Becoming Virtuous

A blog sharing my thoughts on life and what God is teaching me

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  • Help! I’m overwhelmed!

    Even though it is officially summer, the work doesn’t end with the school season.  I’m starting to get overwhelmed with everything I need to get done in the next few months.

    The general events going on this summer that I’ll have to work around are; a week long dance camp starting next Monday, the 4-H County Fair in July, helping at the Father/Son Retreat and going to Family Camp both in August.  Those are just the things I can think of off the top of my head.

    In between these activities I need to clean my room, start on my Apologetics cards, start researching our policy on China, find material for my speeches next year (an HI, a Duo, and possibly a Persuasive and a DI), finishing my five projects for 4-H (this includes doing all five record books, making a bunch of pies, baking lots of bread, sewing a dress, and making a skirt then decorating somehow so it will count for Decorate Your Duds.  I’m grateful Mom is letting me drop two others because of the lack of time), making a movie of Nationals, uploading speeches from Nationals onto YouTube, do more more sewing, I’ll probably have to finish my science, and practice violin and singing.

    So maybe you can see a little how I’m feeling overwhelmed right now.  In fact, I’m so scared of this task ahead of me, I’ve taken the high road and am acting lazy instead. (I’m being sarcastic.  I am being lazy right now, but I know I need to stop.)

    I guess I should stop posting about how much work I have to do and actually doing.  Excuse me, I need to go take a crash course on sewing a zipper on a dress.

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Back from Nats

    Hey ya’ll!  I’ve arrived safely back home!  Boy, am I glad to be back!

    Nats went okay.  I got to see a lot of speeches, and taped a lot as well.  11 video tapes worth to be exact! 😉  I unfortunately did not break, and I don’t think I did my best with my speech.  My mom says that I looked almost bored with it.  On my ballots I got three 4th’s, one 5th, and five 5th & below’s.  I got one really funny ballot.  It said, “Content lacked in entertainment value.  Good delivery.”  LOL!  I laughed so hard when I read that ballot!  I remember seeing that judge scowling at me the entire time I gave my speech!  But that ballot didn’t hurt me any worse, so I can easily laugh at it.  😉

    I think my biggest problem was that I didn’t practice it at all before the tourney.  I had all of the words and general actions memorized, but I had forgotten over the long waiting period all of the specific movements I had come up with earlier in the year.  When I look back over the year, the tournament I did best at, which was Centennial, I had gone to a tournament a week before, and I had practiced a lot, and had laid awake at night thinking of movements to add.  But I never practiced after that, and I steadily did worse.  So I’ve resolved that next year, I will practice a lot more, at the very least a few days before the tournament.  Even if it is only rehearsing it in my head.  I think I’ll make sure that I tape myself every tournament and watch it so I can know what to change, and won’t forget things I did that I liked.

    As far as in between rounds goes, I was sorely missing my speech club.  Though there were a few people that talked to me every so often, there was no one that I really hung out with.  I am proud of myself however, for starting many a conversation with people that I didn’t know.  For those of you who know me, you will understand the importance of this accomplishment.  For those of you who don’t, I’m extremely afraid of talking to people that I don’t know.  I even hate calling friends on the phone, for fear that I dial the wrong number.  So I was quite proud of my boldness.  But I still missed my true friends.  The ones that I didn’t have to try hard to get them to talk to me.  Who understand my weirdness, who know how to comfort and support me and how to get me to laugh so I can forget my troubles.

    I am grateful though to the few people that would start up conversations with me when they saw me.  They were very sweet.  I’m also very grateful to God for one person in particular.

    After the award ceremony, there was an after party at a place called Vulcan Park.  This facility was on top of a hill, it had a museum, a pretty big lawn, and a three story tall tower with a humongous statue on top.  The view from the tower was stunning.  Alabama is very pretty.  Anyways, there was a paved area where they had speakers set up and was used as a dance floor.  Soon after the dancing started, I met a family of three girls and I taught one of them how to do the basic swing step.  When the song ended, I went with them up to the top of the tower.  After this, I hung out with them for the rest of the evening.  One of the girls and I danced together and talked about Pride and Prejudice and other similar topics.  At one point, they played a waltz, and she came up with idea that we Duo dance.  So we didn’t touch, or look at each other, and waltz around the floor.  It was very fun.  I enjoyed myself so much, and I am very thankful that God brought us together.  We exchanged e-mail addresses, so hopefully we’ll stay in touch.

    Through the whole tournament, we shared a rental car with another mother and her son.  They were a very sweet family.  I had heard many times from my debate partner about how cool this family was, but before now I hadn’t had the chance to get to know them.  So I am also very grateful for the chance to do just that.

    So, I suppose, over all, it wasn’t a bad week.  I believe I learned a lot from watching the debates and speeches and I made some new friends.  We even had a funny incident.  We had just picked up the rental car and left the airport when it happened.  My mom pushed a button on the rear view mirror and this car alarm started to go off inside the car!  Then there was a ringing noise, then the sound of a phone being picked up and someone answered, “Hello, I’m so-and-so from OnStar, how can I help?” My mom, “How do I turn this off!!!”  “First ma’am, is there an emergency in the car?”  “No, I just accidentally pushed a button, how do I turn it off?”  “I can take care of that, goodbye.”  LOL!!!  Though frightening at first, we laughed heartily about it later, and was the subject of a couple jokes.  I am happy to report, we never had a reason to call OnStar again! 😉

    Well, I believe that is all I have to say for now.

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Goodbye for now

    Well, on the topic of my previous post, my dad sprayed my window seat and closet, so hopefully that will take care of the problem.  While I was cleaning things up so that Dad could spray I didn’t find any other beetles, but the other day I found one in a magazine so they were probably just hiding.  Hopefully it won’t take much more effort to get rid of them, especially since I’m not going to be able to do anything about it for a week. 😉

    As I am leaving tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll have another chance to post, so I want to say goodbye till after Nationals.  I’ll be sure to let ya’ll know what happened.

    See ya!

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Return of the Menace

    Ladies and gentlemen, their back!  If they actually left in the first place.  On Monday I found another carpet beetle larvae scurrying around on a shirt that was on my floor.  The next day I found two extremely tiny (the size of the of head ballpoint pen) beetle looking things.  Without thinking, I squished them, so I wasn’t able to show them to my parents.

    Then today, I found another one running around on my curtain.  I got it on a Kleenex and took it to show my dad.  He typed “Carpet Beetle” into Google and immediately knew that was what my visitor was.  So now I am once again infested with carpet beetles, if they were in fact gone in the first place.

    So now I have to vaccum my room every few days to try to get rid of the larvae, and wash my curtains, and clean off my window seat and clean out my closet so my dad can spray.

    This seems to be a horrible time for this to happen.   I have my ballet performances every night the rest of this week, and I leave for Alabama on Sunday so I need to do laundry and pack.  I don’t particularly have time for this right now.

    But I know that God knows what he’s doing.  He obviously didn’t think there was enough on my plate right now.  He also knew that I needed another thing to remind me to come Him for comfort and sanity.  😉  As everything seems to be spinning out of control, I know the One who is in control, and He assures me that He will work everything out for the good.  I just need to trust.

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Scared Silly

    I recently came to a very scary conclusion.  A week from today, I’ll be Alabama competing at Nationals!  You have no idea how that scares me!  I feel so much that I don’t belong there, that it was a fluke that I’m going and that I’m taking the place of someone who vastly deserves to be there instead of me.

    Whenever I’ve professed these fears in the past all my friends would just laugh at me and my (they believe) unfounded uncertainity in myself.  Though I don’t know how I can help my lack of faith in myself.  Even if I were to overcome it, I’m scared that I’ll become cocky as a result, thus I don’t try to overcome my fears.

    But enough of that.  The whole Nationals thing is very daunting for me, and the seconds to arriving there are quickly and steadily counting down.  But I am thankful for all the people who are praying for me.  People from our homeschool group, the CHEC committee, and elsewhere are all lifting me up in prayer and wishing me to do my best.  I am sincerely thankful for all of you. 🙂

    I know there is a weighty task ahead of me.  I’m going where no one in our club has gone before.  I’m going somewhere where I need to set a good example of the Christian faith, homeschoolers, and the state of Colorado.  Apart from my speech, I’ll be an ambassader as well.  I pray that I am equal to the task.

    Okay, I probably should end this random complilation of my fears.  I would really appreciate it if you all could pray for me.

    Love ya!

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Constitution Party Platform – Gun Control

    The 2nd Amendment strictly limits any interference with gun ownership by saying: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

    The right to bear arms is inherent in the right of self defense, defense of the family, and defense against tyranny, conferred on the individual and the community by our Creator to safeguard life, liberty, and property, as well as to help preserve the independence of the nation.

    The right to keep and bear arms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution; it may not properly be infringed upon or denied.

    The Constitution Party upholds the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms. We oppose attempts to prohibit ownership of guns by law-abiding citizens, and stand against all laws which would require the registration of guns or ammunition.

    We emphasize that when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have them. In such circumstances, the peaceful citizen’s protection against the criminal would be seriously jeopardized.

    We call for the repeal of all federal firearms legislation, beginning with Federal Firearms Act of 1968.

    We call for the rescinding of all executive orders, the prohibition of any future executive orders, and the prohibition of treaty ratification which would in any way limit the right to keep and bear arms.

  • The right to bear arms

    Most of you have probably heard about the Second Amendment, and the right that it supposed to protect.  But how many of you understand the extreme importance of it?

    Guns are seen by liberals as something very dangerous that should be kept out of the hands of the populace.  That is why we have had all of the gun laws passed in somewhat recent years.  Laws set up by the government that regulate who can have guns and who can’t.  (If any of you haven’t taken the questionnaire to get gun, I’ll let you know it’s pretty ridiculous.  Asking questions like, “Do you plan to use this gun to commit a grievous crime?” LOL!  Like they think a criminal is going to be stupid enough to say yes?!)

    Yet, in their great “wisdom,” they have overlooked a major flaw in their regulations.  In general, out of whose hands is the government trying to keep guns?  Murderers and other lawbreakers.  However, by setting up regulations, do you think that is going to stop criminals from breaking just one more rule?  Instead by keeping guns from being available to everyone, those of us who are peaceable now have no way of defending ourselves.

    Yet the government doesn’t seem to care about this right being taken away from us.  They continue to pass more laws prohibiting and regulating who can have guns.  We continue to let our rights be stripped from us and the ability to protect ourselves we are giving away.

    In the draft of Virginia’s Constitution, Thomas Jefferson said, “No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”  He understood the need from people to have the ability to protect themselves.  If we aren’t allowed to do so, just who do we think is going to protect us every second of the day?

    On our trip through the South last April, we stopped off in Georgia to visit some friends.  While there we were going to visit a museum which was in a different county.  Our friends warned us that a law had been passed in that county concerning guns that we should be aware of.  In this particular county, is is ILLEGAL not to have a concealed carry!  The government would have people believe that such a law, or similarly a lack of regulations, would cause havoc and mass killings.  But just what are the statistics from this little county?  There are virtually no crimes committed there!  Why is this?  Well, say a robber goes to rob a bank.  He won’t know who in that bank has a weapon concealed on them.  Even if it was slow in the bank at that time, the chances are, there are more good people in that bank carrying a gun than that lone robber.

    If us Americans were allowed to carry guns as we pleased, as we were in the old days, what do you think would happen?  Criminals would never know who has else out there has a gun.  I imagine this would cause them to rethink committing a crime at least once.

    But even more than that, by principle, we should never have to go to the government and ask permission to have gun.  All the regulations and laws are unconstitutional and should be removed.  But do you think anyone in the government is going to want to give up their control on this part of our lives?   :sarcastic laugh: No one who is currently there, I can assure you.

    On this issue, among many others, I am very pleased with the Constitution Party.  The desire of the Constitution Party is to get the government out of gun control as it was in the past.  They understand that the people deserve the right to protect themselves.

    [The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans posses above almost every other nation… (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.  ~James Madison

    It is our duty to take back the rights that have been taken from us.  One of the ways to do that is to elect a leader that will give them back to us.

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Can’t afford the cost?

    I’ve been told by many people lately that it would be great to vote for a truly conservative candidate, but right now we can’t afford to take the chance. (Now, just so you know, I’m not picking on anyone in particular. 😉  I really think this a topic that needs to be addressed.)

    However, I have a question too.  When do you think the time will come that we can “safely” take that chance?

    You know trust is a funny thing.  We as humans don’t know what the outcome will be in any situation. 🙂  We may have some educated guesses, but God is really the only one who can see forever.  That is why we must trust him.

    Let’s consider, for example, the story of Gideon.  God came down and chose a little known young man, one who wouldn’t be considered qualified to lead the army, yet God chose him for such a time.  Then, God weeded out the army, taking it from 32,000 men down to 300.  As if that weren’t enough, God then sent them into battle with torches and trumpets!  Now these seemed like insurmountable odds.  300 Israelite men, who probably weren’t exactly trained for battle, against Midianites, trained fully for battle, who were “thick as locusts.  Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.”

    Does this seem like a chance that Gideon really should have taken?  I mean, maybe being oppressed wasn’t really that bad.  Hey!  It’s better than being killed for a hopeless cause!  But that is using human “wisdom.”  Gideon trusted God, and a miracle happened.

    Shall we consider Joshua against the wall of Jericho?  David against Goliath?  Moses, Barak, Samson, Jepthath, Samuel or countless others who trusted God when things looked bleak and hopeless?

    Jesus told us, that if we just had faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains.  What about

    “I can all things through Christ who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)

    Or,

    “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know  the hope to which he has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.  That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms,” (Eph. 1:18-20)

    Through the Holy Spirit, God can work through us the same power that raised Christ from the dead. (Of course this isn’t something we have in and of ourselves.  It is the Holy Spirit in us and working through us.)  You see, we serve a BIG God.  God can put Chuck Baldwin into office if he so chooses.  But, are you actually going to trust that God can do that?  Are you going to take a chance that God will work a miracle through you?  Or are you going to take the “safe” route and vote for a “comfortable oppression?”  Which will you choose?

    “Duty is ours, results are God’s.” John Quincy Adams

    ~Tee-Kaye

    (Ooh!  By the way, this is my 37th post! 😉 )

  • Memorial Day poem

    I Stand Before You
    I stand before you all today
    But not one eye can see my way

    My time arrived, to leave this earth
    A fact so planned, to every birth

    It happened where I had to go
    My torch for life was so aglow

    I transferred while in uniform
    Protecting freedom, through a storm

    Should I resent I died for you
    Not on my life, red white and blue

    Please help my family through each day
    Tell all my friends, try not to stray

    And of the country I did love
    Do think of me, through God above

    Your memories, brought forth this day
    Send love to us, who could not stay

    Roger J. Robicheau
    Former SP5 US Army

     

    The Unknown Soldier
    by Roger J. Robicheau

     

    You need not ever know my name
    This unknown soldier seeks no fame

    I’m here to bring out thought from you
    May your heart see more than your view

    America, we marched with pride
    We gave our life, for you we died

    How well we knew the time might come
    When life could sound that final drum

    Please think of us as life moves on
    We tried so hard till that last dawn

    Do let our spirit fill the land
    Pass treasured freedom, hand to hand

    God blessed this country with such love
    Hold in your heart, abundance of

    And when you stand before my grave
    Think not of one, but each who gave

     

    What Heroes Gave

    by Roger Robicheau

    Each donned their uniform to be
    Defenders of our liberty

    Their mission sure, their spirits bright
    Guard freedom’s home, be brave to fight

    One final day each faced their call
    Each gave their best enduring all

    We’ll never know what they went through
    But know they loved this country true

    Deep down inside we should all feel
    What heroes gave, their cost so real

    We must stay thankful, grateful of
    The gift of freedom through their love

    Their loved ones bore the gravest pain
    What we can’t know, some now sustain

    To God I pray their pain will cease
    And each will find long-lasting peace

    Remember this from year to year
    What heroes gave – shan’t disappear

    We’ll never let their special day
    Their time for honor slip away

    These brave fought for a nation free
    If not for them, where would we be?

  • Preamble to the platform of the Constitution Party

    I thought this was just too cool not to post.  Please go and check out the rest of the Constitution Party’s platform.

    “The Constitution Party gratefully acknowledges the blessing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as Creator, Preserver and Ruler of the Universe and of these United States. We hereby appeal to Him for mercy, aid, comfort, guidance and the protection of His Providence as we work to restore and preserve these United States.

    This great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been and are afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.

    The goal of the Constitution Party is to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations and to limit the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries.

    The Constitution of these United States provides that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” The Constitution Party supports the original intent of this language. Therefore, the Constitution Party calls on all those who love liberty and value their inherent rights to join with us in the pursuit of these goals and in the restoration of these founding principles.

    The U.S. Constitution established a Republic rooted in Biblical law, administered by representatives who are Constitutionally elected by the citizens. In such a Republic all Life, Liberty and Property are protected because law rules.

    We affirm the principles of inherent individual rights upon which these United States of America were founded:

    • That each individual is endowed by his Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are the rights to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness;
    • That the freedom to own, use, exchange, control, protect, and freely dispose of property is a natural, necessary and inseparable extension of the individual’s unalienable rights;
    • That the legitimate function of government is to secure these rights through the preservation of domestic tranquility, the maintenance of a strong national defense, and the promotion of equal justice for all;
    • That history makes clear that left unchecked, it is the nature of government to usurp the liberty of its citizens and eventually become a major violator of the people’s rights; and
    • That, therefore, it is essential to bind government with the chains of the Constitution and carefully divide and jealously limit government powers to those assigned by the consent of the governed. “