We Built a Town!

Putting together "town":

The finished product, after much frosting, decorating, and the like:
Hayley's house, Mothers Mercantile, and the tree is done by Nahla, who was spending the afternoon at our house:

My house, Caitlin's log cabin, and yes, those rocks are edible, chocolate, in fact:


And this deserved a picture all to itself, Laurels church, you can tell she is the artist in the family:
It is always so much fun to do this. I hope it inspires you! (Translated: Go make a gingerbread house, and post about it!)
Merry CHRISTmas,

Jillian

Horizons

Broaden your horizon and look to the distance.

Even when storms are coming, the path will go through them.

It is straight even when going uphill, so don't look down.

God has a glorious kingdom, and it is waiting on the horizon.

As you walk through your day don't forget the big picture that God sees.

Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning; Thou has the dew of Thy youth.

Psalm 110:3

The dumbest thing I've done

Yep, thought the title would attract your attention. If I had entitled it "Winter is here" or "The return of Snow", you probably would not have bothered reading it. I just wanted to say That winter is here to stay for us, and right now I am quite happy with it. I also just wanted to let you know that we are alive. ;)
In Christ,
Jillian

A Word

"Before Action"

By all the glories of the day

And the cool evening's benison,

By that last sunset touch that lay

Upon the hills where day was done,

By beauty lavishly outpoured

And blessings carelessly received,

By all the days that I have lived

Make me a solider, Lord.

By all of man's hopes and fears,

And all the wonders poets sing,

The laughter of unclouded years,

And every sad and lovely thing;

By the romantic ages stored

With high endeavor that was his,

By all his mad catastrophes

Make me a man, O Lord.

I, that on my familiar hill

Saw with uncomprehending eyes

A hundred of Thy sunsets spill

Their fresh and sanguine sacrifice,

Ere the sun swings his noonday sword

Must say goodbye to all of this;

--By all delights that I shall miss,

Help me to die, O Lord.

~W. N. Hodgson~

This poem was written by a soldier in World War 1. As Christians who daily are in a spiritual battle it is a faithful saying and encouraging reminder not to shrink from the tasks which we know are ahead. God will give us the strength for the battle.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might...Stand firm."

Ephesians 6

Caitlin

Our New Header!

We took some pictures today and decided this one would make a neat header. Comment and tell us how you like it, or if we should do something else. thanks! I will try to post something more tomorrow. Also:

Hayley is extending her story contest indefinitely until she gets more entries. Try to enter if you can!

In Christ,
Jillian

Awards Galore!

There are so many awards, so I decided to post them all .I do have some rules about awarding . Scroll down near bottom of this post to see them.

From Nahla. For this one, I award just Eldarwen, since she does not have this one yet:
From Eldarwen:

From Eldarwen Again. I give this one to Megan and Laurel:


This is from Eldarwen as well:

The rest of these are from Eldarwen, but she did not award me specifically with them:

This one is for people who hate the Twilight series:


I love this one.

if I have not awarded you already, you may take one award and only one for yourself, and comment to tell me that you are taking it. Thanks!
I would like to take the time to tell you about Eldarwens giveaway that she is having:


Click on the picture to get there.
In Christ Alone,
Jillian

Holiday Spirit

The season before us is... the holidays. The time of hectic shopping, frantic baking, and desperate wrapping of gifts and checking lists. But only if your focus is on the here and now. In Scripture the holy days were times of feasts and remembering the blessings of God in peoples lives. Christians ought to keep the same perspective before them for their holidays. So here are some of the things I am trying to cultivate for a true holiday spirit.

The first big holiday before us is Thanksgiving. This celebrates a harvest stored to see us through winter, the fact that God has protected us from famine and disease in the work of the summer months and that He has prepared the days ahead for us.

So the first seeds I must cultivate in my garden of holiday spirit is thankfulness.
This means to be grateful for all I have been given, a humble attitude that recognizes I can do nothing for myself. The next holy day ahead is the celebration of Christmas. Christ Jesus, God becomes human flesh that we may understand that He knows all parts of human nature. This God we touch, feel, and know sympathizes yet does His work entirely for us.

The true holiday spirit is one of joy. A cheerful demeanor, a pleasant smile, a ready and kind word, all given with overflowing generosity. Such joy, so ready to make others joyful and share in others happiness. The great gift which I have been given reminds me to share its' bounteous treasure with all others.

Following hard on the heels of one joy is another festive day, New Years. Leaving behind the days that mark one circle around the sun, we begin the cycle again. Many contemplate the past year and make plans and goals for the one ahead.

As I look over the past year I can see God's faithfulness to me, and this gives me a spirit of praise. I desire to give credit where credit is due, honor to whom honor is due, and readily give praise to God the Spirit for His intervention on my behalf. Who knows what would happen to any of us were it not for the new mercies of every morning.

So my holiday spirit is in place, and by the grace of God I shall apply it everyday, content with His lovingkindness to sustain me.

I Love This...

"A woman's heart should be so lost in God,
that a man must seek Him in order to find her."

I found this such a great reminder to me.
Isn't it wonderful? Bye for now,
In Christ alone,

Jillian

Movies: Again

For Discussions Abound we will be talking about movies just as in this post that I did a few weeks ago. This time I will be focusing on just one movie, you guessed, it's one from a Charles Dickens Novel! :)
This one is called Little Dorrit,it is a lot like Bleak House with a mystery and all that. Well, it is a mystery, one that kept us all confused till the end.

.

Little Dorrit was born in a debtors prison, and the story starts when she is 21. She is allowed out of prison in the day time, and goes out to look for work to pay for daily survival for her and her father, who is not allowed out of prison. A mysterious lady finds out about her and hires her part time to sew.

But this lady has a secret to do with Little Dorrit.

And sweet "little" Amy Dorrit did not know a thing.

The mystery lady's son, Andrew, fresh back from several years in China, feels
compelled to help the Dorrits. But he has no idea about the secret either.

(I couldn't find any good pictures of him, this one
does not do him justice at all.)His father died in China, and left him
an odd clue that there is even a secret in the first place, a gold watch with
a compartment in the back that
holds a little piece of fabric that says: Do not forget.
Of course, there is a villain, and he is nasty.


Believe me when I say he is the worst villain I have ever seen. And
that is pretty bad. At least I can say he did a good job at acting his part ( this is
the guy who plays Gollum from the Lord of the Rings. Weird, isn't it?)
In the end it plays out an amazing unfolding of secrets with multiple
characters that I have not introduced. Aside from Little Dorrit and Andrew,
my favorite character is good old (rather young) faithful John.
He is so nice! I could only find this tiny picture of him though:


It makes his ears stick out.
A fantastic 7 1/2 hour mini series, we all loved this one, but it is kind of dark
and sometimes gory, the youngest had to close her eyes a couple
of times. It is rather graphic, so I would not recommend for 12 and under.
Well, that is all, so I hope you enjoy this and see the movie soon!
In Christ,
Jillian

Awards

I have been awarded three times! Thank you so much for this, Eladarwen!I really like this picture, its very pretty indeed. :)
This award comes with a little tag:

Rules:
1. Do a post about the person who awarded you, and their blog.
2. Give the award to 5 of your favorite blogs, give a reason, and leave a comment telling them they have been awarded.
3. Answer the 10 random questions.
4. Have Fun!

1. Have you ever ridden an elephant?

No

2. Have you ever eaten squid?

Ugg.No

3. What is something crazy you have done with your best friend?

Never mind ;)

5. Have you ever let a snake slither through your fingers?

yes

6. What is your first and foremost dream in life?

To get married and have children

7. What is your dream vacation?

My honeymoon:)

8. What is the funniest movie you have ever seen?

UP, but that's just the first thing that popped off the top of my head

9. What is your favorite song?

I have no idea...I like a lot of music.

10. If you could change the world in one way, what would you do?

Have every one become a Christian

Next, here is an award from Nahla. I really like it, I'm so glad you gave it to me!

Okay, The next award is from Eldarwen again, thank you so much....again.:)

I will now award:

Hannah, I really like your blog, I also award you with the Emma Award , and the Friend in Christ award under that. I'm giving you all three. I really like seeing your blog filled with humor and fun, it is really neat. I hope you like these Awards!

Next I award Megan with the favorite blog award above. Its just so sweet and fun to visit,I really like it, and you, as my friend. Sorry I'm not linking to anybody, but that's a lot of links to do!

Laurel, I know you already have one of these but I thought I would give them to you anyway. Your blog is so cool!

Next I give Auburn all three of these awards, I really like your blog. I will link to you so that maybe you can get more visitors. :)

Last but not least I award Taylor with the favorite blog award. Keep up the awesome blogging!

Just to let you know Hayley is extending the dead line for her contest. It is now going to end on November 25Th, she hopes to get some more entry's so that it can be a real contest.

In Christ,

Jillian

Discussions Abound

I'm really sorry that I missed the last two Discussions Abound sessions. I actually have them all written out, but they are just in our draft folder, I have not posted them yet.
This week it is about friendship, I have to go somewhere in 15 minutes so this will be really short. My fingers are typing really fast. :)
I decided to focus this week on something called two faced friends, if you get what I mean by that. I have had a few problems in the past with friends who pretend to be friends but really, they don't want to be around me. I was hurt very much by that, so I would advise never doing it, I'm trying not to sound bossy at all. I have also been a two faced person to a girl who needed a friend, but I really did not like her at all, so I pretended to be nice, and I even called us best friends.

She was so happy.

I was so miserable.

It was really hard going to her afterwards and telling her the truth. She cried, I cried, but I knew I had to do it for her. This was when I was ten or eleven, and I'll try not to do it again. But there are going to be people out there who you will not like. And it will be hard.
I have to get a couple things done before I leave, sorry it was so short. I will post about my awards soon.
In Christ,

Jillian

Character Tag

List twelve fictional characters that you love from any book or movie, and then answer the following questions.

Not all are in order of favorites. :) I would put Jesus and God down as one but that would not work very well for some of the questions.

1. Sarah( Seven sleepers series)
2. Arwen (LOTR)

3.Theodan

4. Evelyn (The Mummy)

5. Galadriel (LOTR)

6Evangeline

7.Peter

8.Susan
9.Lucy

10.Edmund

11.Aslan
12.Duncan


1. Who would make a better college prof, 6 or 11?
Evangeline from Nanny Mcphee or Aslan. They both would do pretty good



2. 12 sends 8 out on a mission. What is it? Does it succeed?
Duncan sends out Susan to herd the sheep. Susan comes back with a crazy story about being gone for years in a magical land she found.;)

3. What is or would be 9's favorite book?

The Chronicles of Narnia

4. For some reason, 5 is looking for a roommate. Should (s)he share a studio apartment with 9 or 10?
Galadreil should share with Lucy, not Edmund!

5. 2, 7, and 12 have dinner together. Where do they go, and what do they discuss?
They go to McDonald's to discuss boycotting the restaurant or just plain slaughtering it all. After, all, it was probably the white which or The evil eye of Sauron that invented it

6. 3 challenges 10 to a duel. What happens?
Theodan beats Edmund after a lengthy fight

7. If 1 stole 8's most precious possession, how would she/he get it back?
They would have really mean argument and give each other the cold shoulder, but Sarah feels bad so gives it back to Susan with an apology.

8. Suggest a title for a story in which 7 and 12 both attain what they most desire.
TwoTeens

9. What kind of plot device would you use if you wanted 4 and 1 to work together?
I'd just put them in a room for few hours to get to know each other

10. If 7 were to visit you for the weekend, how would you get along?

It would be awkward, but we would get through it. The thing is stuck on bold. I hate that

11. If you could command 3 to perform any one task or service for you, what would it be?
To teach me how to sword fight.


12. Does anyone on your friends list write or draw 11?
No



13. If 2 had to choose sides between 4 and 5, which would it be?
Galadreil, no doubt about it


14. What might 10 shout while charging into battle?
For Narnia, And for Aslan!



15. If you chose a song to represent 8, which song would you choose?
Wunderkind



16. 1, 6, and 12 are having dim sum at a Chinese restaurant. There is only one scallion pancake left, and they all reach for it at the same time. Who gets to eat it?
They would all apologize and tell each other they can have it.It would sit there getting cold until they decide to split it into three


17. What might be a good pick-up line for 2 to use on 10?
None at all



18. What would 5 most likely be arrested for?
Being way to pretty


19. What is 6's secret?
She is in love with whats his name



20. If 11 and 9 were racing to a destination, who would get there first?
Aslan




21. If you had to walk home through a bad neighborhood late at night, would you feel safer in the company of 7 or 8?
Peter


1(Sarah) and 9(Lucy) reluctantly team up to save the world from the threat posed by 4's(Evelyn's) sinister secret organization. 11(Aslan) volunteers to help them,but it is later discovered that she/he is actually a spy for 4 (Evelyn). Meanwhile, 4(Evelyn) has kidnapped 12(Duncan) in an attempt to force their surrender. Following the wise advice of 5(Galadreil ), they seek out 3(Theodan) , who gives them what they need to complete their quest. What title would you give this fiction?
Frazzle and Confuzzle.

Well, sorry it took me so long to do it Nahla. I've been thinking about doing a Lord of the Rings Trivia quiz on here for Fun. What do you Think?Be sure to do the poll on our sidebar as well. I would also like to remind you that the contest ends this Sunday. Scroll down a little to see the full results. See you later!
In Christ,

Jillian

Bonjour

Good Morning to you all! I hope I was not the only one up with the sun this morning. Actually before the sun, since he comes much later. I took some pics of the sunrise this morning only catching the tail end of the colors. I always enjoy watching the color-filled sky in the early morning. Sunsets as well. I cannot decide which I enjoy more.





He who binds to himself a joy
Doth the winged life destroy.
He who kisses the joy as it flies,
Lives in eternity's sunrise.
~William Blake~



If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Thy hand will lead me, and Thy right hand will lay hold of me.
~Psalm 139:9,10~



May radiant joy shine thru your life.
May fruitful bounty grow.
May you feel the pleasure of Gods' smile
When you sit before His throne.

When your patience seems exhausted
May you still go on your way.
When your world falls down about you
Make faith in Christ your stay.

In your service for His Kingdom
May you be full of cheer and love.
Work with others all around you
Toward the kingdom that's above.
~Caitlin Carstensen~




O Lord, our Lord, how majestic it Thy name in all the earth.
~Psalm 8:9~

A Contest Of My Own!

This contest is were you have to write a short story. No more than 600 words if you can. If you have 610 then that counts. You can choose the theme of the story. Write the story, post it on your blog and I will read it and post the winner. Yes, there will be a prize. Comment on this post if you are going to enter. The due date is November 15th.

Have a good Reformation day!

Hayley

The Tag (And more)

I just realized our computer will not allow me to post the movie trivia award that Nahla gave me. Sorry!

And this is a long overdue tag that somebody tagged me with, Here I go:
Rules
1.Do it as soon as you can
2. Have fun
3. Pass it on


1. What is your favorite childhood memory?
I don't really have one. I liked this past summer though.



2. What is your favorite junk food?
Pizza



3. When is your birthday?
October 15, 1994



4. Do you like to sing in public?
Sometimes, if I'm with a choir



5. What is your favorite time of day?
When ever I'm happy



6. Do you have an active brain?
I would have to say yes



7. Do you like sports?
No. I like badmitton though



8. When was the last time you danced (any kind)?
A Looooooooooonnnggg time ago


9. Have you ever made a 7 course meal?
No, but I helped serve a 5 course meal a couple weeks ago at a fancy dinner



10. Are you a shy person?
Yes, but more quiet than shy



11. Do you like to wrestle?
Not really, unless its rolling around on the grass with our dog



12. What is your favorite past-time?
Listening to my Mp3, reading, watching movies, being with friends or by myself



13. Do you want to live in the country or city?
COUNTRY



14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A wife and a mother, maybe with nursing on the side, I dunno



15. Are you getting tired of this tag?
Not really



16. Are you an aunt/uncle?
Sadly, no, but I want to



17. What are you most thankful for?
My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ



18. Are you happy this tag has only two more questions?
Yes and no



19. What is your favorite website?
Every blog that follows me and that I follow, as well as some of the blogs Laurel follows

20. Did you enjoy this tag?
yes



I tag any body who comments and says that they want to be tagged

OK, now I would like to tell everybody that I will be banning myself from the Internet until this Saturday, as I feel like I have been spending to much time on here and not concentrating on other things like I should be. Thus, unless my sisters post, this I will not be commenting or responding to any comments. (You can still comment though, I'll check it on Saturday =)
That's it for now.
,
In Christ,

Jillian Faith Carstensen.

Diccusions Abound: Movies

Well, its time for the next discussions abound, and movies were voted on. I picked three, as I could not decide between them all. I would have done more but I fear I would bore you. I hope you enjoy this:

I'll start with one of my all time favorites, the Charles Dickens novel BLEAK HOUSE. An 8 hour long film, it was not put in theaters, but was made for TV.

With a multitude of Characters, deaths, and love stories, this movie will keep you watching until you've got the mystery solved.

BBC did a wonderful job at making this movie intriguing, with different camera views that you would never expect. That's basically what it is...the unexpected. It is not rated, being made for TV, and is rather dark all the way through, with some disturbing images to those who are 10 and under. Over all it is not very scary, although the unknown may give you the creeps. :) I really recommend this one.

Yea, I know, big difference of movie styles, isn't it? =)
Hood winked is a fun twist on the original story of little red riding hood. Although rather dumb at some parts, it oddly has a good message about the different sides of a story and different perspectives. It also has some parts in it that just hits my type of humor, especially the wolf in it.
If your not into animated movies, then don't watch it, but if your feeling ready and willing, give it a go! ;)

Anne Hathaway plays Little Reds voice, and although I'm not a fan of hers, she does a good job at it, and I've seen her in a couple other good movies.



Last but Definitely not least, Amazing Grace is the story of William Wilberforce and his long battle in court over the slave trade:

He fought for so long and finally won, although actual slave labor was not abolished for a long time, and there are still slaves in third world countries today, sadly. This movies brings laughter and tears, and is a great history lesson.

Romola Garai plays his lovely wife, and this picture does not quite do her justice, but oh well. I have see her in other movies and enjoyed her humor and style, and although naturally her hair color is blond, I think the red hair gives her some character. ;-) This is a must see, although dark as well, has images of what happened to the slaves, would not recommend for the younger group.
I will post my tags and award on Monday, just to let you know.
Here are others that have posted about it so far:
Eldarwen
Nahla (Or at least I think she will)
The others have not done it yet.
In Christ,
Jillian