family christmas and some fantastic presents!

Looking over this past year, as i consider everything that has happened, everything that i have done, the Lord has been so gracious and has continued to bless me, especially when i dont deserve anything.
Last night and today was our family's Christmas, where my siblings and their families came over and hung out, opening presents and such. Such presents included some luggage that ive really been wanting, a beautiful silver cello charm for my necklace, and an antique box and ring from Scotland. THEN i got a call from a friend of mine, Mrs Jenny Abernathy, telling me to come pick up a Christmas present---AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ITS A CANON REBEL XTi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND a photo printer! i truly couldnt believe it-- i think i cried practically the whole way back home, and still havent been able to grasp at the right words to describe how grateful and ecstatic i am not only to the Abernathys (THANK YOU SO MUCH MR. STEVE AND MRS. JENNY!!!) but to the Lord who put this on their hearts-- praise God from whom ALL blessings, both spiritual, and physical, and material, flow!
so, in honor of my new camera, here is a semie "photo-shoot" i did with my niece J. Lu, and then a few random pics-- with my new camera!! :)

Merry Christmas!

B.c He Lives and Reigns

me

witnessing and other such everyday events

at least, witnessing SHOULD be an everyday event-- sadly, for me it is not. Lord willing, however, that will change. Soo, as i previously stated in my last post, (at least i think i did..i meant to!) i was blessed to have heard Mr. Ray Comfort speak at the San Antonio Christian Independent Film Festival. if you are not familiar with Mr. Comfort, PLEASE check him out! his website is: http://www.wayofthemaster.com/ . He and his business partner, Mr. Kirk Cameron(who was not at the Film Festival) run this incredible evangelism ministry! Anyways, while listening to him speak, he brought up his favorite tract to hand out to people-- a million dollar bill. As im sure you know, there is no such thing as a REAL million dollar bill *at least not that i am familiar with* . yet, if there was one, this is what it would look like!!

So, mom and i bought a packet of "million dollar bills" to witness with!
On the first plane, i was sitting about 10 rows behind my mom. "ok" i think"great time to witness, after all, he said planes are the best places to witness. if they dont want to hear about it, just show them 2 things: the door, and the fact that they are 20.000 feet off the ground, with no parachute..the worst thing that can happen is them saying no, right?" so . i turn my head to the left, and im sitting by this nice, middleaged looking woman, reading some secular book. "no problem" i say to myself.." umm, hi! how are you today? whatcha reading?" .." oh its called _________________ by such-and-such." ok all good so far. she asked me" what are u reading?" "oh its called Hollywood be Thy Name by Mr. Ray Comfort." " ok nice". a few minutes pass.. "um btw, would you like a million dollars?" No." :/ :/ :/ :/ i sit quietly for the rest of the hour and 5 min flight. as she leaves she says "have a nice day!"....... ook so first time, didnt go so great. but what did he say about being afraid? *thinks back* "the worst thing that could happen is for them to say no............ remember, all these unsaved people could die and go to hell because you were too selfish to humble yourself and risk getting told no." alright, so i know i need to try again. Next flight, i walk in the plane, and the stewardesses are standing there, welcoming us on to the flight. (yes i know its politically correct to call them flight attendants. and your point is?) As i walked in, one of the stewardesses (her name was Paula) said" oh how i wish i was young and thin like you [talking to me]. oh well, guess i should start wishing for something more realisitc, like a million dollars." WOW! what an opportunity! but, b.c there were about 20 million other people behind me, i decided to wait and give it to her when i saw her during the flight (it was almost 3 hrs long). for the first 2 hrs, i didnt see that woman, but saw and met the two other stewardesses-- i gave each of them million dollar bills and got to witness to them!! Praise the Lord! they were really happy about it :) So, after those hrs had flown on by (sry couldnt resist it ;) I saw Ms . Paula again. as she was walking by , i stopped her and said "excuse me ma'am, did i hear you say you were going to wish for a million dollars? here you go" guess what! it turned out she was a christian already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD! so, for the rest of the flight *until she had to prepare for landing* mom and i got to encourage her in the Lord. heres most of what i can remember about her story: (she was the most beautiful black woman ever)
she is 43 years old, though she looks like she is 26 or so. she was married when she was 18 yrs old to a christian man. they were married for 10 years, and were the best of friends the entire time. both wanted many children, and had already designed their dream house they were going to build. he died with cancer when she was 28. since then (as far as i can tell) she has been an airplane stewardess. she has a christian boyfriend now, but i dont know if or when they are planning on getting married. she still wants to have several children.
I honestly believe the Lord put us in this position so we could encourage her "in the faith", as Paul talks about in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 "therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you are also doing".

Alright, now on to present tense in my life. :) since coming home from the Film Academy and Festival, life has been this joyous "what could happen today?! I cant wait to see what adventures are in store!".. and then i remember that i am no longer in San Antonio and i sort of feel deflated, like a tired balloon. It is a funk i need to pull myself out of, for though i am incredibly glad to be with my friends again, especially my daddy and my best friends whom i have missed so very much, its difficult to leave people you became close to over a week of learning. So i am working on my contentment again. my friends have been wonderful though, and are blessing me by putting up with my silly ridiculous moods and treating me as if i am one who is acting normal. *sigh* How blessed i am , and how miniscule i feel when realizing how selfish my moody behaviour has been!! Praise the Lord for new beginnings and early morning "slate cleanings" .
today in drama, we had to read at least 5 verses of a person speaking. a Biblical monologue i suppose one could call it. i chose and read Acts 17: 22- 31 :
"So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD ' Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.' Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."

just thought id share that with you. goodnight, i am going to have some hot chocolate, and go to bed soon.

May God bless you as you strive to follow Him!!

B.c He Lives and Reigns
me

the art and procrastination of catching up

You know you are behind in updating your posts when you forget what your blog URL is.. at least, that is what has happened with me for the past month or so. i have been so almost overwhelmed with education, orchestra, swing choir, recooperating from my wrist sprain, babysitting, tutoring, and of course, whenever i got the chance, photography and excercising.. Travelling, of course, played a major role since mid-summer. i believe i have had something important going on every other week since either June or July.

Just last night, mother and i flew back from San Antonio, Tx, from the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Academy and Festival-- what an amazing,outstanding trip! i cannot wait til next yr, so i can go again!! the friends, the time with mom (dad sadly couldnt come), the funny madcap adventures, having abby take pics of me, learning about God and how to serve Him and extend His Kingdom through the use of filmography and the arts, and so much more! God has truly blessed my life incredibly just by having these precious people in my world-- and giving me a mind that can not only comprehend but continue the thoughts and wisdom and knowledge passed on to me.

Abby, a photographer friend of mine that goes to IPS (only the most amazing christian photography college ive found so far), decided she wanted to take some pictures of me at San Antonio (she was there as one of the official photographers for the events). so, here are the ones she put up on her xanga (http://www.xanga.com/ImageCatchers) :

i think my favorite is the second-to-last.. sadly, i do not have any pictures of my own to put up this time-- most of the film academy and festival was inside, and my camera does not take good inside pictures, the lighting ends up horribly. but i did get to play around with both Christiana (another IPS photographer friend of mine) and Audri (a good friend) 's cameras. they are so neat! they are both canons, though i didnt get to look at what kind of canon either were, they both reminded me very much of the canon 30D, so it was a joy to play with them!! :)

anyways, i am starting to learn embroidery in an after-school class-- at the moment, i am embroidering a heart, using green thread. Lord willing, when i finish it , i will be able to give it as a christmas present. i think i know who i shall give it to, for i cannot give it to my mother as she has already seen it.

well, now i am exhausted because flying at night doesnt provide much opportunity for sleep, at least, not if your name is mercy and you have just learned a wonderful way to witness.. but that is another blog all to itself which i shall try to post tomorrow. so until then,

because He Lives and Reigns

i am His

here are some of the pics from Izalou (my youngest niece) 's 2nd birthday party:

"thats..thats for ME???.. scoot it closer, will ya?!"

mmmm... yummy!

"Oh! Oh! i call that strawberry righhhhhht there!"

"do i like it? i think i do..YES! i love it!"

"thank you Mimi (Kim's mom, Mrs. Pepper) for my great cupcake!"

"just one more bite..ok, maybe 2 more..or 3.."

Grandaddy and Jessie

"CHEESE! .. Aunt Mercy, take a picture of me.. CHEESE!"

Michael and Rachel-- Kims cool siblings-- also known as "Uncle Michael" and "Cha-cha"

"for me??"dont worry, Izzy, your cousins are here to help! :)

Annie's Angels

the birthday girl!

angel with a mission and a borrowed purse ;)

preparation for flight..

swingin' angels-in-disguise..

messenger angel

goal: to beat the heat :)

i have a few more favorites, but havent had time to edit any of these pics, and want to zoom in on my other faves. :)

so Jane has come to stay with "grandmommy", "grandaddy", and "aunt mercy" for the week. . . . it has been awesomeness fun, and REALLY funny. for example:

me: so, what are those animals in the pen over there, emma claire?

e.c.: oh, those are the meat-ducks.

me: meat-ducks? whats that?

e.c.: they're ducks that grow up and turn into meat..

me: jay, PLEASE wash your hands!

j.: ooooook, aunt mercy.. but i want to go play with my toad!

me: ok , but u have to wash ur hands before touching anything else please..

j.: dont worry, i wont touch u with my toady hands.

^btw, im not that prissy, but we were about to eat, and jane had been going back in forth between eating bread (that was for appetizer) and playing with her toad.. sorry, but im not that big on toad-tasting bread.. or any other food for that matter.

j: i think im going to call u aunt squeaky, ok? ok.

me: what?

j: i love you, aunt squeaky.

me: i love u too, silly gooseball.

j: AUNT SQUEAKY! AHAHHAHAHAHHHAHA...

me: *becomes tickle monster*

j: so, aunt mercy, grandmommy promised that u and me would watch a movie tonight.

me: really??

j: yes. and the movies ICE AGE!

me: really?.. and did she mention where we were going to watch ice age?

j: on your laptop of course..

^ reason funny: "grandmommy" had mentioned to jane that if i said yes, we (j and i) MIGHT be able to watch ice age. also, my laptop is slightly broken (a few things wont work on it, plus my dvd player on it is very tempermental) and our dvd player thats hooked up to our tv is broken.. so yeah. thankfully, i agreed, and so did my laptop. so that worked out well after all ! :)

ok im tired, and tomorrow i go stay at the Abernathys house, then head off to Disneyworld (or Mouse Mafia, either name u prefer) with Mrs. Jenny, Alexis and Caroline P, and Caroline and Rebecca A. :) hoorah for fun times L.W. :D

b.c He Lives and Reigns

Today’s sermon by Daddy was on God’s providence. However, I am not going to start with this morning’s sermon, but with last weeks instead. Last Sunday morning was on “The Twelve Principles to Influence Our Children 100 Years from Now”. Keep in mind that whatever we do WILL influence our children and grandchildren and future generations, but the question is, how do we influence them for good instead of evil?
Here are the 12 points:
1. Believe that the people of God have a victorious and glorious future on this earth.
Anotherwards, hold a victory orientation in mind in line of everything you do!

2. Believe that God has entered into a covenant with His people in Christ down through their (His people) generations.
Deuteronomy 7: 9 says, “Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His loving kindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments”. Also, there are two sides to the coin—therefore to those who hate Him and leave His commandments behind, those He is angered with, down to the third and fourth generations! Why? B/c children (and adults) imitate that which is around them—that which they see and know!

3. If you are w/in child-bearing years and are married, have lots of kids!! If you aren’t married, pray earnestly for a godly spouse that shares the goal to have lots of kids!!
Almost all of our culture today, including many to most professed Christians think it is ridiculous to have many children, seeing them as a burden upon the wife and husband, or just not “into kids”. However, that view is relatively new, within the last century or two, especially in Presbyterian and Catholic denominations. Why do I say that? Because in previous years, if you had a big(5+) family, people would assume you were either Presbyterian or Catholic, b/c they were KNOWN to have big families—for the Catholics, b/c they believe that birth control is wrong. For the Presbyterians, it was a worldview—they recognized that the more children they have; the more God has given them the chance to spread the Gospel through their (L.W.) godly offspring! They had a victory orientation in mind! Ever since I was really little, my parents taught me to pray for my future husband. We’ve prayed not only that he would be a godly leader in our home and over me, but that I would become a godly submissive wife and “help-meet”. Genesis 24:60 is a blessing Rebekah’s family (Rebekah that married Isaac) gave to her, saying, “May you, our sister, become thousands of ten thousands..” WOW! What an amazing blessing to bestow!

4. Create a material, spiritual, intellectual inheritance for your children’s children.
I hate the stupid bumper sticker that says “I am spending my children’s inheritance”. “Nuf said.. God has not told us to live for the present, yet that is what most of the world does today—including many Christians! But more about this later.. What do we mean by a material, spiritual, intellectual inheritance? Here are some examples:
Material: I love what Mr. Howard Phillips, a great man, does for his children—whatever age they are turning, on their birthdays he gives them that amount of books! Wow- talk about an incredible library by the age of 20! Other examples of material inheritance: gold, silver, investments, houses, LAND, books, and so on and so forth. Not dollars—personally, the fact is that paper money is daily decreasing in importance- b/c we can always just make more of it. What makes something valuable (besides sentimental value) is how rare that something is. The rarer it is, the more valuable it is. Gold will not lose its value b/c there is only a certain amount of gold in the world. Only God can make more of it, not man. Therefore I truly believe America should go back onto its gold standard. Anyways, to get back on track:
Spiritual inheritance: love for the Reformed faith, distinctively believed and applied. What do I mean? Don’t just teach your children to love “the reformed faith”—teach them what it is! Teach them the specifics, as in the 5 points of Calvinism, the Westminster confession of faith, the Westminster Catechism, and so on and so forth. Teach them not only what, but why.
Intellectual inheritance: give them a Christian education. Get them out of government schools—don’t put them in Christian schools that use the same books as the govt. schools, or books that don’t have the correct worldview immersed in them!

5. if at all possible, purchase land and keep it within your family!
Give your family roots!

6. Obey God’s Word on how to raise your children, particularly as in Genesis 18:17-19
“The Lord said, ‘shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and might nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.’ “

7. Give your children a distinctively Christian education and teach them to do the same.
We are taught today that everything is relative to each other. WRONG- however, everything IS relative to God and accountable to His Word and Law- teach your children, through math, history, science, English, and every subject what Gods word commands, and how they may apply it to life and the future.

8. Pray for your children, grandchildren, and the future descendants that you will never meet- frequently!

9. Work hard to reconstruct this evil culture that we live in so that someday our children might live in a less evil world and culture than we do now.
Don’t focus on the present, but instead learn from the past and strive for the future, so that your present will be spent will the victory orientation of winning the world to Christ! J

10. Guide your children regarding whom they should marry.
II Corinthians 6:14 says “Do not be bound together with unbelievers, for what partnership have righteousness and the lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?” My parents have also taught me to make sure that whomever I marry has the same beliefs about our faith—not just that he is a Christian, but that he shares my beliefs about , for example, the 5 points of Calvinism.

11. Teach your children AND grandchildren to live with their focus on the future.
Proverbs 12: 7: “The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.”
Proverbs 14: 11: “The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.”

12. The more the church and this world is brought to Christ, the longer our future generations will have to witness to their future generations:
Isaiah 65: 20 “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed.”
So what does that say about those who are in their “old age” if you are “young” when one hundred??

Ok, well, I need to get ready for evening service and such, so ill put up today’s sermon notes later on L.W.

ttyl L.W.

B/c He Lives and Reigns

Praise the Lord!

i . love . my . family . amazing, fantastic, understanding (most of the time ;) , precious, and even w. all my messups, they still love me! Praise the Lord for family like mine!!!!!!!! So, yesterday i had my first tutoring session w. a four- yr old named Jude. and what am i tutoring him in?? spanish.. yeah, go figure. me ? spanish??but they want me to, so i am. so since it was the first day, he kept getting distracted, but thats ok, hes only four. :) we learned 5 spanish words (btw, these are 30 min sessions): gloves (los guantes), hat (el sombrero), jeans (los jeans), tree (el a'rbol--accent over the a) , and pajamas (el pijama).. fun times :) so then i went home and "grandmommy" (mom), a.k., and "aunt mercy" (me) all went to the YMCA. it was good- they went swimming and i got to excercise..HOORAH! so then we all went over to McDonalds to grab a bite of lunch..yeah, do u notice the irony as well?? YMCA and then McDonalds..hmm.. so after lunch a.k. wanted some ice cream:


aww yummy ice cream!


my treat.. we told a.k. it was dirt and ice cream...she laughed and said "no silly".. :) i love my niece

anyways, after McD's we went to Em's house to see their new baby lamb and sheep.. AWWWWWWW ok , ive officially decided that no matter how evil goats, cats, and chickens can be, i love THESE sheep..some sheep would drive me crazy, but this type (which i forgot what they are called) are great -- and these sheep were taught to love to be around children and humans. :)
here are some pics:


the baby lamb


the other sheep :)


the helping hand


follow the leader, lamb style!


friends, cousins, family-- including the sheep


E.Claire!!


"Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He that made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of his pasture."- Psalm 100:3

so after a good time at Em' s house, thus ended the exciting part of the yesterday.

Today we left for annie and grants house!! A.K. did NOT want to leave for home .. at first.. i think maybe that she could be worried that if she left "Grandmommy" and "Grandaddy"'s house, that we might decide to move as well , just like they did a couple weeks ago. but before we left, i got a few pics of her wearing my old hat that i wore when i was about her age, maybe a little older than her:


laughing at her aunt mercy ;)


precious


so now i am at annies house. it only took about 3 hrs (not including stops for lunch, ice cream dessert for a.k. (i got to get a smoothie from planet smoothie instead :D ) and gas stops) after we were all settled in, a.k., jaybird, and i went to go swing on their new swingset (j.lu had already gone to bed)



jaybird


sisters, sisters,
there were never such devoted sisters.. :)

after all the girls were in bed, and dad and grant were about to hit the sack, mom, annie , and i went for a walk. what should we see but a HUGE owl!! heres a small glimpse of it in a tree before it flew to another tree:



ok thats all for tonight, im pretty doggone tired and need some sleep! ttyl L.W. (btw, L.W. means Lord willing)

B.c He Lives and Reigns over all