Becoming Virtuous

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

recent posts

about

  • Back from Regionals

    We finally made it back!  Whew!  We left a week ago early Sunday morning, and just got back about three hours ago.  It was a long week.  I’ll try to give you the complete low down.  We’ll see how far I get. 😉

    Day 1– We left our house at about 7:30.  My parents had decided that we were going to take the trip from Colorado to Seattle, Washington in two days, so we put in 10+ hours in the car.  After leaving Colorado we went through Wyoming, Utah, and stayed in Twin Falls, Idaho.  On the whole, for spending that much time with that many people in the car, it wasn’t a bad day.

    Day 2– We left at nearly the same time and drove for about as long as well.  It didn’t take much driving in Oregon before we went up some mountains, and it started to snow on us!!  It was snowing so much, we could hardly see twenty feet in front of us.  It was crazy!  But, upon coming down the mountain it was only raining on the plains, and after getting into Washington, it was very sunny.  However, when we were about to reach Seattle, we went throught some more mountains and it snowed on us more!  So this day we went through Spring, Summer, and Winter twice in one day.

    Day 3– We had an extra day to go and sightsee.  Even though it was chilly, we braved the weather and headed downtown.  After going on a tour of the underground city, we went out to eat.  It was a lot of fun because, since it was on the waterfront we could go out on the “deck” and hold french fries above our heads and seagulls would swoop down and snatch them out of your hand.  It was pretty cool. 😉 After eating we went to Pike’s Place Market, then headed home.

    I have to go eat right now.  I’ll write more later.

  • “Hi-ho-the derio, a slashing we will go”

    I don’t know if you caught the tune I was aiming for in my title, but oh well.  You are probably wondering what kind of slashing and who is doing the slashing.  To the later question, we only wish we knew so that we could strangle them. (I have to admit, that’s not to far from serious)  As to what their slashing, it’s tires.  Tonight was the second set in less than a month.

    Ever since we moved into this neighborhood, nearly three years ago, we have been regularly vandalized.  Two months after moving in, my dad’s car, which was on the driveway, had a window smashed out.  And it wasn’t the back window either.  They actually came up onto the driveway to put a rock through the side window.  After doing so, they stole a black bag that contained some medical equipment that cost 1,500 dollars.

    Since then, we have been egged several times, and two weeks ago we had a single bright green paintball on our garage above the door.  The weirdest thing is that almost all of these incidents happened in broad daylight!  Most recently, it’s turned to tire slashing.  It’s been the same car, our 15 passenger van, both times.

    The first time, less than a month ago, it was the two tires facing the house. (We park it on the street.)  Then, upon returning from ballet this evening, we found the other two (facing the street) completely flat.  There is no chance of them, if we were to refill them, lasting long enough to get to the repair shop around the corner.

    Throughout this whole thing, we’ve wondered why is this happening to us?  We haven’t heard of anyone else in our neighborhood getting vandalized like us.  And it’s not like we live in a low-income neighborhood where you tend to expect these types of things.  But again, why us?  Is it against us personally?  Though I doubt that because we rarely talk to our neighbors, and are in good favor with them when we do talk.  Why are we seemingly singled out?

    The only explanation I can think might be plausible is, we are Christians.  Whether the people doing this know this fact or not, I don’t know.  But apparently, God sees fit for our faith and patience to be tried in this way.  It is terribly annoying to have to go through trials. 😉  But I suppose we should look for what God wants us to learn from this.

    I probably should sign off now.  My family will soon be discussing what to do.  Add motion sensor lights?  Put up video cameras?  Or even more drastically, move to the country and buy a big guard dog.  Please keep us in your prayers as we try to bear up with this trial and try to figure out what to do about it. 🙂

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Phillipians 2:1-11

    I ran across these verses today during my quiet time.

    Phillipians 2:1-11

    “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  3Do nothing our of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

    5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

    I’ve been thinking quite a bit about humility and pride in the past few days.  I have to admit that going to Speech and Debate tournaments sparked it.  It is very rare to find a competitor who is good yet humble.  They all have their various “groupies” and clicks.  They seem to be more centered on themselves than on others.

    But, I’ll admit that I’ve committed the sin Jesus talked about on the Sermon on the Mount.  When he talked about taking the spec out of my brother’s eye while having a log in my own.  I may not be popular at Speech and Debate, but I often times find myself craving to be the center of attention.  I don’t really care about what others want to say, I want everyone to pay attention to me.  I struggle with doing things “out of selfish ambition.”

    I’m detesting this in myself more and more.  At the Centennial tournament I regretted that I didn’t lose my voice.  It was a blessing in disguise when I lost my voice at the Open tournament.  When my ability to talk was taken away, I was forced to listen to others, to not be constantly putting myself forward.  So at Centennial I regretted the need to be quiet.

    But it is also so hard because, besides wanting to be the center of attention, I love to make others laugh.  Something inside me feels fulfilled when I can cause laughter.  I think that sometimes I do want to make others laugh not for selfish reasons, but it’s beginning to be hard to distinguish between my righteous and selfish reasons.

    I need to take to heart the Scripture in 1 Peter 3:8

    “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.”

    I pray that God will change the desires of my heart to be instead of self-serving, to be a servant to others.

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Of the flu, mice and adoption

    Well, I hardly know where to start.  So many things have been happening this past week.  First off, a week ago, I awoke to one of my sisters… umm… exhibiting flu symptoms.  She was quickly followed by another of my sisters.  We had hoped that was the end of our encounter with the flu, but more members of the family have been catching the dreaded disease throughout the past week.  And it hasn’t just come and gone.  A few of us were okay for a day or two then had a relapse.  My youngest sister had one such relapse last night.

    Then yesterday at lunch time, my brother walked into the kitchen and saw a mouse scamper across the floor.  As of yet we have only caught one, that might be the sum of the invaders, but that’s a fool’s hope. 😉  We have set traps in various places about the house, and have searched the outside of the house to try to discover how the little bugger’s are getting in.  Maybe they’ll be gone for good this time. 😉  After we catch them all.

    And to add to all that, my parents are looking into adopting an orphaned child.  Well, not really a child.  She is only half a year younger than myself.  We heard about her while visiting Kevin Swanson’s church, and how she wished to be adopted by a homeschooling family.  My parents are now actively pursuing adopting her, and have started the endless hours of classes to qualify to adopt.  Mom and Dad have decided that if it is not God’s will for us to adopt this specific young girl, then they will look into someone else.  It’s kind of a scary idea.  Bringing someone into our home, permanently, who we don’t know, knowing practically nothing about her past, and will have to help her deal with those problems from her past.  It is a rather daunting task.  I’ll even have to share my room for the first time in my life!  Talk about an adjustment! 😉  But I know that God will guide us through whatever we do.  Whether we adopt her, or another different child, I know that God will be there to guide, care, and sharpen us to make us more into the likeness of His Son.

    I’ll end it here.  That’s probably enough for now. 😉

    Sola Deo Gloria!

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Hit the road Jack…

    I got my permit today!!  It took forever, but I’m happy now.  I haven’t been too excited about getting my permit before, but now that I have it, I’m kind of excited. 🙂

    Course, it helped when a friend of mine who is a year younger than me got his permit on Monday.  It made me feel officially embarrassed.  So I didn’t let him show me up for long. 🙂

    It took a lot longer than I thought it would!  We got to the DMV around 2:15 and sat there for forever!  I got number B583, and when we sat down they were on B511.  They made it to B515 at about 3:00. :rolls eyes:

    Mom was getting scared that we wouldn’t make it in before closing and would have to come back another time.  It was getting to be 4:30, I believe the closing was at 5:00, and it looked like Mom’s fears would come true.  But I didn’t want to give up!  We had waited, we needed to persevere!

    Suddenly a lady asked for everyone who came to take the written test to come up to the front.  I went up there and got the test and went to fill it out.  My hand started to shake while I was attempting to fill out the test.  What if I didn’t pass?  After we had waited for over two hours!  And being a perfectionist didn’t help matters any either. 🙂

    I finished the test and put it in the basket.  A kind lady came over and took my test away to grade it.  Just as I joined Mom, my number was called.   We went to the desk and I explained that I had already taken my test.  He got all my information, Mom asked him if I had passed the test.  He said, “We’re not concerned with that now.”  After filling out all the forms I found out that I had only missed one of the questions!  That was pretty cool!  I gave them my personal info, weight, height, hair color, eye color, and went to get my picture taken.  It was all pretty exciting after the ball started rolling.  I’ll be getting my real permit in the mail sometime in the next while.

    Over all, it was pretty cool.  I now can learn to drive (scary huh?  Everyone else beware!).

     ~Tee-Kaye

  • I’m back!

    Well, I’m still alive.  But barely! 🙂   Praise God it wasn’t too tiring til last night, and my teeth stopped being excruciating on Friday!  I’m really tired right now though.  We got back from our ballot party at about 11:45 and got to bed around 12:00.  Then we had church this morning, which I was surprisingly awake for.  But then right after church I went to bed and slept for 3 hours.  I’m still trying to wake up!

    But our team did well at the tournament.  One of my friends broke to finals for the first time in his speech and got 7th.  In debate both my brother and myself did really well.  We both broke to Octos, and it was a split decision on who won!  This was also the first time I have ever broken in debate.  I went three and three!  That’s my best record so far.  Then, for the real shocking part.  I got 10th in speaker points!  My judges were very liberal with speaker points.  So I don’t think I deserved to get 10th, but it was kind of cool just the same! 🙂

    The sad part of the tournament, was that, for several of my friends, this is their last tournament ever.  They have gotten burned out, and are planning on not coming back next year, and they can’t make it to Regionals even though they broke.  :tear, tear:  So that was very sad.  I’m hoping that we can convince them to go one more year.

     Anyways, I’m very tired, and I haven’t eaten lunch yet.  (I went straight to bed)  So I think I might go try to eat something. 🙂

    Thanks ya’ll for your prayers!!

    Tee-Kaye

  • Speech and Debate… yet again

    Well, another tournament is just around the corner… tomorrow!  I’m starting to freak out.  I don’t know if I’ll ever learn not to procrastinate!

     I bought some material a couple of weeks ago to make some suit skirts.  I cut out the first one today, and it’s almost half finished.  I haven’t done much for debate in the past week, and I haven’t practiced my speech at all.  I still have to make all the food for our lunches.  And I probably won’t eat anything at all this week anyways, because I got chains put on my braces today.  (I’m in terrible pain, in case you were wondering. ; )

    So I guess this post is turning out a lot like one I wrote before the last tournament.  I don’t think I’ll ever learn to stop being lazy and get things done before the day before.   Sorry I just came on to complain. ; )  I guess I just need to remember what I’ve written before on peace.

    And I need to be humble.  After getting first at the last tournament, it’s extremely difficult not to be prideful, and expect to get first again.

    Sorry for these random thoughts.  But, if you feel called to pray for me, please pray that God will give my club and myself strength to make it to the end of the week.  That we will have peace, and that I won’t be egotistical and selfish towards others.

     Hope to see you at the end of the week! ; )

    Tee-Kaye

  • Battle for Civilization

    One of my friends alerted me of a new project of the Botkin family.  It’s a series called “The Battle for Civilization.”  Last night we watched the trailer that they have on their website, and like the stuff they’ve done before, it looks absolutely wonderful!  In it, Mr. Botkin is going to tell history from a different perspective then is widely taught right now.  Check out the trailer!

    http://www.battleforcivilization.com/

    I can hardly wait for it to come out!

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • A new cool website

    I just learned of this website the other day.  I haven’t had much time to explore it, but it is done by a very godly sweet young lady.  One of her purposes in making this website was to help equip other girls with learning to be a homemaker.  I strongly encourage everyone to check it out!

    http://arston.net/homemakers/

    ~Tee-Kaye

  • Who to choose…

    Recently on a forum I which I visit frequently, I started a thread asking if anyone on there ever thought of what they would look for in a husband/wife.  Most of them gave only two “standards” (as I like to call them).  That they be a Christian and that there be mutual love.  But I shared that I expect much more.  This is the list of standards that I have thought over and that I presented.

    Musts:

    * He must be a strong Christian. At least the same, but preferably farther in his walk with God than I am. Steadily growing, not stagnant.

    * Any guy that would be up for consideration must be a real man as laid out in Scripture. (I can elaborate if necessary)

    * He must have a vision for his life. He has no business asking me to join him if he has no idea where he’s going in the first place. ; )

    * Things that are important to me must be important to him. Like him being the sole provider for the family, my staying home and homeschooling our kids, having as many kids as the Lord will give us, etc.

    * He must hold to Reformed Theology (Calvinism), be an Amillenialist, a conservative Presbyterian, believe in water dunking baptism and believe in the Trinity.

    * He must be someone I can respect, spiritually and otherwise. I can’t submit to someone I can’t respect. Also, someone who can truly respect me in turn.

    Preferred:

    * Hopefully a physical virgin, having saved himself totally for his wife. This includes the first kiss being on the wedding day.

    * It would be much preferred if he is an emotional virgin. Not having given his heart away before.

    * (This may end up being a must later on, but I’ll put it here for now.) Music is something that is very important to me. I don’t think I could get along with someone who believe that rock music is sinful. I think a disagreement on that subject would cause too much friction.

    What many people have been accusing me of is not trusting and relying on the Lord by making up this list.  They think (at least from what I can gather from their replies), that my standards are too high, especially to let God work in my life.

    But,  you see, I also see this list as a way to keep myself accountable.  If I know what I’m looking for in a husband, besides being a Christian, then I’m less likely to just give my heart away to just any guy.  I don’t think any of my standards are unreasonable.  There has yet to be any Biblical references against any of them (except Proverbs 3:5-6).

    I’m sorry if I sound like I’m whining and complaining.  I’m curious what you, my friends, think of my standards.  Do you think that they restrict my ability to trust in God and lean not on my own understanding?  Please post your comments!

    ~Tee-Kaye