Wow! The Most Amazing Days Ever

The last few days have been just so AWESOME I just can’t describe them well enough!! But I will try to do my best. Last Sabbath and this past Monday I attended the 59th General Conference Session of Seventh-Day Adventists in Atlanta, Georgia. We have our General Conferences every 5 years.

As I said, it was really really awesome. I could see people of my own faith; see how global our church really is. And I enjoyed browsing through the Exhibit Halls seeing all the different booths of Adventist colleges and ministries.

Lola

Recently, we became bird-sitters. Amazon parrot-sitters. See, my photography teacher’s daughter and family are moving down to this area and they needed a place to keep their bird, “Lola”, for a few weeks while they went back home and packed up.

So we became the lucky family. :D I have been learning a lot about birds in the last few days, and it has been nice since the last time I’ve probably interacted with a bird was 4 years ago.

It’s been really fun learning and watching Lola through the day. However, when Lola first came, I reminded myself that I needed to watch my actions and words even more carefully.

While I know Lola doesn’t talk, I wasn’t sure how much she would imitate anything that I did or said. For example, Mom read that Amazon parrots will match the behavior of people. So if we’re excited and agitated, Lola will become more agitated and squawk more. If we are quiet and relaxed, most time Lola will become more quiet and relaxed.

When I thought about this some more I thought how interesting this parrot business related to our spiritual walk. By beholding we are changed, and we need to keep our eyes on Jesus and imitate Him.

Hebrews 12:2, NIV:

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”

Ephesians 5:1, 2 NIV:

“Be imitators of God, therefore…and live a life of love”

Fix your eyes on Jesus. Behold Him. “Parrot” God!

Morning Glory

Hi All!!

I'm beginning to see that spring isn't the only time of year that Tennessee is just BEAUTIFUL!! This past Tuesday I was innocently opening my window blinds when I saw some gorgeous pictures just waiting to be taken! The morning glories are just coming out and they are really really pretty!! I thought you'd enjoy my photos, so here they are! Enjoy! :D

~Photobug

Meatball 200

So yeah. Chef Photobug has once again, with his mother’s help made another meal! And, as Dad says, “you’re hired!” Everybody really enjoyed my Vegetarian Meatball Pizza. Here’s some pictures.

Making a double batch of meatballs, I’ve decided that I may not want to make meatballs for a long time…there was so much! (just teasing!) With the double batch, I suspected I would be making 200 meatballs! :P Thankfully I only had to make about 140. But for a while a thought there would never be an end to the meatballs!

Rules--Good or Bad??

About 2 weeks ago my father started working on repairing our front porch from the damage the termites had done to it. One of the first things he did was to stretch bright yellow “caution” tape across our porch.

Soon after Dad found me and said, “You can go on the concrete portion, but don’t go on the wood part.” “OK!” While, to me, the wood part of the porch still looked the same to me as the concrete, I know my parents always have my best interests in mind and so I obeyed them and didn’t go on the wood part of the porch.

Later I was thinking about this experience and realized how close it relates to our spiritual experience. We may not know the reasons behind the rules God gives us. For me, most everything on the porch looked the same. Same red wood. Same green plants! But I knew that my father had a reason behind his rule. It wasn’t in cruelty, to limit where I went. It was for my safety. Even more than our earthly parents, we can rest assured that our Father in Heaven has our safety and best interests in mind. God’s rules aren’t to limit, they are designed to keep us safe.

Adam and Eve choose to not trust and obey God’s rules. They found out the hard way that God’s rules are always best and always for our utmost good.

In fact, God gave the Israelites, and us, 10 rules, or commandments to obey. By obeying them we are happy. The first 4 are how man is to relate to God:

Exodus 20: 3-11, ASV:

1. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

2. "Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments."

3. "Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

4. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

And the last 6 are how man is to relate to his fellow men:

Exodus 20:12-17, ASV:

5. "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee."

6. "Thou shalt not kill."

7. "Thou shalt not commit adultery. "

8. "Thou shalt not steal."

9. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

10. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."

Always remember that God’s rules are for our safety and our best interests.

The Joy of Leftovers

So. Yeah. This past Sunday and Monday I made my second weekly meal for my family. If it's true that your brain cells grow when you learn new things, my brain cells must be having a growth spurt! :P

My second meal was a more complete, balanced meal than my first. For this meal I made re fried beans, rice, a vegetarian cheese sauce, flour tortillas, chips made from corn tortillas, and for desert some YUMMY Polynesian Bars. Nothing was really too hard for me, it just took a long time. (In this case, Sunday night and all of Monday morning!)

While of course I'd rather be playing, I did enjoy learning how to make new food!! Especially because this meal is one of my favorites! Above this article is a picture of all the food I made; only the salsa was bought. (Mom had previously made the bean guacamole that in the picture is next to the salsa.) Again my family really liked my meal, so I'm happy. :D

As I learn more, and grow older, I realize just how much Mom does. I really don't know how she does it! Laundry, food prep (20 meals a week!!), bills, grocery shopping, homeschooling me and Alison, etc. etc. Now I'm starting to realize why Mom likes leftovers! I'm just really glad that I can help her by cleaning the house and making one meal a week!

I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to make next week....Vegetarian Meatball Pizza anyone?? ;D

~Photobug

P.S.--check Mom's blog out (www.tnquiltbug.blogspot.com). She often posts recipes on there.

"We Proceeded On"

Last year about this time, I ordered a documentary film from Amazon. The documentary was directed by Ken Burns, and is on Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean--all by land, between 1804 and 1806. It's an awesome story, even more great that it's true, and is one of my favorites.

At the order of President Thomas Jefferson, Captains Lewis and Clark led a group of about 50 men up the Missouri River, one purpose being finding a river route across America. Ascending the Missouri, they met with Indian tribes, saw the endless Great Plains, and discovered its abundant wildlife. The captains recorded 122 new animals and 178 plants never before described for science.

The Expedition wintered 1804-1805 with the friendly Mandan Indians in present-day North Dakota, where the temperature would drop to 45 degrees below zero. In the spring of 1805 they started off again and discovered new rivers, landmarks, and waterfalls. They were the first Americans to cross the Continental Divide, where waters run west. They barely crossed over the Bitterroot Mountains, and even ate their candles at one point. Snow and danger were their constant companions in the Bitterroots.

In the fall of 1805, they were the first of their nation to reach the Pacific Ocean by land.

But through it all, in the journals of the men a phrase was repeated: "....and we proceeded on."

Through the Great Plains, the sub-zero winters, the gigantic waterfalls, and the challenging Bitterroots, they persevered and "proceeded on." No matter what, they "proceeded on."

Recently when I was thinking about this I realized how close "proceeding on" had to do with our spiritual experience. Sometimes we are tempted to give up our faith. But we really shouldn't.

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits...." --1 Timothy 4:1

If you're tempted to give up your faith, don't! Keep with it! Keep "proceeding on!"

Flying Hawaiian

No, I'm not going to live in Hawaii! ;) (But I might fly there in Flight Simulator!) And that's what I did yesterday and Sunday! Sunday I downloaded a Hawaiian Airlines Airbus 350-800 from Simviation.com and started flying it from Honolulu on Oahu to Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.

It was quite fun. It was really amazing--while I was taxiing through Honolulu, I had to wait for 5 planes to take off! While I know I flew most of the flight on autopilot (I did hand take-off), I still had lots of fun. Hope you enjoy the flight, through my photos! :)

~Photobug

^^Leaving Oahu. Honolulu is on the bottom-left.

^^This is one of the main screens which I see when I fly.

^^Looking ahead to Molokai.

^^Departing Oahu.

^^In the Molokai-Lanai-Maui-Kahoolawe-Hawaii region.

^^Landing at Kona, perfectly! ;)

June Beauty in the Volunteer State

It was just this morning I was complaining to my mother, "I don't have anything to post to my blog!!" But this afternoon I uploaded pictures to our computer and found out I had more than enough material for a good-sized blog post. So what you see is the result! Here are some pretty unconnected photos I've taken over the past week or so. Mom and I both have been enjoying taking photos of her BEAUTIFUL hydrangea bushes out in the front yard.

What are YOU packing??

Recently our family took a family vacation to Michigan to visit my grandparents. In the days preceding our departure, much thought was put into what to take on our trip. What would we need? What did we want? And how could we make it fit into our suitcases?? I wanted to make sure that every single item I was taking would be used on our trip.

While I may have started out with a big list, eventually I narrowed it down to what I knew I really needed, along with some books and electronics for fun. My parents and sister did the same.

When I thought about this later, it struck me on how close packing parallels our spiritual experience. Going to Heaven, one of the few things we can take is our character. Are we packing unnecessary items such as envy, gloom, selfishness or hatred to others? Or are we packing love, joy and peace in our bags? Are we packing patience, or self-control? Are we kind, gentle and faithful?

In Galatians 5:19-23 the Apostle Paul states different items that we can pack in our bags:

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:....hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition....and envy...I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

What are YOU packing today?? Maybe it's time you reorganized your bags.

The "Official" May 2010 Migration Route Report

Wow! This is June already! I can hardly believe that almost half the year is through.

Anyway, before this news gets to far distant, I wanted to highlight some special visits we've had in the month of May 2010. In the first week or two, my relatives who currently reside in Ireland came to stay for an afternoon and night, heading southbound on Mom's family "Migration Route" between Michigan and Florida. AKA I-75! ;)

It was very fun to see them again, and of course Alison and Emily enjoyed playing together again. (Click here for my article on their previous visit in March/April.) All the kids enjoyed playing outside, especially with our wagon.

A week or two later, we enjoyed the company of some of our friends who used to live in California. They were here visiting in Tennessee visiting their son, so they and their son came down to our house for lunch. It was exciting hearing of their exotic adventures!

That same day, my great-aunts Jeanne and Virginia came for the night, on their way from Michigan to Florida. We liked catching up on family news. And, of course, we saw the northern portion of I-75 ourselves as we traveled to Michigan in the later weeks of May as well.

So May has been a very busy month as far as seeing our wonderful friends and family. June promises some exciting adventure too! :D