Tagged (2x!) and Awarded ~ Pink

I have been tagged....twice. First by Alycia.

Rules
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I love Jane Eyre

2. I like wearing dangly earrings

3. I like wearing high-heels

4. I rarely paint my nails

5. My room has lots of bright colors

6. My favorite shows are Psych, Burn Notice, and Monk

I tag:  PinkPrecious, Nathaniel, MrsDrPepper23, TwizzlerGirl, 01Charger, and.... Cyndi.

The second tag is by LadyBug.

1. Your name? Bethany

2. What does it mean? House of poverty.. uh huh.

3. Your birthday? October 10, 1990 (!!!!)

4. Height? 5’6”

5. Eye color? Blue

6. Do you like it? Yes

7. Natural hair color? Brown

8. Do you like it? Yes

9. Gender? Female

10. Religion? Christian

11. Have you ever changed religion? No

12. Would you consider it? Absolutely not! 

13. Race? American, I guess

14. Heritage? No clue

15. Do you like your heritage? Since I don't know, I don't know

16. Where do you live? USA

I tagStillSmallVoice and AnAmericanGirl

I was awarded, too, by LadyBug. Thanks!!

I will award.... LittleSparow, Becca, Cyndi, and hapyme5

Fireproof, Downhere, & More! ~ Brown and Blue

We saw Fireproof a few weeks ago. It was... fantastic, awesome, incredible, amazing...you get the picture. It was very good.

I'm writing this pretty far after the fact, so I've forgotten what things I originally wanted to mention..whoops. Ah, well.

Basically, I was just really impressed. They were so right-on through the whole thing...and my favorite quote was "You can't just follow your heart. Your heart will deceive you. You have to lead your heart."

Some of the acting was a little poor... I think they need to be coached on how to act passionately, like they really believe in and are exciting about what they're talking about. But having Kirk Cameron in it was awesome. It's a movie I'll deff. want to watch again at some point.

I also loved the part about the tomatoes in the middle of the night...if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about it! It was so my mom. :)

A few weeks ago I aquired a few CDs...

1) Wonder of the World by Rush of Fools. Awesome album. I totally wore it out.

2) Home for Christmas by BarlowGirl. It's good but not quite what I was expecting. I love the original song, but I wish they'd done more original songs.

3) Ending is Begining by Downhere. Fantastic! I've had this CD since I got Wonder of the World, but I was so hooked on WOW that I didn't listen to it for a while..but its awesome! If I can find enough of their newer songs, I want to make them the new artist of the week. Fave songs so far on the album: My Last Amen; The Problem; Something Heavenly

I was able to finally get the book I had wanted, On A Whim. It was good, but not as good as the first, in my opinion. I also got books 3 and 4 of the Carter House Girls. Pretty shallow, but entertaining. And a little interesting... I like books with more plot, though...like mysteries.

I've decided to hold a contest! Check back on Monday to see what it is. :)

Sense & Sensibility didn't get here in time for Melissa and me to watch it while my parents were gone last weekend, but we still had fun.

We watched the VP debate Thursday night, and went to Collin's soccer practice, ate pizza, and went to the bookstore on Friday night. On Saturday, before my parents got home, we went to see the Beverly Hills Chiuhaha movie. It was cute and funny and sweet. Good family flick.

The S&S movie will be here this week. On Sunday night, after church, I'm going to go to Melissa's and we'll watch it, then rush to bed, then get up too early to drive out to the next town over to see McCain and Palin. I'm looking foward to it! It'll be fun.

A few days ago I made a myspace for Victory Home. http://myspace.com/victoryhome Check it out. :)

Something exciting....I'm turning 18 on Friday! Yay! :)

Well, I must be going. I'm gonna try to get some sleep tonight. :) Bye!

Why Can't I Just Have One Thing To Write About At A Time?! ~ Brown

Ah, I do know the answer to that question...because I wait too long inbetween posts! But actually, I still think I'd have multiple things even if I did write every day. I used to.. I don't know why I stopped... maybe I'll try posting every day again.

Wow..umm, this happens too often. What was I going to write?

......

Oh yes! Cyndi Kay gave me my 300th comment. YAY! :) That's very exciting. She actually went a little crazy and wrote my 283rd comment, and just kept posting till she got to 302. She was doing some catch up reading. :)

I still haven't updated the music, but I may do it before I go to bed tonight. If not, sorry. If so, be happy. :)

I'm trying to think if anything exciting has happened since I last wrote, but I don't think so...

I've driven myself to work a few times and it feels WEIRD!

Next weekend my parents are going on a "Pastors & Wives" getaway. They'll be gone Thursday thru Saturday. Melissa is going to come over and stay with me at my house. We're going to watch the new version of  "Sense & Sensibility" one night. I'm looking foward to it...a lot.

My mom has decided to go off sugar..indefinitly. And I've decided to join her. I know it helped Becca a lot, and I'm hoping it'll help me. It's easier than just going straight no-carb.

I might have the opportunity to visit Tennessee Temple University for a "College Days" weekend in October. Please be praying... the main deciding factor is money for a plane ticket.

I better go.. tata!

Lalalalala ~ Blue

Why, hello!

Ok, I'm a little bored.

And I can't think of anything interesting to write about..so sorry.

Oh, I know.

Yesterday, for our day off, we took a drive..a long one. Then, finally we got back and went to LifeWay. I was going to buy "On A Whim," the second Katie Weldon book by Robin Jones Gunn. It came out on Friday. I was so excited! I rushed in and looked  - - and they didn't have it. Typical of my Christian bookstore..they never have the books I want. Well, not never, but hardly ever. It's rare.

But I did find a few things after all... the new Downhere CD, which I didn't think was coming out until today. I'm listening to it for the first time right now. Also got the new Rush of Fools. I totally wore it out while I was at work. It's fantastic. And, last but not least, I got one of the Jay Adams books I needed... "The Christian Counselors Manual."

Today the new BarlowGirl Christmas CD is supposed to be released..but I haven't even gone to see... we live like fifteen or twenty minutes from the bookstore, and today was my day to work all day at work.. (that made a lot of sense, huh?).

Mom was going to pick me up after work, but Dad said I could take his car. On the way I had to stop and get gas, but the gas station we usually use is right near the church. Traffic at this time of day (4pm) is HORRIBLE right there, becuase it's a cut through to get to the main bridge to get to the other side of town.

So I get the gas, and I need to turn left to head home..and I promise, I must have sat there for five full minutes, and not a single chance to go. So I finally said, "forget this" and turned right. I made it past the light where everyone turns to get to the bridge and was able to turn around and head home...but the drama was not over.

Ok, so there's two lanes each way, plus a turning lane in the middle, and I noticed these people in the turning lane. I was thinking, "what a stupid place to be" - but then it gets better. II was glancing behind me to see how close the truck behind me was, and I looked foward and the lady from the center, with a stoller, was crossing our side of the lanes..and she as she came into my lane and I started to slow down.. and fast, because SHE slowed down..and so she was almost there... heading for the driveway of the fast food restaraunt..and the stoller stopped. At that point, I was finally stopped..barely in time. She took her sweet time and had to go to the front of the stroller to pull it up over the slight curb of the driveway. I'm sure! I was so irritated. And so thankful that the truck behind me didn't hit me. Thank the Lord!

Well, I'm going to go now... my mom made a delicious supper and it smells like it's almost ready.. yum!

TATA!

Changes ~ Deep Red

Hello! I have a new template. What? You didn't notice? How very Melanie of you. How very NOT Shawn Spencer of you. :P Anyways, it's for autumn. I'm still tweaking it, so bear with me a little longer. :) Also, please be patient with the music.. I've had a LOT going on the past week and a half, so I haven't had a chance to change it yet.. but as soon as I get a chance, I will! So look..or listen..for it. :)

Well, I've gotta run - it's late, and I need to get a few things done before I go to sleep...then an early morning for church. Tata!

Woah... ~ Black & White

Wow.. it's been what, two days? And I have so much to write! On Thursday alone..woah. So to begin :)

On Thursday I GOT MY LICENSE!! WOO HOO!!! I sort of can't really believe it still.. I've been waiting sooo long. So, now that I'm nearly eighteen years old, I am officially a licensed driver. It's awesomeful.

Also on Thursday was the play I mentioned, "My Fair Lady" at the theatre downtown. It was AMAZING!! I loved it. No photography allowed, but here are some pics of the inside of the theatre that I found online.

This is pretty close to the view we had..but we were further back..not far, but enough so that we couldn't see the seats, just the stage (photo below)

Today was kinda slow at work, but Mom had a ton of stuff to do. We left around six, and were supposed to meet another couple for dinner downtown. It was fun. :) I got to talk a little about what I've learned lately from the Jay Adams book I've been reading, etc, which I like to do..a lot. :P We walked around some afterwards, but it was sooo cold! Even with my jacket, I got pretty cold..and wished I had brought gloves. In  Virginia. In September. It's crazy. But I love it. If I'm prepared for it, at least. There is a Disney cruise ship in the dry dock right now. Enjoy the pics.

I got the stuff in the mail from Tennessee Temple University today..finally. I was a little disappointed with it, though...they didn't really send me any info on the major i was interested in...which was frustrating. The only school that's done that so far is like the one i don't like that much. I've requested information from four schools total.

I saw this on someone's blog and thought it'd be fun to do, so enjoy!

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. 1) Look at the list and bold those you have read. 2) Italicize those you intend to read. 3) Underline the books you love.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (oh it's divine! hilarious! perfect!)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (my favorite classic)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (of course...)
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte (what a twisted, weird, confusing...)
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (fun, but not a favorite.)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy  (don't even get me started on this book..hate is too tame of a word)
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier (I've seen the movie..I liked it a lot.)
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (Soon and very soon...)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald  (just plain weird book)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (my mom read them to me when i was little, and i've read a few myself, though not all)
34 Emma - Jane Austen (audio book count? :P i've read parts of it...)
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen (i didn't actually read the whole thing..too long and confusing..but i liked the movie)
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (my mom read it to me, and, again, i've read parts of it..)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (maybe)
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (this is an AWESOME serious..love it. and really, i love everything i've read by LMM)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (kinda blah book..excellent movie.. but i just don't remember the book very much)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (maybe? probably.)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (my mom read it..i've seen the movie, and she told me about it. not positive if i'll read it, but maybe.)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy (not sure about thomas hardy after "tess")
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (hmm...)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (i've seen the movie, idk if i wanna read the book)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo  

 Tata!

Newsy Bits of News ~ Green

My Grandparents came Sunday night and left this morning. I, obviously, needed to clean my room for this occasion..and I started to last Monday, when I actually rearranged my room, but I didn't get to finish. And I kept putting it off...until Saturday. Then Sunday afternoon. Then Sunday night..but I finally got it done! The hardest part was my books... I have too many!!!!!! I have only one bookcase and couldn't even come CLOSE to fitting them all in it.. here's what I ended up doing:

My original bookcase

I had to give in and use that, too..

This is a new mini-one we got from wal-mart a few days ago for this very purpose.

Lots of books, right? And that's after getting rid of two boxes of books already.. plus that box and basket on the floor are books I'll be selling, or giving away on my book blog. Yep. So stay tuned. :)

Here's some pics of my newly re-arranged room.

The desk will soon be painted.....hopefully.

~~~~~

Now, Melissa's gonna shriek when she reads this but.... drumroll please....

Tonight I watched Bridge to Terabithia.

Yep. I did it. Melissa told me she and Collin loved it, but she knows I don't like drama and I don't like crying at movies, so she warned me off. Ever now and then, though, she'd bring it up again... eventually she told me what it was that I'd end up crying at, so I was at least prepared..a little. :) It was cool. I did like it, but I don't think I'd want to watch it again. As I was watching it, I was IMing a friend of mine and told her I was watching it..she said "DON'T!!!!" It was funny. She hated it.

Exciting news...

1) On Thursday I'm going with Melissa & Collin to see "My Fair Lady" at the downtown theatre... as in, acting theatre. Very exciting.

2) On Friday a book I'm really looking forward to is coming out!! It's called "On A Whim" by Robin Jones Gunn. It's the second book of the Katie Weldon series.

3) On Tuesday (23rd) I found out that BarlowGirl is coming out with a Christmas CD!!!!

4) The movie "Fireproof" is coming out on the 26th..it looks so great! You should see the trailer.. www.fireproofthemovie.com

5) On October 7th Casting Crowns is coming out with a Christmas CD!!! I love that all these Christmas CDs are coming out!! :D

In other news, I've beaten myself up quite a bit the past few days. Let's see.. it all started on Sunday night. I was cutting up strips of paper for Jr. Church and kept nicking my fingernails..and once, my finger. So now there's a red mark on my finger, and it's a little sore. Not long after that, the same night, I got a HORRID blister from my shoes. I took my shoes off during Jr. Church, but I could hardly walk when I put them back on after church. Renee gave me a band-aid though, which helped a lot. Then, also Sunday night, I stepped on a tiny piece of glass..and I couldn't see it, so it either fell right out, or its still in my foot and will come out soon..hopefully. But there's still a band-aid on it. Monday was pretty fine, but last night...ah, yes. Last night was the climax. My dog was half-asleep on the floor next to my bed, and I was petting his head..and he decided he didn't like that... and he bit me.. HARD! He gets very snappy and on-guard when he's tired and asleep.. but I didn't realize he was asleep! I won't be doing that again, I promise. It hurt so bad..and bleeding. Ugh. He's never bit me that hard before..but it's doing better now. :)

Well, I must be leaving.. more later!

~BYE~

Shocking News

I read something tragic over on Poor Boy Hat's blog this evening.

Many of you, I'm sure, have heard of Ray Boltz. He has written many popular Christian music songs. "Thank You," "Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb" and many others. I remember when I was little, singing backup in church to his song, "What If I Give All?"

But Ray had a secret. A grave secret..one that is destroying his life. One of sin. And of sin that he will not give up. Ray Boltz has announced that he is gay, and, essentially, proud of it.

You can read the article here.

While my first response was unbelief and sadness, I immediately begain to feel angry.

Why angry? Because, quite frankly, it angers me when people justify and indulge in their sin. People must learn to be responsible for their own actions..for their own sin.

The article I linked to said that he, Ray, feels that God made him that way and therefore, won't send him to hell for it. The same could easily be said of alcholics, prostitutes, druggies, really any kind of sin! But it's sin - it's what Adam and Eve chose in the garden, and it's what we still choose to this very day. It is our own fault - and we must take responsibility each for our own sins and repent of those things, not justify them because God gave us a free will which we used to choose sin rather than Him!

One commentator, who I completely agree with, wrote:

Romans 1:24-32
(24) Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
(25) because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
(26) For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
(27) and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
(28) And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
(29) They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
(30) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
(31) foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
(32) Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

I can understand why Mr. Boltz does not want to debate the Scriptures -- if I were a homosexual, I'd want to ignore them as well. The fact is that the Bible strongly condemns sodomy, and Mr. Boltz has chosen to embrace his flesh and this sinful life choice and ignore God. If he is a believer, I pray that the Spirit of God will give him no rest or peace until he repents and confesses his sin to God. If he is not saved, I pray that the Gospel will take root in his heart and remove the blindness that sin causes.

Sadly, it only goes to show how lost Ray really was.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.