Let's Pretend.....

.....it's Thanksgiving Day. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but by the time the guests left, I was exhausted. I went to bed before I posted.

So here are my 5 things for Thursday:

~Going to England: We (Shannon, Mom, and I) are going on a costume tour of London with a few days in Bath for the Jane Austen Festival. I am so excited!

~Tutoring Tobi: I did not agree to this trip without some financial agonizing. I would be able to afford it, but was it a wise thing to do. My parents counseled me to go, that it would be a wonderful thing to do with Mom and Shannon. So I made the decision and decided to go. Then a couple of weeks ago, the headmistress at school talked to me about tutoring one of the students during the regular Latin hour. It is after I usually am done teaching so I will be payed as a tutor and not a teacher. On top of that, this young man was in my 3rd grade class two years ago, so I already know him and his learning type (he's mildly austistic). With this, I will earn enough to cover the main tour! I am so thankful for this provision.

~Enough to eat. We over prepared for Thanksgiving. We have tons of food left over...and that's after sending enough home with our friends for them to get another meal (there are 8 of them) out of. So many people are going hungry today that it makes me grateful to be able to eat.

~The Pilgrims. This is the day we celebrate the feast that the Pilgrims had with the Indians. As grateful as I am for that, I am so much more grateful for their courage to leave their country and their jobs in order to secure a place of religious freedom.

~Our country. I have been reading "The Light and the Glory" and have been struck on almost each page how God has directed our country and given us this wonderful land where we are free to worship Him.

Happy Thanksgiving! (even if it is a little late :-)

Tiffany

The Night before Thanksgiving and All Through the House....

Everyone was stirring, even the mouse!

We are in the full swing of getting ready for our Thanksgiving guests. We are having a family of 8 come over. The perfect thanksgiving size. It is my firm belief that you have to have a big crowd for a proper Thanksgiving Day.

Here is my list for today:

~I know I said my family before, but I want to specify my mom. She is such a sweet, loving, willing to listen Mother. I truly feel like I could go to her with anything and she would be willing to listen and give advice. I treasure my mother.

~Again, singling out my sister. How do you describe someone who understands you perfectly and compliments you so well. I love her with all my heart.

~ My dad. I am so blessed to have a father who is intelligent, witty, a good teacher and who loves the Lord. I am so thankful for his training as I've grown up, particularly as to having a Christian world view.

~ My love for books. Seeing how much I love reading now, it's hard to believe that I didn't start out loving to read. But I didn't fall in love with it until I was eight (don't laugh! In our family that is late. Shannon was reading voraciously by 6.) and read "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". I actually just finished putting away the books I got at the library book sale.

~ Acting. I am so thankful that I love acting. This is another thing I almost missed out on, except it was obviously in the Lord's plan. In my junior year in high school, we started attending a homeschool writing club, Awesome Author's Association. They did a play every year. That year they did "The Wind in the Willows." Well, I really wanted to be in it, but rehearsals were pretty far away and we thought it was just a run-of-the-mill homeschool drama group. But we did volunteer to provide the intermission music. So we went to the performance and found out that this was anything but a run-of-the-mill group. They were good! They were really good! So the next year Shannon and I auditioned and were cast in "Cheaper by the Dozen". I played Mother and loved it! I've been in love ever since. I have been in many things, but have never been paid for an acting job. But I have received my first paying acting job and will begin rehearsals in the new year. I am so thankful for this new opportunity to earn money!

Alright, now for the actual Thanksgiving Day! See you then!

Tiffany

Overwhelmingly Thankful

So many more things to be thankful for. I think next year I might have to post 10 things each day.

I thank God for:
~ Parents who were willing to homeschool me all 12/13 years. I know they sacrificed time and energy to make sure that I had the best education, and I appreciate all of it!

~ A church where we are truly a family. Our family has not experienced that before and I am so grateful to have a church that truly demonstrates God's love.

~ All the children He has brought into my life. I have been babysitting/nannying for 13 years now and have loved (almost) every child I've babysat. Even the hard ones have been lovable in some area. One of them I watched grow up. I started nannying her when she was 7 months and she's about to turn 7. What a blessing for me to be able to watch a child grow up and learn things that will be so helpful should the Lord bless me with a husband and family one day. The children at school have also taught me so much. I love each and every one of them and am so thankful they are in my life.

~ For my job. I haven't always wanted to teach, in fact, I used to say I never wanted to teach. Boy has the Lord changed my heart. True, I don't have the freedom that I enjoyed last year. I can't just pick up and go when I see a conference that I want to go to (like this one), but I am learning so much. Just one of the benefits has been to get first hand contact with different curriculum. I have been able to cross some curriculum off my list and add some others. I have learned about different learning styles and teaching styles. I have learned how to teach Austistic children. I have learned how to recognize immediately when I child isn't feeling well, or something isn't right. Now, that's not all I've learned, but it's a good bit of it.

~ The ability to sew. Being 5' tall, short-waisted, and overly hourglass-shaped, I am not usually able to go into a store and pull things off a shelf that fit. Besides that, I don't usually want to pull something off the shelf in a store and put it on...to immodest. :-)


Oops, I put down six. Well, I'll just put that one on the post for tomorrow! ;-)

Tiffany

Here I Raise My Ebeneezer

Five things I'm thankful for:

1) God's love and care. This sounds so trite, but I am constantly amazed at what He has done and continues to do for me.

2) My family. Again, I know this is overused, but it is so true. I love my family and am so glad I was placed into this family.

3) The Word of God. How privileged we are to be able to have the teachings of Jesus in our hands; within reach when we need it. On the other hand, as thankful as I am for it, I do not show my thankfulness by spending enough time in it. I am thankful for the opportunity to correct that.

4) Friends. I am so thankful for the friends that God has given to me. So many of them are scattered all over and we are only able to communicate once in a while through e-mail, or when our parents talk, but I am so grateful to know that they are there.

5) Life. This might sound like another one of my "trite" thank-you's, but it's not. I was adopted, but before I was allowed to be adopted, my birth mother wanted an abortion. Actually she had it all set up and planned out. The whole story is too long to put here, but there are so many "thank you"s to be said, just here: my birth mother's boss, who showed her another way; to "Uncle" Steve and "Aunt" Beth, for their part in my wonderful story; to my parents, who were so willing to unexpectedly take in a baby (I was born 2 weeks before they were told I was due!); and most of all to the Lord Who orchestrated things in such a way that I look back and realized that it was only Him who could have put the right people in the right places for everything to work out so happily.



I could go on and on....Oh, wait, I will. Next 5 tomorrow!

What are you thankful for?

Tiffany

A fun Meme!

Shannon just posted this meme. It looked like so much fun that I considered myself tagged. :-)

Guidelines:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages): Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

2. Open to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence, which is: "'It must have been that,' said the King, 'unless it was written to nobody, which isn't usualy, you know.'"

4. Post the next three sentences:"'Whom is it directed to?' said one of the jury men."
"'It isn't directed at all,' said the White Rabbit; 'in fact, there's nothing writting on the outside.'"
"He unfolded the paper as he spoke, and added, 'It isn't a letter after all; it's a set of verses.'"

5. Tag five people.

I have way too many people to tag. If you like it, you're tagged!

Tiffany

btw, just in case you didn't figure it out, the scene is the court scene in the book.

Comforting Cards

I have been dealing with a cold for the past couple of days. The headmaster did warn me when I took a job teaching K4 that I would be sick most of the year. :-/ But when I saw these cards that Shannon made, I felt very comforted! At least it does not appear that I shall "give up the ghost" any time soon. :-)

Thank you, Shannon!

Tiffany

Too funny

As you may or may not know, I lived in England for 3 1/2 years and fell in love with the country. So when I found this announcement, I became rather excited!

Tiffany

Sorry for the faulty link. It should be fixed now.

God Bless the President!

Yes, the first thing I asked my dad this morning was, "Who won?" And yes he said, "Obama." But that doesn't mean that I don't want God to bless him.

Now I don't usually like to talk about politics on my blog (although, if we're in person....), however I want to point out that God allowed-wait, let me rephrase that- God ordained Obama to win this election. That's comforting to me.

I know that his election doesn't mean good things for America. I know that we all might be in a tight bind in the near future. I know that this could spell disaster.

However, I'm comforted to know that this is the man God has given America to lead us now. I'm not worried (truly!). We have an awesome (I don't use that word lightly. It means giving glory to God and that is the way I use it) God, who certainly knows what's best for us.

Does it mean that we as the church will be persecuted? Possibly. Does it mean that terrorists will have greater freedoms in our country? Maybe. Does it mean we will become a socialistic society? Probably.

But God will give us the grace to trust in Him and stay fast in Him. God has given us this president and so I say,

"God Bless the President!"

Tiffany

A Challenge

In our economy today (I'm thinking especially US with the upcoming election, but I know a lot of places are having a hard go of it) it is so easy to fall into the pattern of complaining and worrying instead of focusing on all the wonderful things that we do have.

During the week of Thanksgiving, I'm going to post five things a day that I'm grateful for. I think that it is so important for us to remember all that God has blessed us with.

So, I'm issuing a challenge: Will you all join me? If you don't feel like you can commit to five things a day, try at least to do one. I have a feeling that once we start counting our blessings things will come to mind that we hadn't thought of as a blessing before.

You can accept this challenge by commenting on my posts after I post my blessings, or by putting them on your blog.

Let's use this Thanksgiving season to truly remember all that God has done for us- past and present.

Tiffany