, my family and I were able to go to Nashville to see my older sister and my nephew. We had quite a wonderful time visiting Trader Joe's, the Parthenon, and Noshville, a delicious restaurant. We also got to hear the band Barefoot Truth; they were quite good!

My brother, historical guru that he is, informed me that the steps of the Parthenon are purposefully designed to be a bit of a stretch for the average person so that one bows as they go up the step. Who knew?

All the comforts of home.....

I've often said that Bono is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. However, he is smart enough to know comfort when he sees it. The little sneak! Just goes to show that I don't need to let any pillows stay on the floor. :)

Beauty

Days

Just in case you wanted to know....

• There are 13 days to Spring Break
• 14 days until I leave on my trip
• Roughly 75 days until school is out and
• 39 days until Banquet

School Spring Formal

Last Saturday, my mom and I went to a "Prom Dress for Haiti" event at the downtown Emporium. The women of Knoxville donated approximately 600 formal dresses to be cleaned and then sold to raise money for Haiti. A few of my classmates had been talking about the event, so I decided to go and just see what was there. I'd kind of been dreading having to look for a dress, simply because I wasn't sure if I could find one that was cute and would fit the school standards. However, I was pleasantly surprised. My mom and I prayed before we began looking, just that God would guide us to the right dress for me. The last dress I tried on was the one. I'm so happy with it!!

Techinical troubles

I appear to be having technical trouble with my blog, so please just bear with me for a little bit while it all gets straightened out. Thanks!

Life

It's been a long time since I've posted! School has kept me quite busy the past few weeks, and it's just been a rather stressful time. However, I wanted to let you know that I am in fact still here, and I have not dropped off the face of the earth!

I'm so happy to be approaching the end of the third 9 weeks of school; only about 11 more weeks of school to go until summer, and twenty days until Spring Break! How nice. :)

how He loves......

We've been doing this song at church and at school quite a bit, and it's definitely become one of my favorites. He truly does loves us greatly!

How He Loves

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane,

I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,

And I realise just how beautiful you are,

And how great your affections are for me.

And oh, how he loves us so,

Oh how he loves us,

How he loves us all.

Yeah, he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves.

Yeah, he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves.

We are his portion and he is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes,

If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.

So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don't have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way:

He loves us,

Whoa! how he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves us,

Oh how he loves.

Yeah, he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves us,

Whoa! how he loves.

Cedarville Leadership Conference

I had the best time last weekend at Cedarville University! My school sent 15 students to Cedarville for a leadership conference, and I was fortunate to be able to go. We stayed in the dorms with college students, and I thankfully got put in a dorm with another of my classmates from Berean. We were able to enjoy a chapel, get a tour of the campus, sit in on a class, and experience Chuck's (the cafeteria), all before the conference started! The speaker, Dr. Bill Brown, who is also the president of Cedarville, was the speaker for the conference, and gave three inspiring messages. We were also put into small groups for the conference, and mine was awesome! My leaders were wonderful; the whole atmosphere at Cedarville was so great. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming and filled with the love of Christ. Anyway, it was a really wonderful time, and if you ever get the opportunity to visit Cedarville, take it!

Title change

You may have noticed that I have changed the title of my blog to "Living for Him". This seems a better heading than what I had previously because my greatest desire is to live my life to glorify God, and not dwell on promoting what I think. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy my blog!

NO SCHOOL!

Yippee! Knox County is closed tomorrow, so even though I go to a private school, it's closed too! Let's hope for the 4"-8" that the weather men have been promising us......

One year + 11 day anniversary

One year (and 11 days) ago, I gave my first blog post! Since then, I've enjoyed being in contact with other people in the "blogosphere" and finding new, interesting, and inspiring blogs to read. So thank you all for being faithful blog followers, and I hope to bring you new material to peruse in the coming year.

~Livvy

Musings....

I'm sorry for neglecting my blog in the past few weeks! Life's been busy lately, especially with school. This weekend I'll be attending a conference in Ohio, so there should be a post on that early next week. :) I hope everyone is having a good week. For you students out there, only two school days left for this week!!!!