Keep Calm and Tuesday On - NCHE Homeschool Conference & Memorial Day

Good afternoon everybody!  Hope you are having a super fabulous Tuesday so far.  

At the moment, I am looking outside at the clouds of pollen that are passing by in waves . . . it's crazy!!!  

I feel really sorry for whoever has allergies with that kind of stuff...ugh.

So, what did you do this past week?

Mine was spent in finishing up the last bits of school (which I am now done with until July :D !!!) and attending the NCHE homeschool conference in Winston Salem.  

To tell you the truth, I've never been to a homeschool conference other than to work in one of the Apologia booths, so it felt kinda weird at first to walk around in the book fair and see all of the other vendors hard at work without me.  :)  But at the same time, it was nice to have the freedom to go to the workshops with one of my friends, and cousins.  

One of the talks was especially thought provoking, and I can't for the life of me, remember the guy's name who gave it!  

Basically, it was a challenge to teens in particular to have enough faith in Christ to be able to share the gospel in any given situation that might come up. 

 I had to ask myself, "have I searched the scriptures thoroughly, and do I know them well enough to be completely ready when situations do come up?" 

. . . very thought provoking for me.  

Another good talk that was given (and that I do remember the name of that speaker), was by Scott Klusendorf on abortion, and how to argue convincingly against it.  

Actually, what he had to say was so convicting to me, that when I came home, I looked up our local Pregnancy Care Center to see if there was anyway that I could volunteer to help around the Summer.  

Here is a small piece of what I read on the their website:

Volunteering would be a wonderful way to support McDowell Pregnancy Care Center for those who feel they cannot afford a donation.  There are always items in the "store" to take care of, or calls, or sometimes just keeping someone company.

Extra smiles being around when these young women come in go along way in setting the mood and the atmosphere.  We know your time is valuable, but assisting us in our efforts is "priceless."

That kinda sealed the deal for me, so I emailed them this morning.  We shall see what comes of it.  :)  

~

 Then....Came.....Memorial Day.  

A very relaxed day full of planting seeds, lizard hunting, grilling out, arm wrestling, and watching Nate do some pretty awesome flips.  

At the end of the day, as we were having devotions together, Dad mentioned something in his prayer that reminded me of why we celebrate Memorial Day in the first place.  He prayed,

"Thank you for the men who have fought and died so that we have the freedoms to do all of the things that we did today."

A lot of times, I forget exactly why we celebrate this or that holiday, and just enjoy the day instead.  

I don't want to be one of those people who celebrates the celebration rather than the reason for it.  

I want to remember and BE THANKFUL!

In Response to This Morning's Post . . .

Heeelllloooo peoples!!!  The test went super well today, so thanks for all of your prayers!  God was so incredibly gracious to me in that I got 2 essay topics that I already knew something about.  That definitely made a difference!  

The only thing that still kind of 'rankles in my soul' (not a phrase you hear often) is that just as I was typing out the last few words on the very last essay, I ran out of time.  

Oh, well.
:)

Besides being nervous about taking a test every time we head up to Boone, the drive is so beautiful.  

This morning, the sun was out with a little bit of fog covering the mountains, and we basically had the road to ourselves for most of the way up.  

{As soon as I finished blogging this morning, I had to run out the door and hop in the car  . . . well, guess what I forgot!!??!! . . . the CAMERA!  I'm afraid you'll just have to put up with phone pictures...  :/  }

Man, I felt so FFRRREEEE once I got out of the testing center!  Soo happy . . . can you tell? 

:D
I'm pretty sure that Caelen and I were singing pretty much all the way back down the mountain.

~
Until next time, folks!

Keep Calm and Wednesday On .... :/

Wow, Keep Calm and Wednesday on #2!!!  That's . . . a . . . pretty sad  :/

~

Alright, alright, I'll just cut to the chase.  I bet you are wondering if I have a story to share concerning my College Composition CLEP test that I was supposed to take last Friday . . .

Well, the truth is, I never ended up taking it then.  Instead, I had to get it rescheduled for this morning at 9:00 am.  You guys can (yet again), pray for your ol Hannah's nerves. 

...And don't worry, I'll bring my camera so I can have something to show for it  :D

See ya when I get back!!

Luvs!

KC&TO - May 14th

So, what's been goin on since last Tuesday?  Lemme summarize it for you:

Had a picnic with this lovely lady on Saturday:

{...After a while, Ben got kinda jealous of all the snacks we were eating, so he decided to try to sneak up on us to steal them....}

{...Elizabeth quickly took care of that...}  

:D

He ended up making his own picnic spot not too far away in spite of her... poor guy  :P

  

. . .

Made a wordle for Mom on Tagxedo for Mothers Day.  

You know, where you have a whole bunch of words all jammed together into a shape?  It looks something like this: (although this isn't the one I made)

They're a lot of fun to make, and look really nifty too.

 . . .

I discovered at least 2 new things:

a nest of newly hatched baby birds up in one of our ferns...

...And this lil grump on the couch tonight...a newly acquired skill .... jumping up on furniture.  

. . .

And...lastly, I've been marveling at how big my little bro has become lately! 

 He's not so little anymore!  The best partner in crime there ever was.  

Both of them are such HUGE blessings to me, and I don't know what I'd do without them.

(can ya tell?)  :P

 Have a great rest of the week!  I for one am going to be frantically studying for another CLEP test that is comin up this Friday... 

...Prayers are greatly appreciated!!! ...

I'm sure there will be a story to tell the next time I blog ;)

Pssst....How do you guys like the new header?  :D

Keep Calm and Tuesday On - Modesty, Chickens and Cool House

Sorry bout this...I was almost done writing this whole post out last night, when my computer shut me off of the internet and wouldn't let me get back on.  :(  

So...KEEP CALM AND WEDNESDAY ON, everybody!

Wow!  It seems like as soon as I finish blogging one week, the next week has already rolled around!  Craziness!!! 

Ok, I was eating cereal this morning (my all-time breakfast fav) . . . and is it just me, or are there other sisters out there who get tired of drawing little dresses onto the pictures displayed on cereal boxes???

Seriously!  I don't know, it might be that I'm becoming more aware of stuff like that as I get older, but it seems like risque pictures are popping up more and more all over the place!  I suppose the best thing we can do as sisters for both our brothers and brothers in Christ, is to not only protect their eyes from unnecessary pictures, but to also dress modestly ourselves.  Being cognizant of tight shirts and pants, short shorts, or low necklines can really make a difference to them - whether we think it does or not.
Hmph.  Ya know the quickest way for you to provoke the wrath of a cashier at the store?  (...not that you or I would want to willingly, of course... :P)
Turn the covers of magazines around when you are in line to check out.  They probably wont sell as many copies of them, but who knows???  You might have just saved someone from stumbling in sin, and that is so much more important.
. . .
Ok, I kinda went off on that point, BUT!  It is one of those things that I feel very strongly about, and have become more aware of lately.
~
...So, what happened this week other than drawing on cereal boxes?  Well, lemme see...I went to a wedding over the weekend with Dad and Ben, which was fun.  I didn't have a single dress to wear, so Caelen gave me this beautiful navy blue lace dress from Kohls that she happened to have an extra one of.   

With leggings and a wrap, it worked out perfectly :)
...Ben looked fabulous himself in his suit and bow-tie....disregard the weird face there.  I'm sure that deep down he liked wearing it....really deep down.  :D

~
After the wedding, we went over to Dad's cousin's house which was super cool - not to mention ginormous!
It was absolutely covered with hunting trophies from all over the world.  Kinda looked like an old hunting lodge with all of the animals on the walls.  It was really neat, I'm just not sure that I would like to have to sleep in there alone at night.  :)

Love these raised beds!!!

Pretty cool, huh?
~
Switching to this morning again; I was just getting ready to go down to the mailbox to mail a letter to a friend, when I saw a pile of feathers on the ground beside the chicken coop.  :(
Seems like a critter got one of our best layers last night . . . sadness.

Whatever it was that got in there, will be deeply regretting his decision to mess with THIS hen house!  Nate and Ben set a trap for it tonight, so we'll hopefully see some results tomorrow.
There was a time a while back, when I might have cried over the loss of a chicken, but...I soon learned that chickens are good for 3 things - laying eggs, making you laugh, and .... chicken nuggets.
:D

Til next Tuesday,  (....or maybe Wednesday...)

~Hannah

Pssst.  The new header for Devoted Daughter has never really grown on me :(  I'm thinking about changing...again....  Any suggestions?  ;P