Wednesday is the day for my Bible study groups to meet. There are two of them . . . I am blessed that they both take place here in my home.
The women's Bible study is at 4pm and the other Bible study is at 6:30pm.
The women are studying Kay Arthur's book, Lord, Is It Warfare? Teach Me to Stand: A Devotional Study on Spiritual Victory. It seems like we've been using this book well over a year now. We took a break of several months between chapters three and four.
We're currently on chapter nine so it won't be too much longer until we finish. It takes about a month to get through one chapter, the way we're doing it. We read it at home, then read it together as a group, then do our study questions at home, then review them with the group - so I go over the information in the chapter 4 times before we're done. Hopefully some of it stays with me.
The second Bible study includes two men - and we study books by Paul Little.
We've skipped around a bit between the two books. Currently we're reading a chapter about Jesus that makes me love Him more than ever before. It is about how he is half human and half God . . . part of each. He came here to suffer and die on the cross, willingly, to help us and redeem us. That's true love.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Why Blame God?
It happened again. I came across something written by an atheist to try to discredit God, which contained the idea that because bad things happen in this world, there could not be a loving and beneficent God.
What these people miss is that the story of the fall of man (Genesis 3) explains that this is Satan's world. Bad things happen here because of Satan and the spirit of rebellion against God.
The argument goes like this: "The God you believe in allows children to suffer and die so He can't be real."
The rebuttal is: "Since Adam disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, Satan was given ownership of this world. Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of happiness and perfection, and entered a world of suffering and evil. God is not to blame for their rebellion, and the rebellion of Satan."
Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world. He has gone before us to prepare a place for us there, if we want it.
...
Atheists that write these types of things take one concept from the Bible, that God is love, and try to disprove it, without taking the rest of the Bible into consideration. How can they forget the fall of man, or expect me to?
When Jesus agreed to die on the cross to save us from our sins, and when he was resurrected, He redeemed us. He now has the right to be given the deed to the world. That deed is a scroll with seven seals. He has yet to break the first seal. He is waiting for us to be ready. Every day, more and more people are being saved, and He will not break the seal until everyone who is meant to be saved will be saved.
At that point, when the first seal breaks, the world will change. You may not believe it now, but change is coming, and it will be an unpleasant seven years that most people will not live through.
When it is over, the old earth will be gone. There will be a new earth where Jesus and His people will live in happiness, without the evil, without the suffering, without Satan.
I hope to see you there.
...
I usually don't write about the Bible on this blog - it is a blog about my life, however, and Jesus is part of my life. I have another blog called Prayer Power where I write prayers and devotions.
What these people miss is that the story of the fall of man (Genesis 3) explains that this is Satan's world. Bad things happen here because of Satan and the spirit of rebellion against God.
The argument goes like this: "The God you believe in allows children to suffer and die so He can't be real."
The rebuttal is: "Since Adam disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, Satan was given ownership of this world. Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of happiness and perfection, and entered a world of suffering and evil. God is not to blame for their rebellion, and the rebellion of Satan."
Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world. He has gone before us to prepare a place for us there, if we want it.
...
Atheists that write these types of things take one concept from the Bible, that God is love, and try to disprove it, without taking the rest of the Bible into consideration. How can they forget the fall of man, or expect me to?
When Jesus agreed to die on the cross to save us from our sins, and when he was resurrected, He redeemed us. He now has the right to be given the deed to the world. That deed is a scroll with seven seals. He has yet to break the first seal. He is waiting for us to be ready. Every day, more and more people are being saved, and He will not break the seal until everyone who is meant to be saved will be saved.
At that point, when the first seal breaks, the world will change. You may not believe it now, but change is coming, and it will be an unpleasant seven years that most people will not live through.
When it is over, the old earth will be gone. There will be a new earth where Jesus and His people will live in happiness, without the evil, without the suffering, without Satan.
I hope to see you there.
...
I usually don't write about the Bible on this blog - it is a blog about my life, however, and Jesus is part of my life. I have another blog called Prayer Power where I write prayers and devotions.
Monday, August 24, 2015
YouTube Dreamer - My Plans for the Future
I am still dreaming of developing my BookLady YouTube channel, though I haven't added to it in months. What am I waiting for?
Last year I had a goal of creating 100 videos but I created only about fifty... and currently there are only 47 videos on the channel. I may have deleted a few. So I didn't achieve my goal and that is always a downer.
I was hampered by lack of a good video editor. When I ordered my new computer a few months ago, I had a video editor installed before Dell shipped it to me. My new video editor is lightweight - I've got Adobe Premiere Elements 13
- there are other much better (and much more expensive) video editors such as Adobe Premiere Pro CC
- but what I've got is a good place to start and will be more stable and trustworthy than some of the free video software programs I endured last year.
Today I looked at my BookLady YouTube channel and found that some of the videos with the most views are my book reviews! I didn't make many of them last year because I thought they would bore people, but apparently the opposite is true. Fewer people looked at my walking and biking videos. Live and learn! I will make more book review videos in the future since they are so popular.
Last year I had a goal of creating 100 videos but I created only about fifty... and currently there are only 47 videos on the channel. I may have deleted a few. So I didn't achieve my goal and that is always a downer.
I was hampered by lack of a good video editor. When I ordered my new computer a few months ago, I had a video editor installed before Dell shipped it to me. My new video editor is lightweight - I've got Adobe Premiere Elements 13
- there are other much better (and much more expensive) video editors such as Adobe Premiere Pro CC - but what I've got is a good place to start and will be more stable and trustworthy than some of the free video software programs I endured last year.
Today I looked at my BookLady YouTube channel and found that some of the videos with the most views are my book reviews! I didn't make many of them last year because I thought they would bore people, but apparently the opposite is true. Fewer people looked at my walking and biking videos. Live and learn! I will make more book review videos in the future since they are so popular.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Cascadia Earthquake and Tsunami 70 Years Overdue
Here's some startling bad news. Geologists say soil samples show the Cascadia region, the Pacific Northwest, gets regular massive earthquakes and tsunamis every 243 years. And the last one was on January 26, 1700. This means we're 72 years overdue.
This was revealed last month, July 2015, in a lengthy but well-written article published in the New Yorker magazine: The Really Big One.
Why didn't we know this already?
The West Coast of the USA hasn't been settled by Americans of European descent all that long. When the last cataclysm occurred in the Pacific Northwest, only Native Americans were there. Their stories about this event have been collected, including a story about an entire tribe living on Vancouver Island, BC, disappearing into a wave.
It isn't just Canada involved, however. The problem of colliding tectonic plates runs from Mendocino, California, up the coast into Canada. If tension needs to be released, the entire coastline could be jolted, then flooded and destroyed.
I love the coast, the beaches, the surf - just as much as anyone. I've spent a lot of time there. But with this information, I'm thinking that inland destinations are better.
It is sad that we might stay away from the ocean due to an event that might not even take place in our lifetimes, but we've seen the devastation that took place in Thailand and Japan. The threat of oceanic inundation is real, and if it happens, inescapable.
If you're living on the coast and are jolted awake by a large earthquake, you will have ten to thirty minutes to get to higher ground. Ten minutes isn't long, so consider sleeping fully clothed. If you have to run, then run for your life. Stopping for any reason will decrease your chance of survival.
Oregon coast. Photo from Pixabay.
This was revealed last month, July 2015, in a lengthy but well-written article published in the New Yorker magazine: The Really Big One.
Why didn't we know this already?
The West Coast of the USA hasn't been settled by Americans of European descent all that long. When the last cataclysm occurred in the Pacific Northwest, only Native Americans were there. Their stories about this event have been collected, including a story about an entire tribe living on Vancouver Island, BC, disappearing into a wave.
It isn't just Canada involved, however. The problem of colliding tectonic plates runs from Mendocino, California, up the coast into Canada. If tension needs to be released, the entire coastline could be jolted, then flooded and destroyed.
I love the coast, the beaches, the surf - just as much as anyone. I've spent a lot of time there. But with this information, I'm thinking that inland destinations are better.
It is sad that we might stay away from the ocean due to an event that might not even take place in our lifetimes, but we've seen the devastation that took place in Thailand and Japan. The threat of oceanic inundation is real, and if it happens, inescapable.
If you're living on the coast and are jolted awake by a large earthquake, you will have ten to thirty minutes to get to higher ground. Ten minutes isn't long, so consider sleeping fully clothed. If you have to run, then run for your life. Stopping for any reason will decrease your chance of survival.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
I Spent the Morning Reading About Bigfoot
I've been a Bigfoot blogger for ten years now. Go ahead and laugh if you want to. It is weird how these things happen.
There's always been curiosity about the big elusive creature. Does anyone forget the first time they saw the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot video?
When my 2 youngest children were about ages 6 through 10 we took a lot of "home school field trips" and several times were in Trinity County, CA - to visit Weaverville, the Joss House, the museum there, and the area around Clair Engle Lake, aka. Trinity Lake. As we approached Trinity Center, CA - there was a Bigfoot statue, and I was immediately drawn to it. "This is what I've been looking for," my heart told me. "They're here."
Ever since I first heard about the town of Happy Camp, I wanted to be there. Happy Camp, CA is a very remote small town in the center of the Klamath National Forest in Northern California. On January 11, 2000 I moved into a cabin-like house there, surrounded by the forest. The house was just outside of the town, in a semi-secluded area. There were other houses nearby.
The town of Happy Camp is full of Bigfoot statues now, but when I moved there, the only Bigfoot statue was the one in front of the post office.
There were also "Bigfoot footprints" painted on the sidewalk in front of the liquor store, and many of the businesses in the town were named after Bigfoot. There was the Bigfoot Trailer Park, Bigfoot Towing, and the Bigfoot Car Wash. That was in 2000 - several years before JavaBob opened his restaurant, JavaBob's Bigfoot Deli. Now that is closed but there's a place called the Bigfoot Store that has a deli in it, across the street from where JavaBob's restaurant was.
I was always curious about Bigfoot, and wondered why so few of the Happy Camp local old-timers had anything to say about it. They acted like it was a joke, but they loved the annual Bigfoot Jamboree, a three day annual festival over Labor Day weekend.
By 2005 JavaBob was president of the Chamber of Commerce and I worked in a small office across the street from his deli. The chamber needed a focus for marketing Happy Camp and chose to market it as an artist's retreat town. I told JavaBob that we already had a theme in the town - and it was (and still is) Bigfoot.
Anyhow, I got serious about wanting to find the truth about Bigfoot. I wanted to know why this town claimed a theme of Bigfoot but then denied any knowledge of Bigfoot sightings in the area. So I bought the domain name for my blog, Bigfoot Sightings, and started doing research.
I've never seen one, but many credible people have, and I know they're real. I collected no less than five Bigfoot sighting reports about sightings that happened within a mile of the cabin I lived in, there in Happy Camp.
When I moved to Idaho in 2013 I wanted to be able to continue Bigfoot research in the forests around where I live, in Northern Idaho. I live in Post Falls, which is on a prairie. No Bigfoot here! And I have no car anymore... so I can't do field research. But I do intend to continue working on my blog, which has been silent for many months now. I spent this morning "cleaning it up" - ie: making format improvements - and reading the amazing comments people leave there about their Bigfoot sightings.
I do believe I'll be blogging more there, soon. It is time for me to compile the rest of what I know about Bigfoot sightings in the Klamath River Valley.
... I said yesterday that I might write more about Keith today, but I'm just not ready. Maybe soon, but not today.
Update 8/23 - I decided to write about Keith on my other blog: How Comforting it is to Know He Takes Care of Us
There's always been curiosity about the big elusive creature. Does anyone forget the first time they saw the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot video?
When my 2 youngest children were about ages 6 through 10 we took a lot of "home school field trips" and several times were in Trinity County, CA - to visit Weaverville, the Joss House, the museum there, and the area around Clair Engle Lake, aka. Trinity Lake. As we approached Trinity Center, CA - there was a Bigfoot statue, and I was immediately drawn to it. "This is what I've been looking for," my heart told me. "They're here."
Ever since I first heard about the town of Happy Camp, I wanted to be there. Happy Camp, CA is a very remote small town in the center of the Klamath National Forest in Northern California. On January 11, 2000 I moved into a cabin-like house there, surrounded by the forest. The house was just outside of the town, in a semi-secluded area. There were other houses nearby.
There were also "Bigfoot footprints" painted on the sidewalk in front of the liquor store, and many of the businesses in the town were named after Bigfoot. There was the Bigfoot Trailer Park, Bigfoot Towing, and the Bigfoot Car Wash. That was in 2000 - several years before JavaBob opened his restaurant, JavaBob's Bigfoot Deli. Now that is closed but there's a place called the Bigfoot Store that has a deli in it, across the street from where JavaBob's restaurant was.
Brandon Tennant of Idaho, and JavaBob Schmalzback in JavaBob's Bigfoot Deli late in 2005, in Happy Camp, CA. At the time we met Brandon Tennant, he was doing research while organizing a Bigfoot conference held in Pocatello, Idaho in 2006.
I was always curious about Bigfoot, and wondered why so few of the Happy Camp local old-timers had anything to say about it. They acted like it was a joke, but they loved the annual Bigfoot Jamboree, a three day annual festival over Labor Day weekend.
By 2005 JavaBob was president of the Chamber of Commerce and I worked in a small office across the street from his deli. The chamber needed a focus for marketing Happy Camp and chose to market it as an artist's retreat town. I told JavaBob that we already had a theme in the town - and it was (and still is) Bigfoot.
Anyhow, I got serious about wanting to find the truth about Bigfoot. I wanted to know why this town claimed a theme of Bigfoot but then denied any knowledge of Bigfoot sightings in the area. So I bought the domain name for my blog, Bigfoot Sightings, and started doing research.
I've never seen one, but many credible people have, and I know they're real. I collected no less than five Bigfoot sighting reports about sightings that happened within a mile of the cabin I lived in, there in Happy Camp.
When I moved to Idaho in 2013 I wanted to be able to continue Bigfoot research in the forests around where I live, in Northern Idaho. I live in Post Falls, which is on a prairie. No Bigfoot here! And I have no car anymore... so I can't do field research. But I do intend to continue working on my blog, which has been silent for many months now. I spent this morning "cleaning it up" - ie: making format improvements - and reading the amazing comments people leave there about their Bigfoot sightings.
I do believe I'll be blogging more there, soon. It is time for me to compile the rest of what I know about Bigfoot sightings in the Klamath River Valley.
... I said yesterday that I might write more about Keith today, but I'm just not ready. Maybe soon, but not today.
Update 8/23 - I decided to write about Keith on my other blog: How Comforting it is to Know He Takes Care of Us
Friday, August 21, 2015
Daily Blogging Goal
I am challenging myself to a daily blogging goal – to add to this blog daily for as long as I can keep it up. Just small notes will do, or political rants, or notes from my morning Bible study. Anything will do. Photographs welcome.
I took this photo with my new Dell Venue 8 tablet, and it is very grainy sorry to say... my camera takes much better photographs.
This prayer plant lives in the corner of my living room here in Idaho. It was a gift given to me on the day of my baptism: July 4, 2014... a gift from a dear Christian friend who has helped me quite a lot since I moved to Idaho in July 2013. I see her almost every week at the women's Bible study we have here in my living room, currently, every Wednesday.
This photo of my orange spice tea was taken with my camera/camcorder, which is a Sanyo Xacti. You can see how much better this photo is. This is also the camera I've been using to make videos.
I heard from my former boyfriend, Keith, yesterday. I was glad he called because I hadn't heard from him in three months... and that was unusual as he usually called every month. He said he gave his phone away to a woman who needed it more than he did. (!) That is just like him, so I wasn't surprised. He is a homeless Christian drifter. Well, if I tell you this story it will be a long post. I might write about him next time.
My daily blogging goal is inspired by Barbara Radisavljevic's daily blog about Paso Robles.
Update 8/23 - I decided to write about Keith on my other blog: How Comforting it is to Know He Takes Care of Us
Saturday, January 10, 2015
An Update - My Life During 2013 and 2014
A lot has happened since I last posted here.
1. In March 2013 Bob's instability and indecisiveness helped me reach a breaking point for my residency in Happy Camp and for the relationship. I became 100% determined to move and leave him, to the point that my emotions died. I truly felt emotionally flat and desperate to change my situation there.
2. I decided to move to Idaho, and proceeded to downsize. Bob wanted to go with me. I threw away bag after bag of needless things, gave things away, gave most of my books to the library book sale, gave writing books to the Chamber of Commerce, sold what was left of my furniture including my grandmother's bedroom set which I really didn't want to sell... but I realized the need to sell my furniture so I could move more easily. [It turned out to be a good idea.]
3. The day before my move to Idaho, Bob annoyed me for the last time by threatening to burn down the house with me in it, and I told him I never wanted to see him again. He finally (!) agreed to remove all his possessions from the U-Haul truck we were loading, and the house, and he vanished into my memory. I missed him for a while, but no longer do. I'm happy he's no longer part of my life. He is a narcissist and I needed peace of mind . . . and indeed, I do have peace of mind now.
4. I gave my car to Bob before he vanished. I gave my van to my son... neither were working well enough that I wanted responsibility for them anymore. I decided that I wanted to be car-less so I'd be forced to get more exercise - walking and cycling.
5. I drove myself to Idaho, but not before I nearly died from heat exhaustion while cleaning out the house I vacated.
6. I found a nice apartment in Post Falls, Idaho only hours before I would have been forced to live in a homeless shelter.
7. Two weeks later I walked into a church for the first time in many years, and gave my life and heart to Jesus.
8. I attended a lot of church services and Bible studies, and made new friends. All my closest friends here in Idaho are Christians.
9. I started the Book Lady YouTube Channel and made a lot of videos in 2014.
10. I was baptized on July 4, 2014. Freedom in Christ.
11. I trained myself to ride a bicycle and took a 37-mile bike journey on October 4, 2014. I rode on the North Idaho Centennial Trail from the Washington state line to the end of the trail on the eastern edge of Lake Coeur d'Alene.
12. Now I'm in the process of moving again, to another apartment in Post Falls. I'm leaving a ground floor apartment to live in a third floor apartment. . . and I'm very happy about that.
1. In March 2013 Bob's instability and indecisiveness helped me reach a breaking point for my residency in Happy Camp and for the relationship. I became 100% determined to move and leave him, to the point that my emotions died. I truly felt emotionally flat and desperate to change my situation there.
2. I decided to move to Idaho, and proceeded to downsize. Bob wanted to go with me. I threw away bag after bag of needless things, gave things away, gave most of my books to the library book sale, gave writing books to the Chamber of Commerce, sold what was left of my furniture including my grandmother's bedroom set which I really didn't want to sell... but I realized the need to sell my furniture so I could move more easily. [It turned out to be a good idea.]
3. The day before my move to Idaho, Bob annoyed me for the last time by threatening to burn down the house with me in it, and I told him I never wanted to see him again. He finally (!) agreed to remove all his possessions from the U-Haul truck we were loading, and the house, and he vanished into my memory. I missed him for a while, but no longer do. I'm happy he's no longer part of my life. He is a narcissist and I needed peace of mind . . . and indeed, I do have peace of mind now.
4. I gave my car to Bob before he vanished. I gave my van to my son... neither were working well enough that I wanted responsibility for them anymore. I decided that I wanted to be car-less so I'd be forced to get more exercise - walking and cycling.
5. I drove myself to Idaho, but not before I nearly died from heat exhaustion while cleaning out the house I vacated.
6. I found a nice apartment in Post Falls, Idaho only hours before I would have been forced to live in a homeless shelter.
7. Two weeks later I walked into a church for the first time in many years, and gave my life and heart to Jesus.
8. I attended a lot of church services and Bible studies, and made new friends. All my closest friends here in Idaho are Christians.
9. I started the Book Lady YouTube Channel and made a lot of videos in 2014.
10. I was baptized on July 4, 2014. Freedom in Christ.
11. I trained myself to ride a bicycle and took a 37-mile bike journey on October 4, 2014. I rode on the North Idaho Centennial Trail from the Washington state line to the end of the trail on the eastern edge of Lake Coeur d'Alene.
12. Now I'm in the process of moving again, to another apartment in Post Falls. I'm leaving a ground floor apartment to live in a third floor apartment. . . and I'm very happy about that.
Monday, February 25, 2013
The Newbery Challenge Rides Again!
I'm back to the Newbery Challenge! Almost twenty years ago I decided to read all the Newbery books, and now I'm inspired to get going on that again. So far I've read 42 out of 89 books, so I'm not even half-way there, and that's just the Newbery Medal WINNERS. I haven't counted the honor books and how many of them I've read. One of these days, I will. When I feel like I have more time on my hands, I guess.
I was inspired to read more of the Newbery books because I'm updating my Newbery pages online, starting with my page for the 1920's. My next job will be to do the page for the 60's, starting today. The reason why is that the 60's page is getting a lot more traffic than the other pages, so the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I also started a blog for recording my impressions of the books I'm reading. I'll also be reviewing indie and small press books for teens and children. Yay!! I have a thing for children's literature!
I'm starting with the first Newbery book: The Story of Mankind
... it is a history book! In subsequent years fiction took over as the most common type of book honored by the Newbery Medal, but occasionally there are non-fiction books chosen as honor books. Some of them are excellent, too!
I've read enough books from the Newbery list to know that some of them are great and some, you just wonder why they were ever published, let alone chosen for this honor. As a writer of children's and teen's literature I believe luck and "who you know" count for something. And I read the good, the bad, and the ugly because it is all instructional for my career.
What's got me excited is that I have found communities of people doing the Newbery Challenge... one great group is at Goodreads, and I found out about 2 children's librarians (guys) that are doing a Newbery challenge with videos. I will also be doing videos!
I was inspired to read more of the Newbery books because I'm updating my Newbery pages online, starting with my page for the 1920's. My next job will be to do the page for the 60's, starting today. The reason why is that the 60's page is getting a lot more traffic than the other pages, so the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I also started a blog for recording my impressions of the books I'm reading. I'll also be reviewing indie and small press books for teens and children. Yay!! I have a thing for children's literature!
I'm starting with the first Newbery book: The Story of Mankind
... it is a history book! In subsequent years fiction took over as the most common type of book honored by the Newbery Medal, but occasionally there are non-fiction books chosen as honor books. Some of them are excellent, too!
I've read enough books from the Newbery list to know that some of them are great and some, you just wonder why they were ever published, let alone chosen for this honor. As a writer of children's and teen's literature I believe luck and "who you know" count for something. And I read the good, the bad, and the ugly because it is all instructional for my career.
What's got me excited is that I have found communities of people doing the Newbery Challenge... one great group is at Goodreads, and I found out about 2 children's librarians (guys) that are doing a Newbery challenge with videos. I will also be doing videos!
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