http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:31:00 -0500 Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:31:00 -0500 Well, I'm not real big on kids, but I suppose my cousins have taught me the most important thing in life: how to take care of children! Here I am at my cousin's house. There's Gabriella, she's 4, then there Zoe, she's 3, then there are Sophie and Dietrich (Dee-trik), twins, aged 7 months. :-) So, yeah, they're a handful. Anyway, not much going on here. Just learned a new song on the fiddle: Jack of Diamonds, a really notey competition tune. Blessings, Allie http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/340907/ Mon, 11 Jun 2007 13:31:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/340907/ I highly respect John Holzmann. He has a lot of good points in his book, “Dating With Integrity”, and I am glad that someone put this book out there, as there are many good points. However, some of his writing raised questions in my mind that I thought I would pose to you. The first thing I ran across was, “Integrity Daters treat all members of the body with equal concern”. Meaning, acting the same towards girls as you do to guys and vice versa. To an extent, I quite agree! He mentions not acting towards girls/guys in a way that you wouldn’t do after you were married. That’s smart! But the thing that really made me stop and think was (and I qoute):             “…If you’re a guy, and, when you drive, you normally go around to the other side of the car to open the door for your female passengers, then you ought to be just as considerate of your passengers who are male. Why shouldn’t you open the door for them too?”             And my immediate thought was, there’s a difference between guys and girls. Guys are strong and capable, but they choose to honor and respect us as females, and that is why they open the door for us! However, when you do it for both men and women, you automatically reduce the meaning of what it is to be a girl. If you’re a guy, you don’t gallantly escort your guy friend to the door after going to a movie. If you’re a guy, you don’t help him out of the car or open the door for him. It’s a deferential problem; God made us differently. What do you think? It’s a fine line. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/338058/ Mon, 4 Jun 2007 16:30:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/338058/ As a writer, I always find it of utmost importance as to the way an article is started. However, I couldn’t discover a nifty way to start this particular subject, so I’m going to jump right in there.             Modesty is a matter of the heart. When you dress modestly, are meek and quiet on the outside, but on the inside, your heart is black with resentment or hate, the modesty is a put-on act, and avails to nothing.             If you’re like me, you hate reading really long articles that drag on and on about everything in general and nothing at all, so I’ll make this short and to the point.             The way you look at life is colored by how right you are with God. Modesty is colored by what’s in your heart, and what’s in your heart is colored by how right or wrong you are with God. It’s all one large circle – circular logic, as my uncle calls it. It just goes around and around, and if one thing is out of place or wrong, the rest crashes to an end very quickly.             You can be a girl in a skirt and be just as worldly as the girl next to you wearing spray-painted-on jeans that look like they’ve been rolled in the dirt once or twice before put on the sales rack and a too-revealing shirt. You can be just as foolish and dress just as loudly as that girl. You can be just as loud and attention-demanding as can that girl. And worst of all, you can be just as wrong with God as she could be.             What I’m emphasizing here is: It doesn’t matter what you wear if your heart isn’t in tune with God’s call and plan for your life.             Guarding the heart. What’s that mean? You hear it all the time and I’m sure you’ve read articles on it. I’ll boil it down to three things that we don’t do in our family so as to guard the heart: 1) we don’t date, 2) we don’t dress to attract attention and 3) keep every thought captive! That’s a bit ambiguous, so I’ll say it like this: Control your thoughts. It IS possible with God’s help! Really, if you think about it, you can stop yourself from singing that dreaded song, “This is the song that never ends-” or from singing “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,” etc. But do you control those thoughts of the cute boy in class next to you? No! You say, “Why should I? It’s not like thinking of him is going to get me in trouble with him or anything.” And I say, “YES IT DOES. Basically, what you think about now is what you think about after you’re married. If you spend time fantasizing about cute guys you see, will you be loyal to your husband?” “…and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:7 NKJV http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/335357/ Tue, 29 May 2007 21:51:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/335357/ I don't really have anything important to say today... I just wanted to hop on and point you in dixiefiddler's direction - she has a good view of dating. Good job, girl! I enjoyed reading it. Go to my other blog to see what's really going on: www.walkingcloser.blogspot.com or www.fiddlerstwo.blogspot.com. Either one works. Why am I not impressed with Avril Lavigne? Maybe it's because she's so sulky and so confident of herself. Don't you see how insecure she is? Does no one see this? Look at the way she lines her eyes with black, and dresses like everyone else... a follower, and all I can really say for her is, poor girl. She's probably depressed twenty-three hours of twenty-four, as most stars are! Don't chew me out for saying that, please. I was just giving my two cents. (Even if you didn't want them! LOL) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/328870/ Tue, 15 May 2007 14:21:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/328870/ A good site: Witness Graphics http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/328060/ Sun, 13 May 2007 19:20:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/328060/ First of all, I wanted to say that: though I am writing this article, I have BY NO MEANS gotten these ideas down-pat. I have very bad days where my room is a complete mess and my “Hot Spots” are so cluttered you wouldn’t know there was actually a COUNTER UNDER THERE! Gasp. However, I’m working hard on it, and, as long as I have this knowledge, I feel I must pass it around. I like FlyLady. Rather, I like to wear shoes all the time and I love the “Hot Spots” idea. Earlier in the year, we had a little sticky note stuck to a designated “Hot Spot” counter that said, “Don’t even think about it! Just PUT IT AWAY.” Every guest that came through our house thought it was hilarious, and we began to move the sticky note around when we got to where we wouldn’t put anything in front of the microwave. Thankfully, it stuck, and now that certain counter is ALMOST always free of “clutter” or whatever you want to call it. It’s still stuff, and it still needs to NOT BE THERE.   Yesterday, I got the idea to write this article when I told myself, after much complaining and grumbling not-so-inwardly, “Quit complaining and DO something about it, Alex!” (Don’t you get fed up with yourself sometimes? This was one of those moments with me.) And so with that, I picked up the articles on the counter that needed to be removed, put them in their respective places, and viola! You wouldn’t BELIEVE how much better it felt in the kitchen! Now, my poor grandmother has been trying to beat this into my hard head for years: “EVERY DAY IS A CLEANING DAY, ALEX! You just don’t GET IT, do you?!” Actually, she’s nicer than that. She didn’t phrase it quite so, but it gets the point across to my readers. J HOT SPOTS HELP. Really, I promise. I guarantee that if you put a sticky note on the surface of an area you want to keep clean – write yourself a message on it – you will notice a big difference. (Be careful about leaving those around when guests come.) Oh, be SURE you get your kids into helping you with this. Make it a challenge! Growing up with my cousins, they were like brothers and sisters to me, and my aunt Rachel was like a second mom. She was so creative, and she figured out the best ways to help us pick up after ourselves. One of those ways was to put treats around the house in tight spots and little nooks and crannies. Then, if we cleaned that area without being asked, we would most likely get something. (She didn’t do it all the time, however, because – I see how smart this was now – she didn’t want us to work ONLY for rewards. When we become mothers and fathers, there won’t BE anyone to reward us for picking up the video off the floor or dusting the piano.) My grandmother used to also put pennies or something on the floor in a cranny where you wouldn’t usually sweep, and if it was still there when I was done sweeping, I didn’t do a good enough job. And now I get to the last point in my article. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO LEFT IT THERE. It still needs to be put away. Just think about all the mothers out there who learned that if you didn’t do it, you don’t put it away – and you should see the messy house they live in. Of course, if your kids are OLD enough, then they SHOULD, by all means, pick up behind themselves. They need to learn, too, that it doesn’t matter who left it there – that it still needs to be picked up. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes a day to whip your house into tip-top shape. Especially if you do this EVERY DAY. It MUST be every day, because if you leave it for a week, it WILL take more than a few minutes.    Thank you for reading this. PLEASE, go do something about your house. I hope this has helped you.  Allie Billings http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/326579/ Thu, 10 May 2007 10:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/326579/ He swings up on their only good horse, wearing his gray to become part of the force gathering to support their freedom. His children are crying, his wife clinging to them, in the air that’s getting colder. The wind whips her hair around her eyes as the tears bid farewell. Farewell to her husband, who stands so strong and brave, who dares to raise a hand, as he leaves to go away and perhaps… Never come back. Farewell to the daddy, that the children love so well! Little Ben and smaller Addie don’t know how to bid farewell, and so they cry. And his farm around him cries out, the brown grass blows in the wind, and his cows mill in the corral. All around him sighs the forest he passionately loves. But he’s going now – going to fight! Going to fight for the cause that he believes is so right. He may never come back, but long live the South! He’s gone now – “Farewell once more, my dear!” sighs the wife, “Farewell.” http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/326267/ Wed, 9 May 2007 15:59:01 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/326267/ Hello, all. This is simply a place to put my articles/stories/educational ideas. Enjoy. Comment if you wish. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/325873/ Tue, 8 May 2007 21:05:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/justacloserwalk/325873/