Super Natural Everyday

Hey everyone,

I know I have been in a blogging slump for a while not really knowing what to post about since so much is going on and its hard to choose a topic to post about. I thought why not talk about something I enjoy, cooking and baking! :)

I have rediscovered the book Super Natural Everday Day by Heidi Swanson as I looked around the kitchen for some new ideas of what to eat for breakfasts and lunch. Today I made a favorite of mine from her book called the Open Face Egg salad sandwhich. I will share with you my version of this wonderful idea. When you have tons of eggs as we do right now they need to be used in the best ways possible and I believe that means, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, egg salad and much more. :)

My recipe for Egg Salad

6 brown eggs
2 tablespoons dried or fresh chives for color
1/2 mayo (homemade if desired)
1/2 teaspoon of salt

I boil my eggs for 10 minutes and then I put them immediately into a bowl of ice cold water. Then I let them sit for 10 more minutes to cool down. Then I peal my eggs carefully and then I rinse all the little tiny egg shell peices off of them. Then I mash the eggs in a bowl and add my mayo, chives, and salt. Sometimes I do not add salt depending on how it tastes.
I love to put my egg salad on a nice peice of whole wheat honey bread I have made or on crackers. Its even good on pita or by itself. Whatever you have on hand use it. Lots of recipes for egg salad add lots of different things I did not have, so I have concocted this version that is easy and with things I had on hand.

I also tried her really yummy millet whole wheat muffins last week and was pleasantly surprised. I can't share the recipe with you, but I will share photos. :)

I put them with yummy scrambled eggs done in my good old cast iron skillet and some purple grapes. My sister, mother and I loved them with butter on top. So if you want healthy cookbook that is also full of deliciousness get Heidi's book Super Natural Everday. I guess I sound like a commercial, but its so great. :)

Have a great rest of your Tuesday everyone!
In Christ,
Rebecca

Trip to Longwood Gardens

Hey everyone!  My sister and I and some friends of ours went to Longwood Gardens in PA about 2 weeks ago and we enjoyed ourselves despite the weather. It poured down rain for most of our time there, but we had fun indoors and out of doors. We danced in the rain and did lots of photos among all the laughter. It was a blessed time!

Pretty flowers and all of us will be in this post! :)

having fun smelling all the flowers and getting all of us organized for a photo. :)

Here is the whole gang! We went into the childrens gardens and we were all too tall except for My sister and two other friends below. I could not even stand up straight in there! :)

 

My favorite flowers that I saw there above! They were called Rose of sharon and I love that story! I remember my mom reading it to my sister and I when we were little. Its a great story! Here it is available on amazon, its great for all ages! Its called the Little Rose of Sharon though-http://www.amazon.com/Little-Rose-Sharon-Nan-Gurley/dp/0781430313/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1303840985&sr=8-2

Have a blessed tuesday! More photos coming tomorrow of my latest sewing endeavors! :)

In Christ,

Rebecca

Another song in the works

Hey everyone!

I thought I would share another song that I wrote recently over the weekend. I have been very encouraged while writing hymns based on Scripture as I know that this glorifies God and this is something He needs me to do only in His strength. I thought it would be great to post a song every couple days. When I first started this blog I thought it would be more about my music, but it turned out to be more of a sewing, cooking, and reenacting blog. Well those things are a big thing in my life, but music is also another huge thing in my life. Its my first love, the thing I have been doing since I could talk, singing. :) I also have been figuring the piano music with my mom on the piano. Its so awesome to see it going onto paper. Its taking a while though. I have been doing that to another song called Salvation Song. The song below is new and has not gone through that process yet, but I believe you all will still enjoy it.

I do not have a title yet, but the verses that I based it off of are 1 John 5:5 " For everyone who has been born of God, overcomes the world. And this is victory that has overcome the world, our faith."
I was reading that verse when I was going through my old journals on Saturday night when I was discouraged about a up and coming exam I have next tuesday the 5th. But then I realized everything is overcome by faith in Christ! I need to have faith that God will get me through all the studying that needs to happen. Hence, this song came into being when I realized once again how much I need Him. 


Praise the Lord all ye saints,
for He is good to us.
Even in hardships, He abides with us.


For He is steadfast in love,
and it endures forever more,
who can utter his mighty deeds?
or declare all his praise?

Blessed are the righteous,
who do justice, compassion, and care
for those who are needy
and weak in the flesh,
will be in the arms of the Lord.

Whoever is born of God,
overcomes the world
and this is victory all through Christ,
that by faith we overcome sin.


For His coming is at hand,
Watch out for your flesh,
be mindful of the enemy
and wash your hearts from all evil.

keep your life in Christ,
free from love of the world.
Do not love the ways of this world,
for it does not last.



Be content only in Christ,
not family, friends, or wealth
remember Christ died for us
and gives us an everlasting home.

For God says He loves us
He is the Lord of Lords,
He will never leave us,
forsake or abandon us.


By Rebecca Christ( well God really! :) )
(copyright 2011 Singing In His Name)

If you want to use the words please email me here, ra.stricker@gmail.com I would appreciate it if no one stole these words as they are precious to me and from the Lord. Please ask before using them. 

I used the following Scriptures for the verses. Verse 1-( Psalm 106:1 " Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!")

verse 2- Psalm 106:2-3 " Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all his praise? "


verse 3- Psalm 106:3 " Blessed are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!"

 verse 4-" 1 John 5:5" For everyone who has been born of God, overcomes the world. And this is victory that has overcome the world, our faith."

verse 5- " James 5: 7-8 " Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer wants for the precious fruit of the earth being patient about it, until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient, establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." 

verse 6- Jeremiah 4:14 " Oh Jerusalemn; wash your hearts from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?"


verse 7- Hebrews 13:5-6"keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for he said, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee."
verse 8- same verse above, Hebrews 13:6 

I hope all of you can be encouraged by these words, even if they are not recorded for you to hear being sung and played yet. I was reading about other hymn writers and I said to myself there are not that many good songs out there that are written directly from Scripture any more. The hymns of old are good, but its hard to find contemporary christian music that is not written from thin air instead of the Word. SO my goal is to write from the Word and not my thoughts. That way God can shine through. I would recommend the book called 101 Hymn Stories, its a great read because you can read about what the author of them hymns was going through spiritually that brought them to write the hymn. I pray the next generation would be able to to say of me that I was writing from the WORD as many before me have done.

here is the 
book-http://www.amazon.com/101-Hymn-Stories-Kenneth-Osbeck/dp/0825434165/ref=sr_1_26?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301404720&sr=1-26

Have a lovely Tuesday and may you be blessed as you commune with the Father today!


In Christ,
Rebecca

Sermons, Bible verses, and books goals

Hey everyone!

I am truly trying to spend less time in blog land and more time reading, listening to sermons, and memorizing the Word. Its really been great as I have learned so much more than I do reading blogs and tutorials about sewing and such all day. :) I love sewing and crocheting while listening to a sermon or audio book. I do this while reading books sometimes as well. Its great when the book is heavy because it will stay opened for you on its own. Otherwise I use another book to have my book opened while hand sewing or crocheting.

I never really listened to sermons on the computer before except when I missed a sermon at my own church. So I am listening to Scott Browns sermons on Romans from 2008. They have really been encouraging! You can listen to them for free here. I am always encouraged my Scott Browns teaching and I have enjoyed many of his books as well. I recommend Family Reformation: The legacy of Sola Scriptura in Calvin's Geneva, as well as A Church in the Home, and his audio CD about Gossip. You can buy them all from the Vision Forum store.

I also recommend my pastors sermons, which are also always convicting! Do have a listen on my churches website Grace Baptist Church sermons.

So I hope you all will join me listening to sermons regularly. Its been an encouragement to me this new year!

I finished Hinds Feet to High Places last night and its a great read! Its so inspiring and challenging. A few things I need to put into practice and I learned from this read was I need to give over everything in my life to the Lord. I need to remember I am not my own, I am the Lords temple. Therefore, I need to give over my desires that are of the flesh and let the Lord reform my desires to match His for my life.
I also need to as MuchAfraid (the main character) did become Acceptance with Joy. Every time something happens and the Lord wants me to do it and I don't want to I have to accept it with joy. Its so hard for me many a time to accept circumstances with joy. But the Lord is the only way I can accept my lot in this life with joy. When I remember the Cross I can be joyful because the Lord took my shame and my pain and died for my sins and He rose again and is now seated at the right hand of God. Praise God I can have acceptance with joy because of Jesus.

I also finished The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness by John MacArthur on Sunday. It was an amazing jounrney reading this because I have such a hard time forgiving others many a time as well all do. But one thing I found while finishing it up on Sunday was my pardon of sin from the Lord is not a hope of pardon. I am not hoping that I will be pardoned of my sins, I have assurance of my pardon! I can be absolutely sure of my pardon because Christ has done a work in me, He transformed me and has been molding me to be more and more in love with Him the Savior of my life. I died to sin and am now raised in to a new life. So realizing that I am not hoping for pardon from sin and I am pardoned really just struck me! Praise God for His grace and mercy on me a sinner.

Also while reading this, I realized I had to forgive a certain friend, not in front of that person, but in my heart. I had not truly forgiven this person for hurting me with their words, I had not forgiven her as Christ forgave me. So I urge you ladies! Don't become bitter and start to hate that person in your heart as I did. Love them and forgive them as Christ forgave you a wretched sinner who deserved no better than to be left wallowing in sin. Forgive that brother or sister with love and compassion because Christ did the same for you!

I am also wanting to memorize even more Scripture this month. Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 4 are on my list. Hopefully I can do it in the Lords strength. I will update my progress soon.

Oh and by the way my etsy store is set to open at the end of next week Lord willing. My dad has to help me set up the online store and such. So please be in your prayers for that.
Also my sister Bethany will be very absent from her blog this week as she is getting her wisdom teeth out this morning. If you remember please pray for her recovery to be fast and that she will not be in much pain. I get to play nurse and serve her smoothies and soup on a fun tray and watch movies with her. So I am not complaining. It will be nice for me. Hopefully somewhat fun for her too. :)

In Christ,
Rebecca

January Reading List 2011

Hey everyone!

I thought I would share what I reading this month, I have made my list of reading for all the way till July! Its so fun to do and hopefully I can read them all in on month!

1. I just finished is The Power and Freedom of Forgiveness by John MacArthur and its amazing! what a great one to read at such a good time in my life to read it! I really needed this as its so important for us to forgive others because Christ forgave us when He did not have to! All the more we should learn to forgive our brothers and sisters because first Christ forgave us. So it really should not be so hard to forgive, but for me it has been. I am still learning!

2. The second one I plan to finish tonight is Hinds Feet To High Places and I love it! Its such a beautiful allegory of the christian life. I have really been challenged to give my everything to the Lord. Even the little and even the big things in my life. Last night I read about how the main character named Much Afraid gave a sacrifice of loving a suitor. She gave to the Lord if she would ever get married! She gave up the one thing that since she was a little girl she probably wanted to be, a wife. ladies we need to do the same! Can you give up your dream of getting married to one man and be married to the Lord of Lords! I can! But its hard.

3. The third one Her Hands came Away Red, I am in the middle of reading and so far its been a good read. But I would not recommend this one for young readers. The 2 I mentioned above I recommend highly for all ages that can comprehend them. This one I recommend for ages 16 and older. Its about a gal who goes on a missions trip and really does not have a relationship with the Lord. But I am hoping that eventually she loves the Lord in the end. It is not about a gal who was homeschooled or really had a good relationship with her parents. But I used to be that girl and I can relate to her. So so far its been a great read.

4. The 4th one I bought thrifted and I still have not gotten very far. Its very slow going, but I am learning a lot about the Pilgrims and their journey to the new world(America). Its called The Plymouth Adventure. Now I am not very far in it, so I will have to share my thoughts about it after I have read more.

5. The 5th one is really good so far and I could not put it down! I love how this lady describes all areas of life to be an education. I love how she writes and its very encouraging in a world that does not call home the center of our lives and industry. Its called For the Family's Sake. Its practical and really paints a picture of how we can as sinners create a place in our home that glorifies our Lord.

6. I have yet to get very far in this one either. AbrahamLincoln is apart of the heros of history series and my family has most of them. I have never read one. So I am trying to change that. I don't really realize who Lincoln really was, some say he was a tyrannical ruler, some say he was the greatest president. Hopefully from this one and some other reads I can find out the story behind the man. Without him we would not have a United States! We would have a divided states, so I do not believe he was a bad president or a tyrant.

Well I hope you all are reading great reads too! And I would love to hear what your lists are for the new year too! Also if you have read any of these tell me what you thought about them.

In Christ,
Rebecca

Yes or No?!

I wanted to change my blog bacKground to something a little more simple than my last template. So here it is and I believe its easier to read and find things with a white bacKground, but what do my readers thinK?

let me Know!

Oh and I love this website for free audio booKs!!! Librovox its great to listen to any novel or other volume that you don't have and is in the public domain.

In Christ,
Rebecca

Thanksgiving is here and Christmas gift progress!

Hi everyone!
I know all of you are probably not blogging today or reading blogs, but its been a lazy morning for me besides getting some christmas gifts finished for friends. We have not even started baking or cooking our dinner, but the turkey is in the oven. Now to get to those pies, casseroles, and setting the table while listening to christmas music. I always look forward to thanksgiving I believe even more than christmas sometimes. Here is tutorial I used to do christmas gifts this morning with my tea cups I thrifted a while ago.

My sewing box, that a friend made for me last year. I love it! Its so handy to put all my needles, thread, and sizzors inside of!

The traditional tea cup pin cushion

 The gravy boat pin cushion, its not too big I don't believe. I love the way this photo turned out! And I don't do great pictures, our camera is awesome!

                                                                 The retro pin cushion

                                                            The whole clan all together

 What do I do to stay sane while I study for US History 1 clep exam I do my scarves while reading. I also started besides my civil war sontag above in lavendar a scarf for a friend out of this crazy yarn below. Its a lot prettier in real life of course! :) I also finished The Children of Cloverly, which is a great little story from the Lamplighter company. I would highly recommend it! all their stories are to inspire to be more and more as our Savior is! I was encouraged and loved reading it while knitting. I am in love with knitting now that I can actually do it thanks to God Almightly alone for helping me to get it! :)

I also read The Power and Freedom of Forgiveness last night by John MacArthur. I am still in awe of the Lord because He forgives us and died for us when we don't deserve anything! We are so sinful, yet He loves us even more than we could imagine! Have a happy day today and may you all realize and be in awe once again of God's gifts to us and especially the blessing of His Son who died to save us from our sins! God bless!

Rebecca

October and November Reading

hey all!

I have been doing a lot of reading as well as studying for clep exams. I have set of reading goals for each month until January to keep myself on track and always learning things other than my college studies. Right now I am reading the Children of Cloverly from the lamplighter book company! It is so encouraging and lovely little story. I am reading poems by Stockton, The Utmost for His Highest, The Power and Freedom of Forgiveness by MacArthur, Verses of Virture by Belle Philips, and lastly Pierced by the Word by John Piper. I am loving reading more often! During my school years in homeschool, I got to read a lot, but not as many books I chose, mostly books from my curriculumn, so its a treat to make a reading schedule for myself. :)

 I finished in the month of October, Already Gone by ken Ham, I highly, highly recommend this book! Its a must read for anyone who is apart of the universal church. I also read Family Reformation by Scott Brown, it was also amazing to read quotes by John Calvin and see where I agreed with him in regards to family reformation and where I defer in beliefs. I believe all the teachings and quotes were encouraging in this book, but one area I defer is child baptism. I believe in believers baptism where you are baptised after you have made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. So I believe we should not baptise children who can not make that decision or be convicted by the Lord as a infant.

And of course I am always reading the Word of the Lord. In October I finished the book of Deuteronomy and the book of Isaiah. Both books I had already read before, but I found a lot of new passages I want to memorize and really ponder through with the Lord after reading them again. The Bible can never be fully comprehended I believe! I am always learning something new or being challenged about something I had not read or thought about before from the Scriptures. Praise God for His Holy Spirit that can guide us in reading the Word of the Lord.

what have you been reading lately? Any particular favorite reads or convicting books?

In Christ,
Rebecca

I love our Nikon!

hey everyone!

We received our new nikon camera in the mail yesterday after much anticipation and depravity of a camera these past 2 months or so! I can't believe the quality pictures this camera takes! My old camera was a sony cyber shot and I loved it, but it was 4 years old and not the best. But it was great until it was lost. Now our family can do lots of photos and this camera is so much bigger than the old one we definately won't lose it!

I finished my civil war star quilt last month and now I can finally post pictures! We used it the last reenactment and I now am using it on my bed at home. I am so proud of it and I will be using it Lord willing till it wears out. Maybe even my grandchildren will get to use it. You see I want it to last for generations. These days people don't sew quilts, but I plan to sew many and pray they will hold memories for each new generation.

 Yes one of our cats named Oscor really loves the new quilt! :)

 Bethany has been teaching me how to knit and I am loving it! I don't know why I ever thought it was so scary or hard, but now I am knitting a knubia, which is a scarf for civil war reenacting for myself. Its made out of thread weight wool yarn I bought from a sulter at the Ceder Creek reenactment last weekend.

 The quilt! I am so excited to be able to share the finished product with you all! I am loving all the random scraps from dresses and other projects all in this quilt.

Every single start is quilted around the perimeter of each star and around the boarder of the quilt I quilted stars. It was a lot of fun and lots of time invested into this quilt, but it was well worth it. You can read about the construction of this quilt in these previous posts below. here and here and here are the older posts about how I started my quilt and what steps you have to do in order to complete a quilt by hand. It was so much fun and a great learning experience. And of course the scrap bin does not even seem as though a dent was made! :)

have a lovely rest of your day! I am off to cut out a baby quilt for a friend and start sewing the squares together, then its off to Joann to get some supplies for some modern clothing for my family.

In Christ,
Rebecca

Shocking quote?!, well not really :)

Hi everyone,

Yes I know my blog has been pretty still between posts I have done about living history events and family trips, but I have been quite busy with college, family, realizing that blogging is not first priority and getting ready for another reenactment this friday as well as learning to drive. So yes I have been quite busy.

I came across this quote below today while re-reading Verses of Virtue by Elizabeth Beall Phillips. A friend of mine was reading it and did not understand what some of the quotes and poetry meant. So I wanted to re-read it so I could explain to her some of the quotes and poetry. This young lady I am not sure knows very much about femininism or what Biblical womanhood is all about. So I wanted to be able to give her my opinion of the book properly by reading it again. I also was reading Alyssa's blog post about feminism and it reminded me of the quote I read today below.

But I came across this strong quote below that I did not expect. Queen Victoria I never knew was against feminism, but in the new movie about called The Young Victoria she seems to go from relying on herself to being her husbands helpmate. So thats encouraging. This quote determined my opinion of her as being a woman again "womens rights".

photo credit

"I am most anxious to enlist everyone who can speak or write to join in checking this mad, wicked folly of "Women's Rights," with all its attending horrors, on which her poor feeble sex is bent, forgetting every sense of womanly feelings and propriety. Feminists ought to get a good whipping. Were woman to "unsex" themselves by claiming equality with men, they would become the most hateful, heathen and disgusting of beings and would surely perish without male protection.
I love peace and quiet, I hate politics and turmoil. We women are not made for governing, and if we are good women, we must dislike these masculine occupations." -Queen Victoria, 1870 from the book Verses of Virtue by Bealle Philips

Now just to make my opinion very clear. I do not want to slap anybody in the face and I would not go about expressing my opinion on the subject of womens roles in society and the church in the way Queen Victoria did, but I agree with her. If you asked in the comments section or in real life I would be very clear, but I would not say you must believe what I believe or all feminists should be whipped for their opinions. Frankly, all of us have fallen short of the glory of God and sinned despite our opinions on womens rights we are all sinners. Therefore I should have been killed for my sins just like any other human being on this earth, but Jesus died for all of us instead.


We can see though in Scripture that the woman will have a desire to be in the role that her husband or men are in after the fall. " Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you." Genesis 3:16. The Lord said this to the women, so me this is the first instance in history where the women as we can see would have a desire for a feminist mind set and not a godly mindset for her role in serving the Lord.

So that said, I believe that women have different roles in life and the church from men. I believe that women are not made to govern, I believe its between every father and daughter, and every husband and wife as to if the women in a family should vote or express their opinions in politics in that way. I myself do vote and I vote for whom my father is voting for to respect him. This is what my family does, I am not saying you must do what I do. But from what the Bible says and what God has told me I am abiding by His Word that women are different from men, but under God we are both sinners in need of Him as our Savior. Therefore both men and women have equal rights under God. One is not better than the other in Gods eyes. So we both can have communion with our Savior and serve Him, but we serve the Lord in different ways. I believe that men should be the pastors, elders and deacons in churches because this is a representation of the Gospel message. It represents Christ and how He sacrificed Himself for the church. This analogy sums up for me womens roles in the church and society.

Also do go and read Isaiah chapters 3 and 4 if you want to see prophesy about feminism and how it would become what it is starting to look in the 21st century all around the world. It really suprised me and I am not sure why when I realized what these two passages in the Word were about. It should not though as the Lords Word is our guide for our lives and He addresses everything we need to be able to see His Truth, even feminism and womens roles.

So this is a topic I have not expressed about before on this blog, but I felt it was a topic that is really needed to be discussed on my blog. I want to start blogging more about controversial topics and the Bible even more. I still do not have a camera, so I felt that after discussing it with my sister and good friend and other people and reading the Word about it I would post my opinion. Again this is my opinion and if you believe differently you can express that. I am not pushing anyone to believe what I believe, just sharing what the Lord has shown me in my study of the Scriptures and societys views on womens roles.

On a lighter note these verses from Philippians have really encouraged me this past week through some tough days.
" Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice, Let your reasonableness be made known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:4-7

The Lord is guarding my heart even though its been attacked and I am at peace because the Lord how knows all and surpasses all understanding is the Lord of my life. He is my sercurity and my strong hold in times of trouble. He is the way to go through this life. Praise the Lord for His comfort and peace!

May God bless you all and I pray you all would comment and express your opinions on womens roles in the Church and society. What has the Lord revealed to you about your role and how to serve Him?

In Christ,
Rebecca

The star quilt boarder progress

Hello everyone! I started a start quilt last June and posted the progress of the basting of the quilt here.

I started the boarder of my quilt while watching Bleak House with my mother and sister. Its a great movie by the way based off of Dickens novel. I wanted to share what progress I have made. I finished all the middle, which is all the squares with stars being hand quilted in July. But I started saturday quilting the boarder. I made a stencil shaped to the exact dimensions of the stars in the squares of the quilt. I used the stencil as my template for tracing with pencil to quilt the star shape all the way around the boarder. Here is my progress of only three in the corner. But you can see what I have been up to this way. I will post a picture of it finished soon.

The corner above where I have stitching.
You can see one star above done.



All three of the stars in the corner above. It took me a little over half of the whole 5 episodes of the movie to do. I guess about an hour and a half. I love quilting. I used to hate it, but now I enjoy having my hands do something during movies or chatting with friends.

Below my little place to read each evening in bed and quilt as well. I have finished Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss, When You Rise Up by R.C Sproul Jr. (its about homeschooling and why its a great thing to do as Christians), John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God by John Piper( would recommend this one because it tells you about calvins life and about the misunderstanding some have of this theologian.), A City On A Hill by Ryken,

and Persuasion by Jane Austen, as well as starting lots of new books. I read all of these over July and beginnging of August. For me this is a lot of reading. I have recently been reading The Utmost for His Highest and love it! It was a graduation gift from wonderful friends. I have also been reading Set-Apart femininity by Lesley Ludy and it was also a gift for graduation. I also have been reading Already Gone by ken Ham and its really interesting. Its statistics about why young people are leaving the church and ways to stop this from happening in the next generation. I am also still reading my favorite books to read to for fun Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I am also finishing up The reasonableness of Christianity by John Locke. Its quite interesting. I got to see an original copy of this work in its originial form in the Library of Congress two weeks ago. As well as many of other originals such as Jeffersons library, some of his first drafts of the declaration. Some of John Adams journals. It was amazing!

I love reading and I have more time this summer in between things. Hopefully I can still read once school starts mid september. Oh and I am excited as I got my first email from my college plus mentor yesterday! The Lord is bringing it all together for my schooling for this new year. I am scared and excited!

God bless,

Rebecca

Pictures of my life

Hey everyone!

So today I thought I would post some pictures of things around me right now. I had the idea to post a picture of my room in its state before I had cleaned it this evening. Its sort of embarressing, but you can see that I don't always have a clean space. :) My friend Madeline posted a picture of her room untidy. But I believe that her untidy room was much tidier than mine! :) You can judge!

first off!! This is the part of my room I have tidied today and yesterday! I received about 6 new books from friends on the occasion of graduation. I also bought about 15 new books, which are scattered on my bed side table and this shelf. I am so glad of being able to find things! I organized my theology/christian books together, as well as childrens books on the top shelf and and novels. Praise God for organization! Don't worry I have put away all that laundry on the bed and made my bed. I also put my purse on the hook in my closet where my purses go and underneath the purse is my new garment bag for civil war living history! A friend of mine made that bag for me as a grad gift! She is so sweet! I love it! All my gowns will not get wrinkled, smushed, or dirty again! Usually things get on top of them in our trailer when we go to events. Not anymore! hehe And underneath that are some civil war quilts, one done and one in the process. :)

My computer area, dresser and such. Yes its a little messy, but organized. And that basket that is overflowing in the corner are all the sewing projects! Lots of them!

And to top it off the whole mess! I will be posting an after picture tomorrow. I have to clean my room almost every day because of explosions such as this! I am a very clean person and I do clean my room daily after use and before I work on big projects. Cleaning and organizing is a type of calming and destressing tool for me believe it or not! One of my favorite destressing tools is cleaning and scrubbing the bathroom or vacuuming! love them both!
I thought I would also share with you all an outfit I wore last sunday! Its a sweater from england and a dress given to me as a hand-me-down from my sister. And I got new sun glasses! I have never worn glasses this big before! what do you think? I also have bought the best pair of sandals I have ever owned. they are fancy, comfortable for walking all over williamsburg, and casual enough for every day use and goes with most outfits. A+ in my opinion! yes they are gladiator sandals or Bible sandals as a friend of mine calls them! :)
Sweaters are always great! My mom even french braided my hair! I want her to teach me sometime! I need to learn to do it myself. Its on my list!

These sandals are so comfy and I love them! not the best pictures, but it will have to do.

I wanted to share with you all my current reading! I have this whole stack of books on my night stand. I love to read! I have not had as much time! But I have been reading each evening before bed as much as I can! I am loving the new one I bought at the HEAV convention called Ten girls who did not give in! Its so encouraging to read about girls/young women who gave their lives for their savior! It makes me remember to die to self and live for Christ more and more!

Of course Little women is a must! I love it! I am reading it for the second time! Its a book that comforts me. I am reading both Stepping Heavenward and Before you meet prince charming for the second time on both. I read them when I was 13 or 14 and now at 19 I am reading them again. I am also reading 4 new ones to me. I am 3 chapters away from finishing Persuasion and City On A Hill is wonderful so far! I am about half done. When You Rise Up by R.C. Sproul is so uplifting and The Screwtape letters and wonderful as usual by C.S. Lewis. My dad read The Screwtape letters to our family years ago and I am being challenged by the Lord once again by them.

And of course, the book I am always reading is the Bible. I am currently reading James, Proverbs, and Numbers. I always read the psalms or proverbs along with one from the new and old testament. It really helps me see how the old links to the new testament with the prophesies of Jesus our Savior. How wonderful to have the WOrd to read daily!

God bless everyone and have a lovely saturday tomorrow and Sabbath on sunday!

In Christ,

Rebecca

Life and findings update

Hey everyone!


Yes I am alive! hehe
Well anywho I have had a lovely weekend and have had an interesting start to my week. Yes I am not elaborating all the happenings around here. But just for fun here is a book that I found when I went to a library book sale at the library in Purcellville, VA with my family and dear friend Ivis on saturday. I was shocked and squealed with delight when I found it and the lady said I could have it for only $20.00! But it was originally going for 50!!!! So I was happy and said you never come across books this old usually and I have saved so much money on books in the past by getting them used, from the library, and from friends. So I justified the purchase! :)

Without further or due here is my volume of poetry from 1861!!!!!!! Yes you read that right 1861 is the public date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought the embossing was amazing!!!!

It also has great poems in it! Yes its a volume of christian poems that the author wrote throughout his life! His name you might be wondering is, Thomas H. Stockton.

I thought that all the illustrations were beautiful and you may be wondering who drew them. Well guess what he was an artist too!!!! I am just amazed at his work!!!!!!

WOW what a concept!!! he even has sections in his little volume by categories, such as the Bible!!! Its quite wonderful to me!

Another adorable illustration of two children climbing a fence with their dog. Maybe they are going home to dinner!
Horses and their masters in a barn. Its quite better in person. Yep just drop by if you want to see this little volume. :)

Now that was just amazing and I can still get over it! I will post a poem from this little volume at the end of the post. Sorry this is going to be long!



My outfit I wore this morning. I love this jumper my sister made for me for christmas last year. I also wore my favorite white blouse that I wear with just about everything.

Yes I changed my cloths, because I did not want to dirty them, so I wore my lovely vintage 1950's house dress. Yes this is about 60 years old and I wear it! It should probably be in a museum or in a box. :) I love it anyway! and it has great pockets for everything as well as embroidery on the pockets and sleeves. You can see a detail below. I believe I bought it off of etsy from this and it was only $20.00! I bought it about 3 years ago when I started wearing dresses for the first time since I was a girl every day.

I just love it! I believe it was hand-made by someone in their home, not from a store as it has no tag and raw seams on the inside and it appears to have hand-stitching.

Oh and just for fun this photo is of a harpsichord my sister and I saw in the Victoria and Albert museum in England last fall when we went on the England costuming tour with Jennie Chancey. You can see her website on my side bar. I just love this harpsicord!!! Wish I had one! This one belonged to Queen Victoria! It amazed me! I have been going through photos from the trip for my mother so she can print them and do scrapbooks for my sister and I's graduation June 22nd. Here are two of my favorite dresses from the V&A exhibit.

Yes this gown is a bustle and I love it! The bustle gowns have always fascinated me! I have always wanted one! Beth says maybe someday she will sew me one! Please dearest Beth! :)

And my other all time favorite era I have never worn, the 1830's I believe. I just love the sleeves and the shevron bodice!!! I love the textile as well! I am a sucker for these two eras and just love the big sleeves and big skirts, another reason I love the civil war as you can have huge cages and lots of petticoats russling! Its wonderful!

And to finish off this post here is my sister and I in one of our grad pictures. Yes we did wear modern dress and skirt combos instead of 1860's or regency attire. We thought it was more real and would be better to relate to our friends and family and show our real personalities. We wanted to wear clothing we wear all the time.

Our dear friend Lindsey W. took our pictures at a park by our house called Meadowlark gardens and I will be posting more of the pictures sometime soon. Its been really busy! We are actually leaving tomorrow Beth and I to go and visit some friends and sew until sunday and watch movies and have a grand time! The poem by Thomas H. Stockton

The True Refuge

"Thy goodness is my refuge, Lord!
Here let me ever rest:

I feel the Spirit of Thy Word-
Thou willest what is best!

Thy knowledge is my refuge, Lord!

Here let me ever rest:
I feel thy Spirit of Thy word--
Thou knowest what is best!

Thy Wisdom is my refuge Lord!

Here let me ever rest;
I feel the Spirit of Thy word--
Thou choosest what is best!

Thy Power completes my refuge Lord!
Here let me ever rest:

I feel the Spirit of thy word--
Thou doest what is best!

Thou art Perfect Refuge, Lord!

Here let creation rest;
Charm'd by the Spirit of Thy word--
God's ways are always best!"

Amen! Let us ever rest in the love and power of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Have a lovely week everyone and may God bless you as you rest in Him!

In Christ,

Rebecca

Oh and btw the photo for our graduation was taken by my dear friend Lindsey W. and is her own work. We love her photography, but I ask that no one uses it without my permission or Lindseys. Thank you so much!