Chris Tomlin Concert

Hey guys! (Man, I wish I could find a better opening than that to all these posts!) Anyhow, for Daniel's birthday, Sarah and I took him to a Chris Tomlin "Glory In the Highest" concert. A few other good friends and Matthew tagged along, and it was alot of fun! When we got to the church where the concert was held, a man from our homechurch, Mr. Jack, and Justin Wright were helping set up. So Mr. Jack asked us if we wanted good seats, and we were like... "Sure!" and he said, "It may be a little loud, and you'll have to sit on the floor!" so after a vote, we decided to take up his offer, and he proceeded to lead us down to the very front.. not the very front row, but literally seated on the floor with our feet touching the stage! We had such a great view! If we had had a camera, the pictures would have been just as good as those posted by Oliver about Third Day! Thanks Mr. Jack!
Of course, it was a little loud, and I was going to move, but then by the time Louis Giglio spoke and the second half of the music had begun, it was alot quieter and more worshipful, so I stayed.
After the concert we stayed around talking, and got to chat with the bass player. He had a really funny story to tell us: apparently, when they came onstage all was pitch black, but they could see us 8 or ten people sitting right near the stage. Since most of us were girls, he saw the vague outline of hair, and then one girl was holding a white coat. Then Mr. Jack was standing behind us with his white hair, and the bass player said, "I was getting really worried I thought Oh NO! They're doing a Nay-tivity!" He then said, "I was thinking, what are we gonna' do? Ummm... thanks for the nativity, now.... scoot! And when the lights finally turned on I was so glad ya'll weren't dressed up as Biblical characters!"
Ha-Ha-ha! So we hae succeeded in causing a moment of uneasiness to a famous person's band member! :) It was such a blessed evening, and I really enjoyed it! -Rachel

Now You'll Think I'm Crazy! :(

Today Daniel and I were in "the Beach" doing a pruning job. When Daniel has the trimmer going highspeed, and we are both wearing ear protection, there is not much room for talking. So what did I do today? Well, I sang the new words I made up to "the highbutton shoe song", (which you'll get to hear soon I hope!) "Lyda Rose", "Sweet and Low", and "Goodnight My Someone" all from the Music Man, a few old songs from K-love, "Silver Stars" and "Gonna' Build a Big Fence around Texas" both from Roy Rogers too, and several other songs that I hummed since I didn't know all the words. Then when I got tired of singing and there were still beds full of leaves to rake once Daniel trimmed, I proceeded to have a fake interview with myself about one of my books. (I was pretending I was someone else interviewing myself.) That went on for a good while, and then I made up some other sort of thing talking with myself. And when I was tired of that, I went back to singing. (I think I also thought about how irritating Legolas is in The Two Towers book because he is always, without fail the right one about anything!) :[
Anyway, while all this sounds really weird, I can assure you that I am not some nut who mutters to themselves about everything, am I Sarah?
*She shakes her head emphatically*
I can also assure you that I thought about a great many other productive things such as helping Dad grow plants for the business next year, what a blessing Daughters of Destiny was, about my article in TETCM, and when the first issue will be out, what I am giving people for Christmas, and why those particular customers had a game of Scrabble on their table, and were the parents playing it or did they have an unusually smart 5 year old? :) (And I was not being a Peeping-Thomasina. They have a huge picture window in their dining room that you can't help seeing into!)
So anyway, this was a really pointless post that I shall be ashamed of tomorrow, but I just thought that I'd write about what I thought about today while raking clippings! -Rachel

A Thought

Okay! This is the long lost person who's supposed to be writing in this blog, but hasn't recently, otherwise known as: Sarah!
Today we're getting hi-speed Internet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *woot, woot* (as Abigail would say)
Yeah, so I'm pretty excited about that- we'll be able to see all those blog videos that we haven't seen, Dad can watch the weather online, we can post pictures on our blog, and there are endless other possibilities! We've been trying to get hi-speed for some time, but Verizon doesn't have a line this far out in the country, I guess, the only other possible situation was Dish, and our server doesn't have hi-speed so we hadn't got it. But on Monday Dad was calling around and Ntelos had a really good deal so we got hooked up and I think we received the modem thing today in the mail! So now that that's settled I was going to talk about something that I came across this week.

This week while working with Dad and Daniel, I was reading "Christie, the King's Servant" by O.F. Walton and came across a section which made me think. (The book is set in a fishing village in Yorkshire, England and the town has just had a festival of games, including Tug of War. This segment is the next Sunday when the preacher's talking)
"The Tug of War is our subject to-day, dear friends," he began, " and a very suitable subject, I think, after what we have witnessed on this green during the past week. We have seen, have we not, a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull together, as yon heavy crab-boat was dragged up from the beach? How well she came, what progress she made! with each yodel we brought her farther from the sea. We all of us gave a helping hand; fishermen, wives,visitors,friends,all laid hold, and all pulled, and the work, hard as it seemed, was soon accomplished.Why? Because we were all united. It was a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together. And now let me bring back to your memory another event during this past week. The place is the same, our village green, the same rope is used, and those who pull are the very same men, strong, brawny,powerful fishermen. Yes, you pulled your very hardest; if possible you put forth more strength than when the crab-boat was drawn up, and yet, strange to say, there was no result, the rope did not move an inch. What were you pulling? What was the mighty weight that you had to move? What was it that, for such a long time, baffled the strength of the strongest among you? The weight you could not move was not a heavy boat, but a light handkerchief! What was there this difference? Why was the handkerchief harder to move than the boat? The answer to that question was to be found at the other end of the green. There were other pullers at the rope that day, pulling with all their might in an exactly opposite direction. It was not a united pull, and therefore for a long time there was not result, and we watched on, until a length one side was proved the stronger, and the handkerchief was drawn by them triumphantly across the line. To-day, dear friends, I speak to you of yet another tug of war. The place is the same, Runswick Bay, and our village green, but the weight to be drawn is not a boat, not a handkerchief; the weight is a human soul. It is your soul, my friend, your immortal soul; you are the one who is being drawn. And who are the pullers? Oh, how many they are! I myself have my hands on the rope. God only knows how hard I am pulling, striving with all my might, if possible to draw you, my friend , to Christ. But there are other hands on the rope besides mine. Your conscience pulls, your little child pulls, your Christian mate pulls; each sermon you hear, each Bible class you attend, each hymn you sing, each prayer uttered in your presence, each striving of the Spirit, each God-given yearning after better things, each storm you come through, each danger you escape, each sickness in your family, each death in your home, each deliverance granted you, gives you a pull God-ward, Christ-ward, heaven-ward.
Yet, oh, my dear friend, you know, as clearly as you know that you are sitting there, that, so far, Christ's pullers are drawing in vain. You have never yet, you know it, crossed the line which divides the saved from the unsaved. Why is this? Why, oh, why are you so hard to move? Oh, my friend, do you ask why? Surely you know the reason! Is it not because there are other hands on the rope, other pullers drawing in an exactly opposite direction? For Satan has many an agent, many a servant, and he sends forth a great army of soul-pullers. Each wordly friend, each desire of your evil nature, each temptation to sin, each longing after wealth, each sinful suggestion, gives you a pull, and a pull the wrong way, away from safety, away from Christ, away from God, away from heaven, away from Home. And towards what? Oh, dear friend, towards what? What are the depths, the fearful depths, towards which you are being drawn?

Alright, so I know that was sort of an old-fashioned sermon(all those "dear friends!") But the point he was making is very important. Now I know a lot of us are Christians and this is talking about the pull for your soul for Christ, but if you think about it, everyone, every day is making different choices and decisions that are either drawing them closer to God or separating them from him. We know that "We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Our sin separates us from God and it's "When we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So I just think that we all need to be conscious all throughout our day of where our choices are taking us: away from the Lord or Drawing us to Him.

So that's that, but also I wanted to tell everyone that Rachel did end up writing a story that she's very pleased with and was exactly on the word limit for the contest!!!! Yay!!! I really like the story too.
That's all for now! -Sarah

Bemoanings of an Authoress

Greetings all you fair followers! I am here to bemoan my lot- actually, to tell you something that is sort of exciting and quite a pain. I am entering a story in the Vision Forum contest. In this contest you must tell the "true" story of the cover of the magazine. It has a princess, a king, a knight, and a dragon on it. When I saw this, I thought, "Wow! This should be easy!" because I am constantly writing things, and this shouldn't be any big deal. Well, I have just recently discovered that I am a long-winded creative person. It is painful for me to try to cram a story into no more than 1200 words! Ahhhhhhh!!! So I wrote the story and it was well told. Until Mama pointed out quite gently but pointedly, that my story-line was very unoriginal. It was, in fact, precisely what you would expect seeing the picture. She's right. And my creative streak has been stunted by the late nights and crazy schedule recently. I haven't a scrap of courage large enough to try to rewrite the story right now. Or at least keep it short and sweet. Thinking that the bracing cold air would freshen my perspective, I paced up and down outside for a half-hour at least, but to no avail. I had ideas, but they would all take far more than 1200 words. What's more, they were all traditionally fairy-tale-ish, or else improbable. By the end of the time out there, I had only succeeded in discouraging myself and scaring Daisy Sofia (the goat) out of her wits by coming up and saying in a flat monotone: "Hello goat." (And perhaps it was also scared by my white shawl or something.)
Anyway, I am determined to rewrite this to Mama's (and my own) satisfaction, but I'll just hope and pray for that all-illusive inspiration that I am sorely lacking. After all, when a 1000 $ prize is at stake, I had better listen to wise council. So there you have it- Aren't authors known for being moody? (I despise moodiness in myself so I am determined that this fit shan't last! :) Well, wish me well!
-Rachel

Like Everyone Else I Suppose!

Okay guys! Everyone else seems to be doing a sales pitch for their blog in Oliver's contest. Okay. I know we don't have any music, but that isn't my fault, our internet is too slow! Then, I know we don't have any fancy header for Christmas, but just think white like snow ;) And I know some of the other blogs have things like that, but you know, could someone at least vote for us out of pity? :) And while we may not have the best background or something, we post alot about Christmas in general! And it's the Christmas spirit that is important right? For that matter, our brother Daniel could win the contest if he had entered with his posts about Advent! I think content matters as much as the background! So "Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly" and all that is great, and I don't think we'll get any votes (since we are being good sports and not voting for ourselves) So pwetty pwease someone take pity on us poor dial-up creatures! If you want to vote go to Meredith's blog and go ahead and vote for us! -Rachel

(I'm counting on each of you Ozees! :)