Fantastic Sibling Moments Post#4: Inspiration?

I am a Campus Advocate at the school I am attending, and our assignment over Winter Break was to practice our presentations once a day. I practiced it in front of Mini-man (7) today, and after I completed my presentation, we had the following conversation:

Me: So, was it good? Did I inspire you?

Mini-man (in a fairly serious voice): Well, I don’t even know what “inspiring” means, soo…

Maybe it’s just me, but I found it highly adorable and amusing.

Oh, and Happy New Year's Eve! Hope it is full of blessings and delish snacks!

Of scArves, Busyness, and Christmas

First off, the weird capitalization of my title was intentional. :P

Okay, so my life has been crazy, if my far between posts haven't indicated anything...

Winter Break started yesterday (yay!), so I have a few minutes to write something. 

Just a few days ago, I decided I wanted to knit a scarf for someone for Christmas, and it's still a work in progress...I started it yesterday and am a bit skeptical I will have it done in time...

 

Of course, with these pictures, I'm hoping the person I'm giving this to won't discover my blog until after Christmas...You are special, Friend for whom I am making this!

Busyness: I am so glad to have two weeks off of school and almost that much off work...Not that I don't love those things, it's just that a break is nice. I'm hoping to catch up on some school at home during Winter Break, but we'll see how that goes. So far, things just keep coming up. Which is fine with me, for the most part. ;)

Christmas! Preparing for Christmas has taken a lot of time, and emptied my wallet.
Really, though, the real Reason for the season is Jesus Christ, and we tend to forget that in the rush of last-minute shopping and baking.

 "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 (NASB)

"In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

¹⁵ When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. ¹⁸ And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them." Luke 2:8-20 (NASB)

 Merry Christmas!

~Sonia 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! I would have posted yesterday, but was a bit too busy celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family to sit down long enough to post something…So, some things I am thankful for:

First of all, I am grateful to Jesus Christ for dying on the cross for the sins of the world so we could be saved. I am grateful He revealed my sinful state to me, leading me to repentance through faith by His grace. I am grateful He forgave and saved me and all who call on His name. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” I am grateful His Spirit lives in us, His Word guides us, and His friendship never fails us. 

Secondly, I am so thankful that God has blessed me with a wonderful family. Nothing in the world could replace my wonderful parents, three brothers, six sisters (one in-law), and the niece who we have yet to meet. 

Thirdly, I have been so blessed with wonderful friends, who are like my second family. Having friends who love you despite your imperfections is a priceless treasure. 

Finally, I am so grateful for The United States of America, were we have freedom to worship our Lord openly, without fear of persecution.  It is my prayer (and the prayer of many others, I am sure) that we might remain free and once again fully return to the truths our founding fathers penned in our Constitution. 

Those are some things that I am grateful for this Thanksgiving/Christmas season; how about you?

In Christ,

~Sonia

Virginia: Pictures 3: Of Miscellaneousness

Here are some pictures of various things, taken by a wonderful adult...We were a bit too busy to take pictures of us being busy. If that makes sense. :) 

 We were campaigning for these guys...

 GOP group picture!

 A mini layout of The Founders Inn!

 Everything was so very fancy.

 The outside of our beautiful hotel.

 Phone-banking. :)

 After the polls closed.

 Sign-waving!

 Sign-waving buddies!

When I found out he was only a nutcracker, that blissful look transformed into one of unimaginable grief. As Buttercup so rightly stated, "I died that day."

 See how social we are?

Virginia: Pictures 2: Of Food

You can't go on a trip and not take 'foodies.' Yes, although pictures such as these are the bane of facebook and other social media websites, I had to post these pictures for the sake of one of my very dear sisters and others who hold an appreciation for delish food. ;) 

 Penara Bread

Chipotle

 Chick-Fil-A!

 Subway...But it's cool because it's in VA

The bag doesn't drop any hints about where 

this soup came from. 

 

First time having soup in an edible bowl.

Virginia: A Quick Synopsis and Part One of Pictures

This past week, I was blessed with the chance to go to Norfolk, Virginia for a SAT (Student Action Team) to campaign for Ken Cuccinelli, a great man who was running for governor.  Generation Joshua (the group I went with), a program affiliated with HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association), has a theme they go by: Duty is ours, results are God’s. That pretty much sums up the campaign this last week. We worked very hard contacting literally thousands of voters door-to-door and by telephone. Mr. Cuccinelli didn’t win, but it was an extremely close election. Even though it was disappointing, we all realized that we did our duty and God’s sovereign will came about. 
 I am so very glad I went.

 I learned so much, made amazing friends, and went to Chick-fil-a for the first time. ;) So much happened that I couldn’t even begin to put it down on paper(er, a blog post), so I’m just going to share a bunch of pictures…

Minnesota Airport!

...Because we like hugging bears.

This bookstore looked incredible. 

My team and I in our faithful van, Lola. 

Pretty self explanatory...

 Not only were the hotel rooms super nice, but the beds were actually soft!

Our hotel was the most 'Virginiay' thing we saw. 

Group picture!

One of my door-knocking partner/bodyguards for the day. ;)

I didn't mean to cut his face off, but we didn't have time to take another picture and my phone ran out of space anyway...Another door-knocking partner/bodyguard person. :)

Another partner/bodyguard person! He was awesome...they all were. :D

We went to some purty fancy neighborhoods...

Case in point.

Being tired at the victory party...

Another group picture!

One of my amazing room-mates. :)

Even though I was leaving for home that morning, the fact I was in Virginia hadn't quite sunk in yet. 

More purtyfulness outside our hotel.

Lunch in Atlanta! These gals are so sweet. 

Okay, there are a 'few' pictures...I still have lots more to go through for another post. :)

Of Life, Priorities, and Trust

I decided to give an update on my life as of late… This post is a little like my brain at the moment: all over the place.

School: In September, I started attending a Legal/Medical Office Applications class five days a week from 11-2pm.  Recently, we have been learning about the horrors of sentence diagramming. The rest of the day, attempting to finish my other (home) school has been a challenge, but it is getting done, slowly but surely!  Thankfully, I am only taking three subjects (math, government, and history) at home. 

New Job: As of the end of September, I have been working three afternoons a week at my church as an office assistant. It has been going well, and I am so blessed to have a job in such an uplifting atmosphere!  Also, it is only 2 minutes from where I go to school, so that’s a plus. 

Volunteering: The government shutdown has ended for the present, so the National Historic Site I volunteer at has reopened! I have enjoyed spending time there, participating in an event where scripts and acting are involved. :)

Priority Setting: As you can imagine, with school and work as well as other events, projects, and such, getting stuff done efficiently has been difficult. When I have free time, it isn’t really free because there are so many other things I COULD be doing. I have a hard time deciding what to tackle, so I will:

1) make a list to categorize and stare at in the hopes things will magically complete themselves,

2) check my email,

3) read a book,

4) go for a walk,

 5) organize my room, or

  6) actually do my school/housework. 

So far this week, I have done pretty well on my prioritizing (You will forget it is only Monday).

Seriously though, it has been difficult to focus on the truly important things such as having an eternal perspective and appreciating/spending time with family.  

This Sunday, I was so encouraged by the sermon. We are starting a series in Genesis, and Sunday was the ‘opening’ sermon. The whole sermon was based off of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In that one sentence, you can see so much. Something that convicted me was hearing about the power and awesomeness of God. I had not looked deeply into the Scriptures about this, and hearing all the different passages was wonderful.  Something that really hit me was realizing that if we (I) truly believe that God created the heavens and the earth, sent His one and only Son to die for the sins of the world, and that Christ’s blood has covered us, why can’t we truly and wholly trust that He takes care of every single detail our lives? 

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

So, those are some of the things I have been up to/thinking about. :) 

In Christ alone,

~Sonia