Quote of the Week

"We never know we go-
when we are going
We jest and shut the door;
Fate following behind us bolts it,
And we accost no more."

-Emily Dickens

-Victoria

That is Dying to Self

Did you ever notice that it seems like the messages that you needed to hear just drops in your lap at the right time. Like me, you might not even realize that you needed to hear that but then you read it or hear it and it hits you square in the face with truth and meaning. Just recently I was over at agenttimonline.com and he had posted an article. This wasn't the first time Agent Tim had posted this article or I had read it. A little over a year ago I had read it for the first time on his blog. I had loved it so much that I copied it off and put one on the refrigerator and then linked it to share it with you on my blog.
When I was at agenttimonline.com a few days ago reading his most recent post, "That is Dying to Self". I suddenly remembered that I had read this article before and loved it! Somehow over our move from Louisville it had gotten lost and forgotten. Now once again this article is on our refrigerator and I'm re-posting it here. Please take time to read this great article...maybe it will find itself on your refrigerator!

-Victoria

That is Dying to Self

“When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught, and you sting and hurt with the insult of the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ — that is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence — that is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or any annoyance, when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus endured it — that is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any attitude, any interruption by the will of God — that is dying to self. When you never care to refuse yourself in conversation, or record your own good works, or itch after any commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown — that is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances — that is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself, can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart — that is dying to self.” — Author Unknown (Taken from Different By Design by John MacArthur).

Oh, that each of us could be one who dies to themselves — oh, that I could be one that is dying to self!

Zach Sunderland: Doing Hard Things

I first read about Zac Sunderland in an article that Alex and Brett Harris wrote about him on The Rebelution.
Zac Sunderland is inspiring people all around with what he is trying to accomplish...he is trying to be the youngest solo circumnavigator. Zac set out on this adventure to sail around the world by himself when he was sixteen years old. The goal was to get back home before he is 18 because no one has ever accomplished that. Now he is seventeen and is less then two weeks away from home...from his goal. What has driven Zac to try to do this amazing thing that most people would dismiss as impossible? In a recent blog post Zac shares:

I have spent a lot of time out here thinking about what is important and what I'd like to do with my life. I don't have all of the answers but I know this...without God in your life, you have nothing and I don't want to spend my life reading about what other people have done. I want to be the kind of person that people want to read about. I believe that my solo circumnavigation is just the beginning of many more adventures to come. Documenting them and telling others and hopefully inspiring others at the same time is what I want to do.

Zac Sunderland has blogged along his journey about the different challenges he has met up with along his trip, including pirates and storms.
He has been interviewed along the way by different TV stations and was recently featured on the cover of the ESPN magazine with the article titled "Do Hard Things". But what most of the magazines choose to ignore is that Zac is homeschooled and a Christian. Many of my fellow homeschoolers are trying to stand on the shoulders of the generation before them and reach to even greater heights.
Read more about him on his website or blog.

This video is from the beginning of Zac's trip when he first set out. In it you get an introduction to why he is trying to accomplish this journey.



-Victoria


In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
-Abraham Lincoln

Pictures from the Renfroe ball

A few weeks ago my family went to a ball where we were taught and danced Civil War Era dances. Here's a few pictures that I got from the ball.

Etiquette of the 1860's Ballroom:

If, in the course of conversation,a lady repeatedly interjects the
word "sir,"she is being exceptionally reserved. It is a sign that
she does not desire his acquaintance; she is merely being polite.

Yay! A new family picture!(Spencer and Jessica McCurdy)

It is best to carry two pairs of gloves, for you may soil a pair, &
then you may slip unperceived from the ballroom, change the soiled pair
for a fresh pair, and avoid that mortification.


When an unpracticed dancer makes a mistake, we may apprise him of
error;but it would be very impolite to have the air of giving him a lesson.(Andrew and Victoria)
In dancing, the performers should endeavor to wear a pleasant and festive countenance.
A lady who declines dancing with a gentleman, should afford him
some reason; the gentlemen...receiving graciously her answer.(Andrew)
It is expected all dancers will participate in some dances with other partners.(me, Spencer, and Andrew)

Back row, from left to right: me, Katie McCurdy, Kait Culbertson, Jessica McCurdy, Lizzy Carnley
Front row, from left to right: Spencer White, Josh Carnley, Matthew Carnley, Danny McCurdy, and Andrew White


"Dancing is, in itself, a very trifling and silly thing; but it is one of those established follies, to which people of sense are sometimes obliged to conform; and then they should be able to do it well!" -Lord Chersterfield

-Victoria

Always Vote for Principle

"Always vote for principle,
though you may vote alone,
and you may cherish the
sweetest reflection that
your vote is never lost."

-John Quincy Adams

-Victoria

Samuel Adams on Freedom

I believe that our government is not only becoming more and more corrupt but is also moving steadily away from the Constitution (the recent bailout bill is a fine example of this). That scares me! But what scares me even more is how politicians in Washington refuse to stand up for our rights. Samuel Adams in his Article Signed "CANDADIS" says:

And if a minister shall usurp the supreme and absolute government of America, and set up his instructions as laws in the colonies, and their Governors shall be so weak or so wicked, as for the sake of keeping their places, to be made the instruments in putting them in execution, who will presume to say that the people have not a right, or that it is not their indispensible duty to God and their Country, by all rational means in their power to RESIST THEM.

If you would please take the time to read this wonderful article. You can click on the link above or here. When I read this I just kept on seeing our present situation. So please read it!

-Spencer

Don't Passively Accept Evil

"Without justice, there can be no peace . He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it."
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Wisdom of John Adams

"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
-John Adams

-Victoria

Trust in God

Where God guides
He always provides.

-Author Unknown

I found this quote in the back of one of my Mom's old bibles. She had forgotten that she had put it there and couldn't remember where she got it. I don't know who the author was who said this but I also haven't done any research on it. This quote though is a constant reminder to my family that God will not lead you somewhere and then just leave you hanging. We must always trust our futures to God.

-Victoria

I must venture foward!

"I must venture: to go back is nothing but death;

to go forward is fear of death, and life everlasting beyond it!
I will yet go forward!"
—Christian in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress

I found this quote on Josh Harris' blog. Although I've never read Pilgrim's Progress through all the way I thought this quote was great!

-Victoria

The Real Art of Conversation

"The real art of conversation
is not only to say
the right thing
in the right place,
but, far more difficult still
to leave unsaid
the wrong thing
at the tempting moment.

-Dorothy Nevill

-Victoria

Quote from John Calvin

"God is pleased to hide all
future events from us, in
order that we should resist
them as doubtful, and
not cease to oppose them
with ready remedies,
until they are either
overcome or pass beyond
all care...God's providence
does not always meet us in
it's naked form, but God in

a sense clothes it with the
means employed."
-John Calvin

-Victoria

That Is Dying To Self

I originally found this post on Agent Tim online. It is so good that I had to copy it here! Please take time to carefully read over and reflect on this.

When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught, and you sting and hurt with the insult of the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ — that is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence — that is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or any annoyance, when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus endured it — that is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any attitude, any interruption by the will of God — that is dying to self. When you never care to refuse yourself in conversation, or record your own good works, or itch after any commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown — that is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances — that is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself, can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart — that is dying to self.” — Author Unknown (Taken from Different By Design by John MacArthur).

Oh, that each of us could be one who dies to themselves — oh, that I could be one that is dying to self!

Quotes!

Since it has been a long time since we have posted our favored quotes and since we said we would post more. Here's one that I enjoy and hope you will too!

"What we are required to do now is to stand erect
and look the world in the face and do our duty without fear or fervor."

Winston Churchill

-Spencer

Our Favorite Quotes

Spencer and I both love collecting quotes that other people have said past and present. We have quiet a few in our collection so we'll be sharing them with you every once and a while. These are our favorites and since we couldn't decide which quote we liked best we decided to post both of them! Hope ya'll enjoy!


Aim at Heaven and you will get earth thrown in with it,
Aim at Earth and you get neither.
-C.S. Lewis


Whether you think you can,
or whether you think you can't,
It's true.
-Henry Ford

-Spencer and Victoria

P.S. Mommy says that one of her favorite quotes is:

The man who does not read books has no
advantage over the man who can't read them.
-Twain

So with that being said I had better go do my reading! :D

-Victoria