Miny 'appy Reterns! ;)

HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY, DANIEL!!!!!
We love you and look forward to seeing the Lord working in you this year. :) Here are 20 things we love about you:

1. Your sense of humor
2. Your loyalty
3. Your character
4. The fact that you like to take us places. :)
5. Your passion for the Lord
6. Your passion for culture-changing
7. Our escapades with you. :)
8. Your accents
9. Your thoughtfulness
10. The fact that you're a gentleman
11. Your "witch" laugh (...long story, it's not what you think.;)
12. Your pride in your little car. ;)
13. Your stinkin' new jeans!
14. Your love of reading
15. The way you steal tastes of everything we cook
16. Your patriotism
17. The carnivore in you
18. The retriever in you ;)
19. Your musical talents

20. Your songs you write and share with us!

Love,
Rachel and Sarah

So Much More Than Turkey Day

"Some hae meat and cannae eat,
And some cae eat but want it.
But I hae meat, and I cae eat,
And tae the Lord be thankit"
~Scottish blessing

"Happy Turkey Day"- in my mind, that term conjures up some idea of a fat turkey, with those horrid white stockings, grinning while he sits safely on the grocery-store sign as his brethren are snapped up and carried home to be stuffed and roasted. It's a term that sounds completely animal and vulgar. "Happy Turkey Day!" I mean really! "Turkey Day" belongs in Golden Corral and other greasy, gluttonous restaurants like that! :)
This beautiful day is "Thanksgiving Day"- a day set aside by our forefathers to worship and thank God for all his bounteous blessings. Read this quote by George Washington:

"Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."
- George Washington, From the Proclamation of National Thanksgiving

Notice there is no mention of eating turkey in that passage! :) To have a "Turkey Day" in November is absolutely no different than having a Hamburger Day in March. Can you imagine that? "Um...boss...I'm taking Hamburger Day off next week. You should too...the post office is stopping for the day!"
Yet for "Thanksgiving" the whole country practically stops. Why? I can assure you that if it was merely for a chance to stuff yourself with a feast, companies would be less lenient about giving their employees the day off. No. It is because our country in the past, and, I hope, many Americans now, realize the value in setting aside a day of rest to thank the Lord with. Sadly, with too many it has become merely a day of laziness and gluttony. Sorry, but I have to say it like it is! In our home, we always enjoy the huge Thanksgiving meal, and the change of pace, but the underlying reason for it all is remembered, recognized, and renewed. We take this job of giving thanks seriously! :) I know some of our friends don't much like Abraham Lincoln, but you all must realize that the quote below is so true and fitting.

"We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."
-Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation

I must agree with Mr. Lincoln. As a country we have been intoxicated with unbroken success, and we no longer feel the necessity of thanking the Lord for all his mercies. Thus the gradual decline to turning this holiday in "Turkey Day". So let's change it! There are 43 followers of this blog. And a few more who read it! If you read this post, I challenge you to spend some real time thanking God for all his blessings, and of them all, most importantly, for Jesus Christ. ~Rachel

~Psalm 100~
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Just Hear Those Sleigh Bells Ring-a-ling...Well, not yet!

It may not be time yet for Christmas music, but in our home, the Christmas spirit is already lurking around in every corner! In past years, Dad has forbidden the listening to or singing of Christmas songs until the day after Thanksgiving. But this year we moved the date to the Wilson's turkey-pick-up day! :) So for about 4 days now, we've been singing Christmas songs, outside of choir! But all that to say, I *know* Christmas does not start until after Thanksgiving! Nevertheless, I am already plotting gifts to give to people! I make many of the gifts I give, and the rest, I am going to buy thriftily! :) But I am not a cheap person. I hate giving felt-covered tin cans and telling people it's a pencil holder! ;) So rest assured, all the gifts will be the best my little self can think up, aided and abetted by an unexpected Christmas bonus from my boss! ;) (Dad! :)
The only irritation is that I can't post about my ideas till after Christmas when no one wants to hear them! :P Oh but this is the season of the year I might love best of all! (I say that each month, don't I?)
The music, the smells, the sights, the traditions, and the waiting! But most of all, I love advent, which I will talk more about! Or you can go to Daniel's blog and read his awesome Advent posts from last year! :) Ha! You know what song is playing? ♫"I'm doing my Christmas dreaming a little early this year"!♫ :P I guess it's fitting! :D Oh mercy! I'm so excited! At choir this afternoon Maryanna and I plotted gifts and and fun things like that! I'm hoping to get some good deals with Daniel when he takes us (hopefully) Black Friday shopping! :) ~Rachel

Love of Literature Review Series: Epic: The Story God is Telling

All I will say, is that if you have not read Epic, you must. This has to be one of our favorite books. John Eldredge, using Scripture and quotes from various famous books, shows the magnificent story God is writing for all mankind. At 104 pages long, it is an easy read, and one amazingly worth the hour or two you will put into reading it! One of the things I love is how he uses examples from other famous books to illustrate the faintest shadow they resemble of God's love story for us! :) Instead of describing the book to you, I'll just list several quotes from it, to give you an idea of it!

"And they lived happily ever after. Stop for just a moment, and let it be true. They lived happily ever after. These may be the most beautiful and haunting words in the entire library of mankind. Why does the end of a great story leave us with a lump in our throats and an ache in our hearts? If we haven't become entirely cynical, some of the best endings can even bring us to tears. Because God has set eternity in our hearts."

"Christianity, in its true form, tells us that there is an Author and that He is good, the essence of all that is good and beautiful and true, for He is the source of all these things. It tells us that He has set our hearts' longings within us, for He has made us to live in an Epic. It warns that truth is always in danger of being twisted and corrupted and stolen from us because there is a Villain in the Story who hates our hearts and wants to destroy us. It calls us up into a Story that is truer and deeper than any other, and assures us that we will find the meaning of our lives. What if? What if all the great stories that have ever moved you, brought you joy or tears-- what if they are telling you something about the true Story into which you were born, the Epic into which you have been cast?"

"Then Aslan turned to them and said, `You do not look so happy as I mean you to be.' Lucy said, `We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan. And you have sent us back into our own world so often.' `No fear of that," said Aslan. "Have you not guessed?" Their hearts leaped and a wild hope rose within them. `There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are--as you used to call it in the Shadowlands--dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.' ....All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." (C.S. Lewis "The Last Battle")
"If a story has been true to life in all its sorrow and hardness and longing, to life as we know it, and if it also offers that turn at the end in hope beyond hope, then our eyes swell with tears and we get a glimpse of Joy-- Joy, as Tolkien called it, beyond the walls of this world..."

Sorry to run on, but this books is *so* great! :) You have to read it! Please! It will, to quote Dad, "Bless you socks off" :)

Plot: ******************
Characters: ***************
Recommended age: 16+ (younger readers would not relate yet)

The Child: America's Battle For The Next Generation Premier! :)

Listen up everybody who reads this post!!!! This Saturday, November 20, 2010, is the National Premier of "The Child: America's Battle For The Next Generation". This is the documentary that Watchman Cinema has made this past summer, and that Daniel went on the filming tour for. If you could find a showing near you, take your whole family, your friends, anybody, a watch it! parentalrights.org has a page of showings (around 350 of them nation-wide!) here.
(Not all the showings are on November 20, so if Saturday wouldn't work for you any how, that's perfectly fine! :) We are really trying to get people to see this documentary, so please, please try to get to a showing! :) Thanks so much! ~Rachel and Sarah! (Below are a trailer, and the promo! Please watch them!!!)

A New Take On The Noble Woman

At Daughters of Destiny camp, we had been reflecting at one point in the week on Proverbs 31. This is a classic picture, as we all know, of Biblical femininity, and, to be honest, at times I have felt I have gotten all I could out of it without totally tearing the passage to shreds. But of course, God's word is never "figured out" entirely, and He brought something to mind as we read the chapter. But we got home, and I got busy, and I forgot the observation, until yesterday when I was at a Bible study, and it was once more brought to my attention. Here is the verse that caught my attention: "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness- Prov. 31:26" I had always taken this verse to mean, as it does, that a godly woman's speech should be wise and kind. But I also was struck by a bit of a deeper meaning. "She opens her mouth with wisdom..." This points out to me, upon closer inspection, that she knew when to speak, and when to keep her mouth shut. Notice this verse did not say: "Her mouth opens with wisdom.." No, it said, "She opens her mouth with wisdom". This is a conscious decision on the woman's part to speak. Which denote a conscious decision on her part to be silent too! :)
Let's face it girls, we all like to talk. At least, more than guys generally do! Half the time, I don't think we make a conscious decision to speak, the idea just pops into our head, and the words come out easy as a wink! :) Haven't you been talking to a friend before and after-wards thought, "Wow! I can't remember what it was we were talking about, but I had fun!" :)
We girls just like to talk for talking's sake. Everything must be discussed from saying we went to a certain place, to when we went, why we went, who went with us, what we wore, what she said, what they said, what happened, what you ate there, etc. :D
I just wonder, what would happen if, just for a week, we each tried to say only things that really mattered? Not that you couldn't have a pleasant conversation, but we could take a hint from the Proverbs 31 woman, and, instead of telling the ins and outs, and whys and wherefores thereof, of every detail of what we have been doing, we could answer any inquiries pleasantly, and ask someone else a question, giving them some talking time for once! :)
I'm sure our brothers, fathers, and even our other friends would enjoy the brief respite from chatter! This afternoon I could hear a flock of noisy blackbirds flying through the woods far before I caught sight of them! I hate to make the comparison but...don't we girls often sound like that? :D Anyway, this was just a musing I had over a verse I had assumed had one meaning, and God showed me differently! Hope it was some good to another fellow-chatter! :D ~Rachel

More Costume and Hair Inspiration! :)

Recently, I've been inspired with recreating hairstyles and costumes from movies I love! (I mean, with the idea of recreating them...haven't really done it yet! :D) Some of the sites that have helped inspire me, are these:

Rapunzel's Resources: (Particularly her movie-styles. She looks at a movie, and recreates the hairstyles! The one I linked to is Esther Summerson's hairstyle in Bleak House :) It was based off of this hairstyle below :) (Yes, I know the photo's kind of dark! :)

Another blog I already spoke of was The Story of a Seamstress:This girl is so amazing with her reproduction clothing! I have loved browsing through her blog! :) So what costumes and hairstyles do I really, really, want to recreate? :) I'll tell you!

We all remember Mrs. Bank's "Suffragette" dress in Mary Poppins! I don't like the subject of the song, but this dress is just so fun! It always reminds me of a daffodil against a spring sky! :)


Another view of the same dress...the yellow would NOT work on me so close to my face, but this would be a super fun dress to make! :)


And I know this is a bad picture, but way in there, you can see the lovely yellow underskirt-my favorite part of this dress! :)

Another dress I'd love to make is the "afternoon dress" that causes Meg March so much embarrassment in Little Women! (1994) I could not find a picture of it online, but this is the dress that reminds Belle Gardiner of "forgetmenots" and is blue with little black stripes- very pretty! :)
Here is one of the many hairstyles I'd love to do! Bleak House did have some lovely ones! :)



Lady Dedlock's hairstyle is so elegant...I'm sure a lot of it is a wig, but I would love to try it!

Another view...


A closer view of the side....

Anyway! I have to go, but hope that was interesting! :) ~Rachel

Planning a Tea! :)

Hello! Sarah and I have been doing a literature-based unit study on the Victorian era called "Where the Brook and River Meet" available at Cadron Creek. We have had such fun doing this in-depth study on the era! I am sure I would never have grown to love Sir Walter Scott, John Greenleaf Whittier, and so many others unless I had dissected and poured over long poetry, learning to find the beauty in it! :) I'm also sure that we would never have been able to quote famous poetry, know about the men and women who wrote it, learned about such "obscure" people as Erasmus of Rotterdam and legions of Greek "great ones" unless we had gone though this study! Already, the information we have gathered has been profitable- since the Victorian Era is one of my favorites, I read a lot about it, and now I have a deeper understanding of that time-period; it is SO much fun to be watching a movie and recognize a quote, or two read in an old diary about a certain author and know about that author and his life...it's amazing! :) I'd say that my knowledge about the era has quadrupled at least...this is a super thorough study, and I highly recommend it! I mean, if an author so much as made a reference to a poem in a chapter title, we read that poem, researched the author, wrote a paper about the author, then if in the poem it mentioned something about a classic ancient Greek person, we researched them....it's really great!
But any how, as a final send-off from this study, Mama commissioned us to host a Victorian tea party for a couple of friends! :) We are so excited! We plan to make a meal with all the proper courses and dozens of eatables, then have a "parlor-party" where we will play, sing, and recite anything Victorian, before going outside to take a brisk walk or play croquet! Sarah and I had great fun designing the menu! We are going to have, among other things, Beef Wellington, French lemon tart, and we are going to make Petit-Fours!!!!!!! :D I love those things! They are so...Victorian! :) I wish we girls could get "The Society For The Suppression of Gossip" down in time to perform it for our guests! That is such a funny play! (And one that Anne Shirley and her friends performed at the school concert! :) But Sarah and I are trying to learn "Night of Stars" from "Tales of Hoffman": a truly beautiful song! (The Charlotte Church version anyway! :) Well, I have to go help with dinner so goodbye! -Rachel

A Grave Disappointment!

Have you ever heard a piece of music that you wish with all your heart you knew a dance to? Perhaps it was just my tired mind last night, but as I was putting Gracie back to sleep after she woke with a nightmare, I started her c.d., and immediately, wished I knew how to dance a minuet! You see, the music is a children's classical c.d., and they happened to be playing a minuet, and I couldn't keep still while it was playing! Don't ask me why! :) I have always thought a minuet sounded so elegant, and I loved the music that went with it! I have always imagined it to be a beautiful, graceful, Colonial dance. Besides, I'm always looking for new dances to teach the girls! :) So this morning, I went on an internet quest to find an instructional video for a minuet. And you know what?!? Every video I found, the people danced like frogs with wings! It was awful! :) Oh well! I guess that little wish has been speedily laid to rest! If that is what a minuet looks like, I'll stick with my Virginia Reels! :) But then I found another dance I really want to learn! I had heard of this dance, but hadn't really seen it, but here it is below! This looks SO fun! :) I'm teaching it to the girls!!!!!! ~Rachel

Love of Literature Review Series: Gone With The Wind

Okay everyone! I know I have missed several weeks of my "Love of Literature Review Series" but now we are back on track! This week's review is on "Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitchell:

Oh boy. Where should I start? Okay. Let me briefly describe this book to you: The much loved chronicle of a selfish Southern belle's life during the Civil War. Those are the mildest terms I can use to describe this book. I cannot go further. You see, I did something entirely unusual and stopped reading it in the middle! Many years ago, as a girl of 11 or so, I tried to read the book, and since I couldn't understand very well, I never finished it then. So recently, I decided that I'd take another whack at it. After all, so many people I knew loved the book! My grandmother had stayed up 24 hours reading it as a young girl! I hoped to find some redeeming quality in the book by the end of the first few chapters...Chapter 4...nope....5? nope....6? nope....and by the time Rhett Butler's (The "hero" mind you) handkerchief was seen in the possession of a "bad woman", I simply couldn't stomach it anymore, and put the book up. This is a different review, because generally I love books, but this one I was terribly disappointed in. So let me highlight some of the main problems in this novel:

The problems:

1. Scarlett O'Hara herself: She is an A number 1 first class flirt! Selfish, willful, bitter, disrespectful....the only attractive thing about her person is her outward appearance, and this she knows all too well...add vanity to the list, will you?

2. Rhett Butler: Let me put it to you in one-word descriptions...they are quite correct: rogue, cad, wicked, vain, flirt, reprobate, wayward, crafty, ungentlemanly, wily, EW! He made me so mad throughout the book, because of the way he treated all the women- disrespectfully and as if they were his playthings if he wished. A most vile man.

3. Scarlett's relationship with Ashley Wilkes. Basically, she loves Ashley, but out of tradition, he marries his cousin Melanie. Scarlett, in revenge, marries someone she doesn't love at all, even views with contempt, becomes a widow in 2 months, and ever after as far as I got, burns with a passion for Ashley who is off to war, even though she lives with his wife...I mean seriously? That was another main issue I couldn't stomach in the book.

4. Scarlett's waywardness: She is so willful and disrespectful, and is constantly bringing disgrace upon her father's household, and herself, though Rhett convinces her little by little, the old ways are worth nothing.

The Virtues:

Melanie Wilkes: This is a girl it is easy to love because she is so opposite Scarlett's personality, and Scarlett hates her. Melanie is the only woman Rhett Butler half-way respects, and she is the proper wife for Ashley. I only wish I knew what happens to them! :/

The truth: Like it or not, there is some truth in this book: Scarlett and Rhett have a conversation at one point that goes something like this: "You sir, are no gentleman!" "You are right. And you miss, are no lady." Agreed. Then, there are several instances where the author acknowledges the "slow fade" principle. After laying waste to several traditions and customs (very good ideas some of them) Scarlett finds it easier and easier to continue on in that path.


Those were the only two redeeming qualities I found in the book so far! I would NOT recommend this book to any self-respecting person, or at least, as far as I got in the book....what do you all think, if you have read it? Do the characters reform at all? I just couldn't stand it any longer so I stopped reading! :) -Rachel

Plot: *** (as far as I got, the plot was interesting if nothing else.)
Characters: **** (Well, if you are judging strength of characters, they are all memorable.)
Morals: * (Sorry anyone who loves the book! :) Maybe if I had finished it they redeem themselves! ;)

I LOVE This Site! :)

(Click here to view a simply marvelous blog!!!!)
Ahh....I'm in 7th heaven....need I say more? :)

What Are Mothers Made Of? :)

As I tried to let Mama rest on her birthday, and make her a special birthday dinner with the girls, I was reflecting on just what does make a mother what she is. Of course, I do think and feel like a mother in many of these areas, but I am not a mother yet! :) I think we should all stop now and then and think over how much mothers do for us! :) Here are my thoughts on the subject:

I can take care of a household, do all the chores, fix meals, and keep laundry running and folded, but until I can do all of that while holding a baby in one arm and a 3 year old by the other hand, I will not know how it feels to be a mother.

I may be able to handle all the problems that come up in my life, but until I can look a weeping six-year old in the face, and listen to their little tragedies without laughing, and help them through their trials without making them feel like ridiculous "children", I do not have the ever-ready understanding of a mother.

I may be able to wrap presents beautifully and concisely, but until I can step over the untidy makings of an eight-year-old boy's gift-box to lay paper down before he spatters the table with paint and all the time praise his ingenuity, I haven' the patience of a mother.

I may be able to make a pie-crust flaky to perfection, but until I can make one with a sister standing in between my arms, helping me roll the dough flat, I don't have the foresight of a mother.

I may be able to sew a doll dress, ice a cake, do any of a number of things eight times faster than a little child, but until I can let them help, and not mind the crooked stitches, or lumpy icing, I won't be thinking like a mother.

I may be preparing a gorgeous meal, and setting the table beautifully, but until I can let a little brother light the candles, even if he uses up ten matches, and until I can all the while thread a needle for a little sister eight-hundred times, and still emerge from the kitchen with a smile on my face, I don't have the multi-tasking abilities of a mother.

I may be able to appreciate great works of art and beautiful music, but until I can hear the "Moonlight Sonata" played fifty times over, and until I can look at a 6 year old's drawing and see as much promise, and as much beauty as if it were hanging in a museum or recorded on a c.d., I don't have the eyes and ears of a mother...

Thanks Mama! :) Love, Rachel

Yet Another Double-Birthday! :)

Happy Birthday Mama and Gracie!!!!!!!!!!! :D

(By the way, this is a picture from a couple years ago, but I couldn't take the time to find another, but it's still cute! :)

We love you both soooo much! Mama, thanks for being the best Mama a family could ever have! You are always ready to have fun, and think up fun things for us to do!
Gracie, you keep us laughing at your ridiculous Eighth child antics! :) You are a sweet little girl with a personality big enough for any grown-up! We love you!!!! <3
-Rachel and Sarah

p.s I get to vote for the very first time today! :) *Yay!* :) ~Rach