Thursday, May 22, 2008

SBD Dauntless




I was so surprised when, for my birthday, one of my presents included a model airplane, The SBD Dauntless dive bomber. I had
wanted a model airplane since a week before when I discovered the model section in our local Ben Franklin and Michaels craft stores. The SBD Dauntless was an amazing airplane, used during WWII as the US Navy's primary carrier-based dive bomber. It was a especially recognized after the Battle of Midway where it sunk 4 Japanese aircraft-carriers the Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu. It was known to be able to absorb a lot of damage before it went down, for example after the battle of Coral Sea one SBD Dauntless returned from the battle with 200 holes in it's airframe! All and all it was a neat airplane. I am currently waiting to get the cement and paint I need to build it. I am so exited and my friends couldn't have picked a better model for my first try!
~Spencer

P.S. To learn more about the SBD Dauntless click here

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Happy Birthday Spencer


Today is Spencer's 12th birthday. He has been such a blessing to our family...and to me especially!
As brother and sister Spencer and I have always shared special opportunities together. I have so many fond memories of the games we used to play and make up together to entertain ourselves. As we grew older Spencer and I had so many things we always did together such as bible drill and just last year Spencer and I were able to be baptized together by Daddy. I am so glad that Spencer and I are not just brother and sister but we're brother and sister in Christ! A lot of the time we'll share the same thoughts, disappointment and excitements. (Although I have to say that I usually show my excitement more then he does.)
A great example of this is just last Sunday I was talking to a friend and she shared with me how she is reading through her bible in 90 days. She motivated me to do it and immediately I knew who would do it with me-yes, Spencer. He is always up to meeting a challenge with me!

Proverbs 27:17 says:
As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

As Spencer and I have gotten older our friendship has grown in Christ! I am looking so forward to seeing it grow even more in the future.
Thank you Spencer for being such a great brother to me! Keep being a shining light for Christ in the world of darkness. We love you so much! Happy birthday, I hope you have a great day!

Love,
Victoria

If anyone would like to say something special to Spencer on his birthday

Abort73


I have very recently realized what great opportunities t-shirts are to endorse something you like or support. I've always loved my Do Hard Things t-shirt but just a few weeks ago I found a website that is against abortion. Abort73 is a great website because it is a wonderful place where people can go to get informed about abortion. The slogans on the t shirts are usually "mysterious" and so is the name of the website. I mean, how many people know what Abort73 stands for? (click here to find out.)
They have a huge selection of t-shirts to choose from and so I ended up ordering one from the clearance section. Click here to see a close-up of my t-shirt and while your over there check out their other shirts. There are so many different ways to support Abort73 and spread a great message!
(Caution: There are some graphic images.)

-Victoria

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Spreading the Word




I just had to post this video after Dr. Orrick was telling the story behind it on several Sundays ago during church. He was using this video as an example of guerrilla evangelism in his sermon.
I don't remember if this is exactly how it went but I'll try to tell it as accurately as I can.
He told us how he first shared the video with one of his classes then someone from that class posted it on u tube. Now you can search for this video on the Internet and find it on a series of different websites. Surprisingly, Dr.Orrick wasn't aware of this until the Dean of Boyce college told him about it and how he had shared it with his class. Now everyone from this fellow Professors class has memorized it and was showing it to their friends. "This is a great example of guerrilla advertisement!" He told Dr. Orrick. But Dr. Orrick compared it to guerrilla evangelism.
In case you don't know what guerrilla evangelism is Dr. Orrick explained it this way to all of us, guerrilla evangelism is when the leader creates something (in his case) and then the people that he shared it with go out and spread it to their friends and it keeps being shared and takes on a life of it's own. During this time the leader has hardly done anything, all the publicity has been done by the followers.
I've seen this happen with so many different things. It's so wonderful to see different people within their own circle collaborating together and in the end completing something big together! The excitement of one person telling another person about something is contagious. How have you worked together with someone and completed something that was to large to do one your own?

-Victoria

Monday, May 12, 2008

Origins of Mother's Day

I thought it would be a good idea to on the day after Mother's Day to tell you a little history of how it originated. The only problem with that idea was I myself don't know anything about how it originated! So I went to the online wikipedia and here is what I found:

Different countries celebrate Mother's Day on various days of the year because the day has a number of different origins.

One school of thought claims this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods. This festival was held around the Vernal Equinox around Asia Minor and eventually in Rome itself from the Ides of March (15 March) to 18 March.

The ancient Romans also had another holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno, though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.

In some countries Mother's Day began not as a celebration for individual mothers but rather for Christians.

- Here I'm going to skip over the part about how it originated in England and Ireland and skip to how it originated in the U.S. but if you want to read the whole article click here.


The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In the United States, Mother's Day was loosely inspired by the British day and was imported by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War. However, it was intended as a call to unite women against war. In 1870, she wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation as a call for peace and disarmament. Howe failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace.

Her idea was influenced by Ann Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who, starting in 1858, had attempted to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days. She organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better sanitary conditions for both sides, and in 1868 she began work to reconcile Union and Confederate neighbors.

When Jarvis died in 1905, her daughter, named Anna Jarvis, started the crusade to found a memorial day for women. In 1907, she passed out 500 white carnations at her mother’s church, St. Andrew’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia—one for each mother in the congregation. The first Mother's Day service was celebrated on 10 May 1908, in the same church, where the elder Ann Jarvis had taught Sunday School. Anna chose Sunday to be Mother's Day because she intended the day to be commemorated and treated as a Holy Day. Later commercial and other exploitations of the use of Mother's Day infuriated Anna and she made her criticisms explicitly known throughout her time [2].

Originally the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church, the site of the original Mother's Day commemoration, where Anna handed out carnations, this building is now the International Mother's Day Shrine (a National Historic Landmark). From there, the custom caught on—spreading eventually to 46 states. The holiday was declared officially by some states beginning in 1912, beginning with West Virginia. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Nine years after the first official Mother's Day, commercialization of the U.S. holiday became so rampant that Anna Jarvis herself became a major opponent of what the holiday had become. Mother's Day continues to this day to be one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.

For example, according to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts — like spa treatments — and another $68 million on greeting cards [3].

Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the US jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008. Americans are expected to spend close to $3.51 billion in 2008 on dining out for Mother's Day, with brunch and dinner being the most popular dining out options [4].

-Spencer

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Happy Mother's Day!


This post is dedicated to my Mom. Mother's Day is a special day when our heart and minds are turned to our Mothers. I am so blessed to have the Mom that I have! Ever since I can remember she has encouraged me to share every hope, love, and passion with her. She is the first person I want to tell when something exciting or disappointing happens to me! I can just look around me when I'm outside my home and see how great my Mom is. She is a true example to me of selflessness, one example of this is that she chooses to homeschool me and my siblings. She teaches us herself and for that I am truly thankful! My Mom has taught me how to love the home and the small everyday things I do in the home. Now I truly enjoy being able to help her by taking on some of the chores that she has taught me how to do. So many times Mommy has kindly pointed out to me how I can do better in my Christian walk. Since she probably knows me better then anyone in my life right now she also knows my shortcomings better then anyone else. At the time I usually don't see her corrections as kind and helpful but as I look back through my life I can now see that I am a much better person because of my Mom and the insight that she has given me. I have seen my Mom interact with her friends and even people that just enter her life for a moment. One thing that has struck me is that she is always so encouraging and friendly! I consider it really stepping outside of my comfort zone to introduce myself to people and carry on a conversation with them so I love to watch how my Mom does it and imitate her. Thanks for being such a great example to me, Mommy! -Victoria

Mommy, I want you to know that I really appreciate all the sacrifices you have made to raise me into a godly man. You have always been there for me in my Christian walk and have, many a time, put me back on track when I have strayed. Though I might have not liked it then I now look back on it as a learning experience I would have been sorry to miss. Your grateful son, Spencer

I love my Mommy! She teaches me schoolwork and she reads to me.
-Andrew

We all hope you have a wonderful, happy Mother's day, Mommy! We love you lots! From, Victoria, Spencer and Andrew