Mar 31, 2006

The quiz of 4....

4 songs I like:

~My Savior My God by Aaron Shust
~I Am Free by Newsboys
~How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin
~Wait for Me by Rebecca St. James

4 CDs I like:

~If I Had One Chance to Tell You Something by Rebecca St. James
~Live Worship: Blessed Be Your Name by Rebecca St. James
~Arriving by Chris Tomlin
~Wow CDs by Various Christian Artists

4 TV shows I like:

~Re-runs of I Love Lucy
~Re-runs of Andy Griffith
~Re-runs of Leave it to Beaver
~Extreme Makeover Home Edition

4 movies I like:

~The Pacifier
~Chicken Little (There I said it! No actually it is a really great movie, even for teens.)
~Sense and Sensibility
~Pride and Predjudice

4 (of the) places I've been:

~England
~Spain
~Austria
~Switzerland

4 (of the) pets I've owned:

~Liz (Hamster)
~Pretty Boy (Don't laugh! I was 8 when I named him. He's a bird, a cockatiel to be exact. He is now almost 8 years old!)
~Minnie (Hamster)
~Floppsy (Rabbit)

4 of my hobbies:

~Playing the piano
~Blogging (of course!)
~Playing with my dog, Buster
~School

4 foods I love:

~Pizza!
~Steak
~Mashed potatoes
~Macaroni and Cheese

4 foods I really do not like:

~Celery
~Meatloaf
~Cooked Spinach
~Sliced tomatoes on sandwiches and hamburgers

4 weird things about me:

~I can wiggle my ears
~I don't like cereal for breakfast, but I like it for a night-time snack
~ ? (I'll have to try and think of some more)
~? (ditto)

I may think of more things to add later.

Mar 30, 2006

Blogs/Websites

Here are a few blogs/websites that you may be interested in visiting......

Pete now has another blog! Yep, it's called The Epitome of Orangeness. And last week he had a vote on the color of his mustard tie! (Yes, I voted for mustard.) Now there is a trial going on to figure out who committed voter fraud! Was it Pete or Zach? It has been quite interesting, at least I found it to be so.....

This is pretty neat......I found a blog that is run by three sisters, Lydia, Grace, and Hannah. And guess what! Their parents are missionaries too! They are living in Northern Ireland.

Coie has done her first audio post!

The Rebelution Tour is headed to Orlando, Florida! And you can now register for the conference. If you live around that area be sure to check it out!

Mar 29, 2006

Professional Test (Just for Fun!)

I found this and thought it was kinda neat, interesting, funny, ect. So I decided to post it. Enjoy! Oh! and don't be afraid. This quiz won't have you pressing your nose against the screen!

The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and tells whether you are qualified to be a "professional". Scroll down for the answers after you have thought about it. The questions are not that difficult.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?



The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.


2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator ?



Wrong Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close the refrigerator.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.


3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference, all the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?



Correct Answer: The Elephant. The Elephant is in the refrigerator. This tests your memory.

OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions, correctly you still have one more chance to show your abilities.


4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it?



Correct Answer: You swim across. All the crocodiles are attending the animal meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

Mar 27, 2006

Bible Verse (Psalm 94:22)


But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.

Psalm 94:22

Mar 25, 2006

I Just Love Animals.....Don't You?

Okay this cat is huge! Can you believe it weighs around 46-50 lb and has a 33 in. waist?

It is so sad. Last Wenesday a 250 (believed to be 250) year old died.........it was a turtle.

Left-Handed snails have the advantage!

It is hard to believe girls would wear this kind of brooch. It actually moves. I don't think I could ever wear this without screaming!

Mar 24, 2006

There For Us. Always!

School is getting really tough. A close friend moves away. A family member or close friend becomes seriously ill or dies.

We all go through hard times. And sometimes it seems that we have to go through it alone. We feel that there is no one who we can run to for help or comfort. So we try and bear it all by ourselves. We forget that there is someone who is always there for us.


Jesus is always ready to help us, we just need to ask for His help. He said “Ask and it will be given to you….” (Luke 11:9) And I have found that to be true. So many times I’ve needed help with something, and He has always been faithful to help me if I ask Him for His help. He has always been there for me. And He is there for you too.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Mar 23, 2006

Prayer Request

Kristin (also know as Spunky Jr. ) has hurt her ankle. On her blog she said that she has either Achillies Tendon, a very bad sprain, or a broken foot. Please remember her in your prayers and stop by her blog and let her know you are praying for her.

Frappr

I finally got a frappr map!! Click here to join!

Poll Update: I did not like some of the advertisements that came up with the results page of the poll. So I am trying another one to see how it does. So far it seems to be okay. If you can, please vote again because I lost your votes.

Mar 22, 2006

Christian Facing Execution

A man in Afghanistan is facing execution. His crime? He is a Christian.

This man could go free if he would renounce his Christian faith, but he has decided to stand firm in his faith. And because of that he is facing execution.

Please keep this man in your prayers.

MVB from The King's Highway has posted more on this. Click here to read his post.

Jacqui from Unconformed is doing a blog round up. If you have posted on this, leave her a comment so that she can put you on the list.

New Poll

I've added a new poll to my sidebar. If you have the time please add your vote!!

Mar 20, 2006

Hannah? Which one?

Okay.........there are so many Hannahs out there in the blog world, it is hard to distinguish between us. So, in order to help, I have decided to add my middle name to my first name. I got the idea from Hannah Beth from Sold Out and Beauty from the Heart (thanks Hannah Beth!). My middle name is Elizabeth, so my name in the blog world is now Hannah Elizabeth (spelled with a z not a s).

Bible Verse (Psalm 86: 12-13)


I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.

Psalm 86:12-13

Mar 17, 2006

Made in His Image

Sorry guys! This post is more for the girls. But don't run away! You are welcome to read it too.

Everywhere we turn the world is shouting at us, “You have to be thin, tall, tan, have a flawless complexion, perfect, white teeth, etc. And if you aren’t that way, do anything you have to in order to become that way.” It is very sad how much focus and praise is put on outward beauty instead of inward beauty.


Girls become anorexic and bulimic so that they will become thin, expose themselves to harmful light rays that can cause cancer in order to become tan, undergo plastic surgery to change some aspect of their body’s appearance, etc.

Why do girls go through all this?

Because the world lies to us and says that the only way to be happy and accepted is to be what the world defines as beautiful (whatever that is!). That is why girls are willing to harm themselves in order to attain that “perfect body.”

Maybe you haven’t gone to the extreme of harming yourself but have you ever complained about the way you look or wished you could change something in your appearance? Probably most girls at one time or the other have.

There is something we are all forgetting. What is it?

We are forgetting that God made us. He made us in His image. He made us the way He wanted to make us. In His eyes we are beautiful just the way we are!


But there is something else we must remember and realize. To God, outward appearance is not what matters. He looks at our heart. To Him, inward beauty is worth far more that outward beauty because outward beauty fades. Smooth skin is traded for wrinkles. Blonde hair is traded for gray. But Inward beauty lasts. Instead of fading with time, it becomes more beautiful with time.

Does this mean that we shouldn’t focus any time or attention at all to our outward appearance? No it doesn’t.

Nowhere in the Bible are women instructed to wish for, ask for, or strive for physical beauty. Neither does the Bible portray physical beauty as a blessing for those who have it.

This is why, in 1 Peter 3:3, we are exhorted: “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing.” Now God is not saying that women shouldn’t style their hair or wear jewelry, for then He would also be barring clothing—and we know that is not the case.

However, what the 1 Peter verse is forbidding, says Matthew Henry, is the “inordinate love and excessive use (that is, the abuse) of them.” He goes on to say, “we must not set our hearts upon them, nor value ourselves by them, nor think the better of ourselves for them, nor pride ourselves in them, as if they added any real excellence to us.”

From Girl Talk by Carolyn Mahaney & Nicole Mahaney Whitacre page:133 (Check our their blog!)


We need to find a balance between focusing on our outward beauty and focusing on our inward beauty, and not swing from one extreme to the other. Here is a quiz from SHE by Rebecca St. James and Lynda Hunter Bjorklund that may help you see how you are doing in this area. If you have to time, read through it and answer the questions.

Take this quiz to check out your beauty pulse internally, externally, and holistically:

Quick Beauty Quiz

Answer yes or no to each of the following questions:

1. Do you feel comfortable enough in your own skin to be around close family and friends without always having to wear makeup?

2. Do you often feel pretty?

3. Can you eat a dessert without feeling any guilt?

4. Can you see an attractive girl or woman and not feel jealous or compare yourself to her?

5. Do you feel that you are doing a good job of balancing your focus on both inner and outer beauty?

6. Have you avoided laxative abuse and regularly skipping meals to lose weight?

7. Are you purge-free?

8. Can you view slim, seemingly flawless women on TV and in magazines without feeling an overwhelming sense of disappointment in yourself?

9. Would you say that for the most part you have a positive, healthy self-image?

10. Do you feel that you have a good understanding of holistic beauty?

Scoring: Count the number of “yes” responses that you made.

10 Wonderful! Your self-image and sense of holistic beauty in God is excellent.

7-9 You are doing quite well at keeping your beauty perspective balanced. This chapter will be a good reminder and challenge for you.

4-6 Your excessive outer-appearance focus is definitely crippling your inner growth and beauty. Give serious attention to this chapter and talk to a Christian mentor about how you can apply its truths.

0-3 Sister, we’ve gotta chat. You need healing in this area of your life. You’re due for some heart-to-heart time with a godly older woman who can help you accept yourself for how God made you.

From SHE by Rebecca St. James and Lynda Hunter Bjorklund pages: 89-90

Mar 15, 2006

It's here!!!!!

Regenerate Our Culture launches today!! Be sure to stop by and check out their site!

What's Regenerate Our Culture all about?

Click here to find out.

Mar 14, 2006

Odds and Ends

New Links

I've added new links to my sidebar over the last few days. Be sure to check them out.


Short Movie

Beauty from the Heart produced their first movie. It only a little over a minute long, but it is worth seeing. They did a really good job with it.

Good Post

Joshua Harris has a really good post entitled "Abiding in Jesus." If you have the time, go by his blog and read it.


Candace

Continue to pray for Candace. In the last update on how she's doing it said...
She recently has gone through extensive testing that shows she has a lot of infection going on in her right hip. This extends this illness into a much more dragged out ordeal.

Don't forget...

Regenerate Our Culture is launched tomorrow!

Mar 13, 2006

Bible Verse (Matthew 19:14)


Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Matthew 19:14

Mar 10, 2006

Neat Stories!!

In central Texas when a cop pulls you over, you may have nothing to worry about.

Furry and lives in the ocean. What could that be? Oh! I know! It's a crustacean..........what?

Hey this plant is glowing! Get it a drink!! If you have trouble knowing when and how much to water a plant, then maybe you need this plant. It will tell you when it is thirsty.

Mar 9, 2006

Hmmmm......what is it?

I found this joke and thought it was pretty funny! Enjoy!!

Great Guessing Puzzle!

Had lots of fun figuring this one out. Hope you enjoy it too. The object of this exercise is to see if you can find the hidden image in the group of characters below....it takes some concentration, but it's worth it. You'll be quite surprised when you see what it is.

{{{{{{{ ===**++++*****+++++++++++????????/////////////% \\\\\\@@@@@444+=+=****&^"""""}}}]]]<><><><>%%\=///////^^!~~~~::---)))))*****+++@@@@@@@@<%====\\\\\/////////*****<><><><><><><>{}{}{}{}[][][][]%%%$$$&&$$&$$===~~~~====++----------%%%

Think about what you think it is, and then scroll to the bottom for the answer!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You know what it is?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Give Up?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, I'll give you one more chance if you don't know....scroll back up and put your nose right next to the screen, then slowly back away while staring at the picture...that usually makes it easier for most people.

Scroll down when you want the answer......
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK! Here's the answer for you: It's..........NOTHING!!

I can't believe you fell for that one! I hope someone walked by and saw you pressing your nose against the screen and looking at it cross-eyed!

Mar 7, 2006

Okay.....What Next?

Yesterday, the sky was blue and there were fluffy white clouds.......ahhhh! Spring is just around the corner!

Then guess what?

It started snowing! And I’m not talking about little itty bitty snow flakes, these were pretty large snow flakes. Then all of a sudden it was beautiful outside again! The sun was shining and the sky was blue! [The weather continued to be crazy for awhile even after this!]


Can you imagine what it would be like if God changed like the weather? One minute He loves us and the next minute He doesn’t. One minute He is with us helping us and the next minute He’s gone and has left us by ourselves. Can you imagine how terrible that would be? We would be in constant fear that He would suddenly decide He didn’t love us and would decide He didn’t want to save us anymore. How could we ever feel safe? How could we ever be happy? We would always be afraid.

But thankfully God doesn’t change like the weather. He doesn’t change. He says that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! God loves us, God saves us, God forgives us, God helps us, God is faithful to us. So since He never changes, He will always be that way! How comforting it is when we realize He will never stop loving us, He will never leave us, He will never change!

Picture from FreeFoto.com

Mar 6, 2006

Bible Verse (Hebrews 13:8)


Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8

Picture from FreeFoto.com

Mar 3, 2006

Interesting Stories!

Check out the new $10 bill! I think it looks pretty nice! Whadaya think?

A man is choking, so another man helps him by performing the Heimlich. But guess who these men are! They are rivals! Read the story here.

Can you believe it! A 3 month old already has a job! Okay....it is a 3 month old dog.

Mar 1, 2006

Regenerate Our Culture

Today I went over and visited Spunky Jr's blog. And in her post, she introduced Regenerate Our Culture. An organization who's goal is to bring our nation back to a biblical worldview. Something that is so desparetly needed.

Who's behind Regenerate Our Culture? Some really great bloggers! Kristin Braun (Spunky Jr.), Tim Sweetman (Agent Tim), Jake Smith (Mission 3:6teen), and Alex King (Smart Homeschool).

Be sure to visit Regenerate Our Culture to find out how you can get involved too!

From One Nation Under God to One Nation Without God

United States of America.

When you think of this country, what is one word that you think of?

FREEDOM.

Freedom of speech, of press, to vote, to own property, of worship, etc. We take these things for granted, but many people do not have these freedoms that we have.

Our country has been blessed.

In Search of Freedom

Why did the pilgrims come to America? Why did they risk their lives traveling across the ocean? Why did they leave all that was familiar to them to go to a strange land?

Why?

Because where they were living, they did not have freedom.

Why did our forefathers risk their lives signing the Declaration of Independence. Why were they willing to give up their lives fighting for this country? Because they wanted freedom.



They were tired of being oppressed by those in higher power. But instead of just complaining about it, they decided to do something to change it. That’s why the pilgrims crossed the ocean and why those men signed the Declaration of Independence.



The Foundation of Freedom.

Our country’s foundation is God. It was built upon His principles and His law.

To have freedom you have to have laws.


Many people today are beginning to look at Christianity as an impediment to the continuation of their “freedom”—to sin. But they have transformed liberty into license, and in the worst form of licentiousness, they don’t want anybody speaking against that or in any way restraining them. Hence, the modern hedonist views Christianity as repressive and not liberating.

Setting out to set themselves free—to fulfill all of their lusts—the hedonists find themselves ultimately in bondage to tyranny. As Edmund Burke said, “There must be some restraining influence upon the wills and passions of men, and the less there is from within, the more there must be from without.

What If Jesus Had Never Been Born by D. James Kennedy, chapter 6, page 89


Our foundation: It’s being removed piece by piece

Our country is trying to push God out. Out of our lives, out of the schools, out of the government, and out of our country.

If they succeed in removing the foundation of our country, who is God, it will collapse, just like a building without its foundation.


Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman who traveled throughout America in 1830, was astonished to see that though the American people were quite religious, they were also most free. He wrote: “The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.” And in another passage, he observed:

There is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation on earth.

What If Jesus Had Never Been Born by D. James Kennedy, chapter 6, pages 87-88

What’s happened? Why are the “notions of Christianity and of liberty” no longer “intimately combined in our minds?” Listen to what Abe Lincoln said:


We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God.

We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, 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.

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.

American Government by William R. Bowen, George T. Thompson, Michael R. Lowman, and George C. Cochran, chapter 6, page 100

This country was built upon God as the foundation, upon His Word. But now that we have prospered, we say we don’t need God, we do not see the need for God. We have forgotten that He is the One who helped us to prosper. We have forgotten that He is the One who gave us freedom. So now we are removing our foundation piece by piece. The firm base of our freedom is crumbling.


Retaining Freedom

If we want to keep our freedom, then we need to keep God in the US. He wants us to have freedom because He is the One who gives us freedom. In His Word it tells how he liberated the Israelites from their enemies. And also it tells how he liberated all of us, the whole world, from our greatest enemy, Satan. So clearly He wants us to have freedom. He is our Great Liberator. Not oppressor.

To close I’ll let you read what some of our Presidents have said about God’s Word the Bible.

That book, sir, is the rock on which our republic rests.

-Andrew Jackson

Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties. Write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this Book are we indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future. “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”

-Ulysses S. Grant

The more profoundly we study this wonderful book, and the more closely we observe its divine precepts, the better citizens we will become and the higher will be our destiny as a nation.

-William McKinley


Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally—I do not mean figuratively, but literally—impossible for us to figure what that loss would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose almost all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards towards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves.

-Theodore Roosevelt

There is no other book so varied as the Bible, nor one so full of concentrated wisdom. Whether it be of law, business, morals, or that vision which leads the imagination in the creation of constructive enterprise for the happiness of mankind, he who seeks for guidance in any of these things may look inside its covers and find illumination. The study of this Book in your Bible classes is a post-graduate course in the richest library of human experience. As a nation we are indebted to the Book of books for our national ideas and representative institutions. Their preservation rests in
adhearing to its principles.

-Herbert Hoover

American Government by William R. Bowen, George T. Thompson, Michael R. Lowman, and George C. Cochran, chapter 6, page 111

Pictures from FreeFoto.com