My Fandoms: Top 10 Lists

So, it's a rainy day again. This afternoon I'll be causing myself a lot of angst by making myself actually choose between my favorite books, movies, fandoms, etc- and put them in top 10 lists.
Let the nail-biting, guilt of betrayal, and deep pondering over imaginary things begin. XD

Top 10 Books

Oh, how on earth do I pick a favorite stand-alone book?!

1. The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeane DuPrau
2. The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
3. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
4. Ella Enchanted by Gale Carson Levine
5. Swordbird by Nancy Yi Fan
6. The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
7. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
8. The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers
9. Atonement Child by Francine Rivers
10. The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

Top 10 Book Series

1. The Belgariad Series by David Eddings ...I love his writing, I love the characters and story telling and adventure. My favorite series.
2. Books of Ember Series by Jeane Duprau ...Completely amazing books. I've listened to them on audio countless times. I can just do it over and over.
3. Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan ...Hilarious, fun, and actually educational with all the mythology. I love the characters!
4. The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper ...I remember my heart racing when Mama read us these. Sooo good. 
5. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins ...So realistic, well-paced, and gripping. I could never put them down. 
6. The Books of Beginning Trilogy by John Stephens ...Really, really well done adventure books. Waiting eagerly for the third book!
7. Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth ...These were hard to put down and had such an unexpected ending... great characters and such deep thoughts. 
8. Redwall Series by Brain Jacques ...I read these when I was younger, and can't wait to pass them on to my children. They're endearing and adventurous. 
9. Warriors Saga by Erin Hunter ...I used to be addicted to these, and I though I don't read them any more, I know I have to list them, because my younger self would be so mad if she could see herself now and know she betrayed her love for Warrior cats. 
10. Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini ...I'm not done reading these, but they're great adventure books and well written for such a young author. 

Top 10 Movies

1. The Lord of the Rings trilogy ...Nothing in the world comes close to the amazingness of these movies. The characters, the quotes, the stories, the entire world- literally built my imagination since toddlerhood. 
2. The Princess Bride ...Hilarious and so quote-worthy. I can probably actually quote the entire movie...
3. Ever After ...Beautiful story and new take on the concept of Cinderella. Full of great sentiments. 
4. The Avengers ...Oh so full of awesome characters and amazing quotes, has a great plot, and is action-packed and invigorating. 
5. The Hobbit trilogy ...It's not done yet, but it's wonderful! Though I think even it cannot compete with the original Lord of the Rings movies. 
6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier ...A film as good as the Avengers,focused on the best Avenger of them all. 
7. The Hunger Games ...The best movie every made from a book that stayed true to the original story. 
8.  Catching Fire ...Equally faithful to the book. 
9. Bedtime Stories ...The funniest thing ever. I loved this movie!
10. Tangled ...So cute, has great characters, and never gets old. 

Top 10 TV Shows

1. Doctor Who ...Only the most amazing thing ever to air on TV. Seriously, the best characters, mind-bending concepts, plots, quotes, and everything. I'm going to stop talking before I get carried away.
2. Sherlock ... The best mystery plots with some of my favorite complex actors of this day and age. Why is BBC so much better than our American shows?
3. Agents of Shield ...This show really redeemed itself. It has some of my favorite characters ever, has just enough references to The Avengers, and got SO good at the end.
4. Jericho ...This was fantastic! It just got better and better and more intense. Why did it end so early?!
5. Terra Nova ...I'm still upset that this got canceled. It had such potential. 
6. Merlin ...This show went up and down, and ended sadly. But it was lots of fun and had adorable characters. 
7. Little House on the Prairie ...Timeless. It makes me long to live in that time period. 
8. The Waltons ...Also timeless. I love this family and their story.
9. Robin Hood ...This was entertaining while it lasted. I liked it. I wish it hadn't had so many deaths of good characters, but it was worth the watch. 
10. Psych ...Pretty funny when I'm in the mood for it. 

Top 10 Couples

1. Eowyn and Faramir (The Lord of the Rings)
2. Fitz and Simmons (Agents of Shield)
3. Amy and Rory (Doctor Who)
4. The Doctor and River Song (Doctor Who)
5. Percy and Annabeth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians)
6. Lina and Dune (The City of Ember)
7. Tris and Tobias (Divergent)
8. Stanley and Mimi (Jericho)
9. Missy and Willie (Hallmark Love Saga)
10. Mark and Maddie (Terra Nova)

Top 3 Fandoms 

The Lord of the Rings ...This will always win...

Doctor Who ...but this is so drastically close that it isn't even funny.

The Avengers ...Epic.

I'm not picking 10, because past these 3 absolute bests, I will suddenly have twenty others I can't choose from. 

Romans Study

Something I really wanted to do this year was read my entire Bible. I got an NIV while I was in the gospels, so then I switched over to reading it from my NKJV. I started in the New Testament- alternating between that and Proverbs sometimes, and now I'm almost done. Still, the Old Testament is way longer and will take a lot of time.

But the New Testament was much more important to me. After all, the New Testament tells us over and over that we have been saved from the laws of the Old Testament! Because of Christ's sacrifice, it is no longer what we are subject to. To read the Old Testament I believe would give me a greater understanding and appreciation of what exactly we have all been saved from, and so I will read through it on my own. But I think that at the same time, I will alternate between it and re-reading the New testament, just to maintain the focus on grace and forgiveness.

As I have gone through all the letters Paul and others wrote... I'm in awe. I really mean it. There is so much stuff, so many points made on how to look at life and how to live it. What mindset to be in, where to put your focus, and how to carry it out (and forgive yourself when you fail). The grace and love demonstrated is so profound.

My family broke away from a legalistic church a few years ago and we began to homechurch with others who left, meeting in each others' homes. We've been at it for over three years now, and its the the best thing that ever could have happened, I think, to strengthen and grow us all in faith, in our individual ways. Our new foundation was Grace, not law. And that was an amazing relief.

But now as I read through the Bible for myself, I see how TRUE it is. It's one thing for someone to give you a new way to view God and Faith, and support it with Bible verse after verse. It's even more huge when you open it for yourself and actually see, "Wow. It's all here. It's so plain. Love and grace and forgiveness from sin are so emphasized and constantly repeated." I'm confounded by how someone who devoted their life to preaching the Word could constantly miss that. Teaching legalism and fear while the truth of Grace is so smack-in-the face is just unbelievable...
But enough of that- I'm not going to talk about legalism today.

I wanted to share all the verses I highlighted in my studies so far, and since I didn't start highlighting until Romans, I thought I'd just start there. I typed up all the ones I underlined in my Bible. It's a lot. I know that when I go back and read it again, there will be more, or I'll understand them all in other ways than the first time, too, but here's my original list. Verses that stick out at me, whether eye-opening, inspiring, humbling, or admonishing, or just plain interesting and worth a lot of thought. They all need to be trained into my mind and daily life, over and over...

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.

-Romans 2:1


For God does not show favoritism.

-Romans 2:11


But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes from faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

-Romans 3:21-24


...suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by His Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

-Romans 5:4-5


But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ dies for us.

-Romans 5:8


Since we have been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

-Romans 5:9-10


...sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

-Romans 5:13
(An interesting thought... Read the verses around it, too.)

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

-Romans 5:18
(I like to see this one as "the final eye for an eye.")

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

-Romans 6:11

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

-Romans 6:14


...it is no longer I who do it, but it is the sin in me that does it.

-Romans 6:20


Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

-Romans 8:1-2


But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.

-Romans 8:10-11

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

-Romans 8:18


And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

-Romans 8:28


Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

-Romans 8:35


No, in all things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will  be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

-Romans 8:37-39


..."I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

-Romans 9:14-16
(And He has a LOT of mercy.)


..."The word is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

-Romans 10:8-9

"Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame."

-Romans 10: 11


For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile- the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

-Romans 10:11-13


"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgements, and His paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay Him?"
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.

-Romans 11:33-36


Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is- His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

-Romans 12:2


...Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

-Romans 12:3

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

-Romans 12:6-8


Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but willing to associate with those of low position. Do not be conceited. Do bot repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, "It is Mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil,  but overcome evil with good.

-Romans 12:9-21


Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

-Romans 13:10
(God is Love. So God is the Fulfillment of the law. So only His sacrifice was sufficient to save us.)


The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

-Romans 13:12


Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

-Romans 13:14



If anyone noticed any typos or reference mistakes, please let me know. 
Also, these are all taken from the NIV.

Rainy Day Fashion

So, here it is a rainy mid-morning, and I have slid back into my camouflage pajama pants and Doctor Who t-shirt (yeah, homeschooling!) after barn chores, now occupying myself with girly things such as throwing together collages of my favorite clothes. These are all taken from my Pinterest board, Dress and Hair Tastes.

Can we all just go back this era?

With maybe some Medieval thrown in there as well?

My hair is currently almost to my waist. If it were straightened, I think it would be there. But I keep it braided 90% of the time, so it's always more or less wavy. :)

And if we could all bring back vintage footwear like these, I might actually be more into shoes. Sigh! 

I have several different tastes that shift with the mood of a certain day or season. I love vintage above all, but country and plaid get me all the time, colonial or pioneer, and Medieval catches me up in a whole other world. 

Now, I will go spend this day reading Emma by Jane Austen and awaiting a visit from my good friend, Aleena~

In the Garden

I've heard it said that a clean desk is the sign of a messy career. 

Well, I think that a perfect garden is the sign of a frazzled mind. You constantly go outside to tend to something you do have control over, you pick and toss weeds like you wish you could pick and throw problems, and you arrange things in perfect order the way you would if life were so easily disciplined. 

And it pays off. And gives you problem-solving practice. And offers you the solace of quiet to fume, sing, or pray. 

"I come to the garden alone..."

Praise God, my garden is prospering. Yesterday was another rainy day, and this morning when I went out to inspect, weeds were not the only tiny newcomers popping out of the soil. Now I can say that absolutely everything I have planted has sprouted and is growing. 

Even the phlox I transplanted from the side of the corn field have hit their prime. The mullein is growing taller as I pick off the under-leaves that have grown brown and shriveled, and the self-seeding dill continues to outgrow its box.

Today Mama and I went to Pine View Greenhouse in Richfield, an extension of an Amish farm, and bought flowers. I love snapdragons. So much. Phlox are my favorite Spring flower. I'll say snapdragons are my favorite Summer-Fall flowers. This is the third year that the ones we planted one year in the barn flower garden have re-seeded themselves to come back in copious amounts. I'm always picking grass sprouts out of their midst, and there will be a bounty of them again this Summer. But I got some that were already flowered for my backyard garden. The softest pink, pretty peach, and bright yellow. Also, alyssum. In honor of my little goat (whom I will be seeing in less than a week!) I've chosen Alyssum as her name, after the soft white color of her coat and her green-yellow eyes. 

Already, this "giant lily-of-the-valley," as Laurel and I refer to is as, is going to seed. But it has been so pretty! Especially after being rained upon or watered, with all the tiny droplets glittering on the leaves and dripping from the little globes.  (I just discovered that it's really called Solomon's Seal.)

I've marked every row with a titled tongue depressor. :P

And my Pablo and Mantilia lettuces are sewn in alternating rows, striping their whole pallet in green and red.

I have Scarlet Nantes and Danvers carrots planted in the main soil of my garden. They're the carrots I've always had success with in the past. Carrots, I must say, are my favorite thing to grow. Harvesting them is loads of fun: discovering the ones that have decided to twist around their neighbors, or finding the biggest and fattest of all. 

Along with them, I have my New Zealand spinach. I grew this last year, and loved it. While it is sporadic in how it sprouts- what with having many seeds that seem to not plan on coming up, but then appearing a week or two later- it tasted much better than any lettuce I've ever tried. Last year I would go out to the garden each morning to pick some for my sandwich to take to lunch at work. 

The lettuces I mentioned I am trying for the first time, having carefully read their descriptions in the Seed Savers catalog. Usually, lettuce turns out bitter and/or gritty around here... hopefully that changes this time. These are supposed to be "sweet", with one crisp and the other soft. 

Also among the rows in the pallets are my herbs:

Chives, cinnamon basil, globe basil, oregano, parsley, catnip, lemon balm, thyme, and culinary sage. I'm excited! I'll be doing a lot of research on drying herbs and saving seeds this time around.  

The marigolds guard the garden faithfully, placed all around the circumference of the stone border. I've noticed something has been turning a few of their leaves dark and nibbling them away. Either it's bugs, or a rabbit. But nothing has entered the garden and bothered its contents. I'm looking into protecting the marigolds, but at least they are doing their job in keeping pests out of the greens. 

The bee balm is coming back from last year, much bigger. It will have pretty dark red blossoms come mid-Summer. Here you can see it accompanied by pink morning glories Mama planted. The stone path is a project of Emma's we've both been working on: turning up the dirt between and around the playhouse and the apple tree, mulching, and planting flowers along the path. 

Emma's been extremely creative with her apple tree garden. The signs she's painted are so colorful, and she even painted rocks different colors with the titles of vegetables written on them for Mama to mark her own garden rows. 

Yes, the gardening is abundant... and very fulfilling. 

It feels wonderful to have the dirt under my feet and staining my hands. Seeing life erupt from the soil and grow with an eager will of its own. Let it continue to prosper!!

And I couldn't resist the other day: buying seeds for rosemary and broccoli... so those have to get plated tomorrow, too. :3

A Way of Life

I finished planting my garden about a week ago, and already I see most of my seedlings springing to life. This year I wanted to try my hand at an assortment of herbs, so I took the wooden pallet route and now have three of them set around the rest of my vegetable garden. I also have a section for flowers. (Yes, a whole post dedicated to that coming shortly- can't give too much away yet!)

In addition to all the outdoor and barn work going on around here, and the pleasant seasonal chaos of this particular time of year, I am getting a goat! Two goats, actually- but the baby one is mine. (Again, I'll wait on details- spoilers!)

My goal this year has been to get a lot of practice in on sewing, gardening, baking, and such. And I've made progress... but as you might expect, it all puts me in a kind of mood... one that Pinterest can portray pretty accurately.

So I put together a few collages out of my Homesteading and Housekeeping board.

And very soon I will have pictures and posts about my own little homesteading and housekeeping projects. 

Coming Up:

The Gardens

The Goats

Sewing Projects

New Recipes

and

...A Renaissance Faire!

Return to Blogging

As is my specialty, I have been blog procrastinating again.
This reminds me of something Emma and I were saying a few days ago. I believe it went something like... "The most expert procrastinator in the world would be someone who is constantly busy- they've managed to procrastinate on procrastination itself." :P
But I decided at the beginning of June to take a complete break from Facebook. My days have been full and busy since, and it truly has felt good. While non-internet things have been my priority because of that, I haven't done much online except email... and a tad of Pinterest. But I think it would be a good time to get back into blogging! I do have some posts on my mind, so hopefully now I will be able to sit down and write out and organize all these lengthy tidbits. ;)

The view from the field on Cedarville and Birdseye Roads when we took a walk yesterday.

The Struggle of Forgiveness

Tonight I came to a realization that has been a long time in coming.
And it's not even something that I don't already know by heart. In fact, I think it is something I knew so well that it faded to the background, and became taken for granted.

I am forgiven. 

Completely, utterly, totally Forgiven, by the Great Holy Creator, by His Son Jesus.
He is the ultimate giver of forgiveness. His is the only kind that truly matters. To seek any other kind is so ludicrous. How can we do that? What drives us to seek more than what is already so much more than enough? So far beyond amazing and more than we could ever hope to earn? Given freely by God?

But we do. Or at least, I do.

I forget that Jesus forgave me, forgives me, and will always forgive me. That He does not look at me the way I tend to look at myself. And because of that, I should not look at myself as the wretch I often feel like. When I refuse to acknowledge His forgiveness, I'm saying His view is not good enough. I'm saying "That's alright if you forgive me, God, but I don't think I can." That's prideful. To think you're either not good enough or too good for Him. Either way, you're contradicting God, and what He says is pure and perfect. Like Peter did, actually.

Let me explain.

I have always had very low self-esteem. I never saw myself as much. I got told a lot of things that enforced these feelings. I compared myself to others I deemed better than myself, and saw getting all the attention, and I valued my own character less and less. I'm not trying to start a pity party here, it's just a fact. It's funny... something can be so very small, something someone says can slip from them just casually without a thought. They never know how it will affect another person, that it might stay with them for the rest of their life. This  has only taught me to be careful with my own words. Because I hate hurting people.

And yet that is what I did.

In the last year of my life, a lot of things have happened. Some things have been just so, so amazing and beautiful and beyond my wildest hopes. I love my life. God is showing me just how wonderful His plans are by letting me see my Future unfold.

Unfortunately, it seems to be human nature to let the clouds blot out the biggest rays of sunshine in our daily lives.

Besides my days of sunshine and a truly mind-blowing sweet sixteenth year, naturally some of these darker days also occurred. I watched some life-long friendships become very damaged by some stupid, thoughtless words. I've dished out hurt, and taken my own fair share. It was all egged on either by jealousy, or by spur-of-the-moment frustration, or pent-up emotions, or even irrational excitement. It is so easy to get carried away.

There was a boy involved: the first one to ever take some remote form of interest in me. There was another girl involved. There were two older women involved. There were whole families involved, in the end. That's what happens in these instances. Nothing ever stays small. And I believe in this case, it was the smaller issues that just gave vent to the bigger ones that had been bubbling under the surface for years. They had to blow sometime, and they did.

To make a long story short, I said some things about someone to someone else, because of premature trust, frustration, and the immature desire to impress. Looking back on it, those things were so not me. But I did them. Because I am like anybody else: I make mistakes. And often the same ones over and over.
The whole situation ended up involving way more people than in the beginning. It left me feeling guilt and horror at what I had done. Which, yes, may actually have been just a small thing when looked at by an outsider, but to me it wasn't. And to the other parties involved, it sure wasn't.

I prayed a lot during that time. And I have to say that without God and a very close friend, I would have completely broken apart during that time. I nearly did anyway.

I apologized to the person I had wronged. It was all I could really do. You can't undo history and take back words spoken. As much as I wanted to.
You can't wind the clock back ten years and change a choice you made that would lead up to this point and make everything go wrong. As much as I wanted to.
But, you know, now I am actually thankful for that, because without that one little "wrong choice" way back in the past, I wouldn't be exactly where I am now, in the right place.

But in the long run, my point here is that even now, over a year later, I am carrying around guilt and anger at myself. I see myself as a terrible person. I feel like a failure, because no matter how hard I try, I always find myself saying something I regret, or feeling an emotion I wish I never had capability of feeling. I just wish things could be the way they used to be. I wish I could drop all the resentment I feel, and that I could make everyone around me do the same.

But the truth is, tonight, I remembered I am forgiven. And I need to forgive myself. No matter who on this earth has or has not forgiven me, it doesn't matter. It will only make me wilt and wither as a person to carry that burden of guilt and regret around on my shoulders for the rest of my life. I need to stop worrying.

I am free to struggle through this.
But I am not struggling to be free.
So why struggle at all?
I'm giving it up, to God.

As I was thinking about this whole situation, that song The Struggle  by Tenth Avenue North came to me, and when I went to listen to it, I found it relates even better to my situation than I originally thought.

I was talking to my sister tonight, telling her how I felt. It was then that it came to me that all of the things I am feeling: the unforgiveness of myself, the despair, the anger, the guilt.... these are lies. These are things someone that is NOT God is pushing back on me, reminding me of, whispering nastily in my ear. Why? Why attack me with my past? Why now? Because that is what Satan does. He loves to wear you down with regret, to make you forget and doubt the most precious and basic gift Jesus bought: FORGIVENESS! For me.

Satan will do anything to steal our happiness. And I think he will only attack those he sees as the biggest threat, the ones he sees as getting too close to God for his comfort.

So I'm saying no.

I will not believe the lies. I will not live in the past.

I will live for God, and for the moment of now. I will accept His gift with honor and use it to the fullest.

As I am forgiven, I will forgive.
As I am loved, I will love.
I am new.
Every day.
A new start,  another chance.
Another step in the building, as my God shapes me and makes me, and calls me His work of art.

Thank God.