Thursday, September 27, 2012

Autumn Princess- A Poem

As we are in this Fall season, I keep thinking about this poem. I wrote it back when I was in high school (making it over ten years old!), and it was dedicated to my cousin Rachael.
I hope you all like it. :-)
(And I've decided to share this poem in Katie's October Snippets.)


Autumn Princess
by Rebekah Porter


Princess of the Autumn,
To make her crown,
Around her head
Flaming leaves surround.
Waiting in the woods,
Down the paths she walks,
But when people see her,
Some know not
To Whom she talks.
She thanks Him for everthing,
From the brown of her hair
To the gold of her dress.
She knows that she must sing,
For each thing in her life
He did bless.
May she be a witness,
Her light ever strong,
That people see God's love
In this princess.
That it last
Her whole life long.



Artsy Award

The lovely Kendra E. Ardnek has awarded me the Artsy Award. :-)
I feel special! :-)



Rules
1. Normally this is where it says "thank the person who gave you the award and leave a link to their blog etc. etc." Well, you can do that if you want. I mean, if you like the award and you're glad you got it and you can do that. Or you can just copy this and have people listen to me rambling. :)

2. Answer the five questions set out for you and make the next five questions for the people that you nominate. 

3. OK, so usually there's a "NO TAGBACKS" rule. I'm here to say that in #3 of this award you can tag or not tag or whatever you want to do. Agreed? Agreed. ;)


The questions I have been asked:


1.) What is your opinion of Grape flavored Candy?
I suppose it depends on what it is. I've never been a big fan. Sometimes it tastes a little too close to Dimetap. :-P

2.) What is your second favorite color?
Well, I have so many favorite colors it is hard to say what my second favorite would be...I really couldn't say.

3.) Which is more important? A good plot or good characters?
Neither is more or less important than the other. They both enhance each other, really. One could have a good plot, but if you have bad characters, it really ruins the story. At the same time, if you have a bunch of good characters, but a rubbish plot, a person may get through the story, but I doubt they'll pick it up again. They are both equally important.

4.) You just found out that your neighbors are from Mars and that they have a device that removes your plot ideas out of your head and they're publishing them. What are you going to do about it? (If you don't write ... then how about the artwork you're planning to do?)
I shall find The Doctor.

5.) Do you enjoy being random.
I can have my random moments, I suppose, and enjoy randomness on occasion, but I'm really not a random person.


My questions for others:
1. Apple cider: Hot or Cold?
2. Mr. Darcy or John Thornton?
3. Favorite flavor of ice cream?
4. Are you participating in NaNoWriMo?
5. What is your dream job/life?


I think all of my friends deserve this award!
So, I am not going to tag anybody specific.
However, if you would like to do a post, feel free, as you are all awarded!
Or you can just answer the questions in my comments....and there are some of you I would love to see answer these. ;-)

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Spiritual Themes of The Silver Chair

I'm really surprised I never posted this here yet. I should have ages ago.
Some time ago, a younger member of The Lion's Call (for those who don't know what that is, it is a Narnia fan site, more book based, and I am a staff member there) put out the question of what is the Christian spiritual theme of The Silver Chair (book 4 or 6 of The Chronicles of  Narnia). As SC is my favorite of the CoN, and I had in recent years started looking into the themes, myself, I posted the following list in answer. I thought some of you might like to read this, and I would love you hear any comments or any other themes you all may like to add! And, maybe encourage you to find the various themes of the other books as well? ;-)




Christian Themes of The Silver Chair

When you think about it, it's about redemption and the Christian life in general:


  • How the children were calling to Aslan because he was calling to them (we reach out to Christ because He reaches out to us) 
  • The scene at the river being Aslan offers relief to our thirst (Jesus offers us Living Water, also see the story of the woman at the well) 
  • That there is no other stream (Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, there is no other way to the Father) 
  • To lay down selfish pride to live a life of righteousness (Jill apologizing to Aslan for showing off) 
  • To live in the Word (learning and memorizing the signs) 
  • To follow that which God has called us to do (the quest to find Rilian) 
  • To not fall into temptation 
  • To be aware that Satan will try to deceive us (the LotGK) 
  • That grace is offered to us when we fall, and that, as long as we get back up from our fall, we can still accomplish God's plan for our life 
  • To live as like a Christian no matter what the world says (Puddleglum's speech) 
  • That when we walk in the Word out of God's super-abounding grace there is freedom from bondage for us and those we minister to, and that we have power to break any attack of the enemy (breaking Rilian's bonds, destroying the chair, snapping out of the LotGK's spells) 
  • That Christ's blood has defeated death to bring us life eternal in Heaven (Aslan's thorn pierced paw, spilling the blood into the river to bring Caspian to life in Aslan's Country).


Anywho...those are most of the one's I've found...there could still be more.



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

September Adventures


I know September is not over yet, nor is everything that is to be done this month done, but I thought I should post a bit of a catch-up.

I shall start this month's events on the 4th. Oh that interesting event. I, on that day, got my very first ever bee sting! One day short of a perfect 29 years sting free! And of all things, the yellow jacket got inside my shirt...while I was lying on our couch. How does that happen? How does a yellow jacket get, not only in the house, but into my shirt?! Needless to say, I hope that never happens again. :-P

Wednesday the 5th was my birthday. Yes, I am now (and have been for a couple weeks) officially 29. One year away from 30. That really is a scary thought. I could barely imagine myself in my twenties, and now I am close to thirty! But on to the day itself. I did work, as I had decided not to request off this year, and it was a good thing, as they had given me Labor Day off- which is extremely unusual. However, it pretty much turned into a day off anyway, as I was only at work for an hour before they realized how slow it was and told me I could go. So, I went to Starbucks and got my free birthday drink (a pumpkin spice blended creme frapp), visited my Moshu at the place he is at for post surgery rehab (but he was alseep the whole time), and went home. My parents gave me a Whitman's Reserve sampler (2 chocolates- delicious!) and $25! And I got $25 from my mom's parents- normally they only give $10, but this higher amount was under stipulation that I use it to get my driving permit renewed....again. I also got many birthday greetings from lots of my friends (thanks to all!) and I actually got some greetings from some of my family members who usually don't remember! (lovely!)
What was really the most interesting part of the day was this: When I got home I got on my computer to check the price of North&South on DVD, as that is what I had been wanting to get with my birthday money. Since I had gotten less than I was hoping for because of the express wishes of my grandparents toward their gift, I had to see if I could still afford it. Lo and behold! Barnes&Noble had just started a sale that day! 50% off! I could afford N&S! Plus a couple more books of historical paper dolls (American Family series by Tom Tierney- Federal Era also called the early republic (American fashion contemporary of Engand's Regency and Europe's Empire) and Civil War (representing the North- I already have family of the Confederacy)  to add to my collection. So, I made my dad take me back out to the bank so I could deposit my birthday money right away, in case the sale was only a 24 hour one (which it was not, but better safe than sorry). I definitely call that the grace of God! :-D I think the person at the bank saw on my ID that it was my birthday. He didn't say anything specifically, but he gave me a couple suckers. :-) All in all, it was a good day. :-)

Thursday was an extremely slow day at work again. Friday (7th) my sister was supposed to come over right after dropping her older two kids off at school, and help me clean up my room as much as possible before she had to go to work. I even got up early, expecting  her around 8:30. She was late! Doesn't that figure? But, even with the lost hour or so, we got quite a bit done. We went through all of my clothes and came out with two whole large trash bags full of clothes that don't fit me anymore to be put into a garage sale. We also came out of the room with one and a half large trash bags full of various items that could not be considered for anything anymore but trash. (You may now, rightly, guess that I do not thoroughly clean my room very often.) We got all, except a very few, of my books put up into my bookshelves, and it is quite full! I shall have to take a picture of them, for you could not put another book in if you wanted to. I'm afraid there is still quite a bit to do. This is all spurred on by the fact that we have to move out of our house (20 years in here, now) and into an apartment by next summer, due to bankruptcy. But we won't get into that.
That afternoon I visited one of my friends from The Lion's Call, who is going to college in my city. We had quite a nice chat, and she had brought me some soap and a lip balm and a small lotion from her family's business! They are wonderful! I highly recommend them. The rest of the evening was spent babysitting all three of my sister's kids. No easy feat, I assure you.

Saturday I got to meet, for the first time in real life, another one of my friends from TLC! (Lil' Princess, or more commonly and affectionately known as Lil', Lilly, or Diamond Lil') We got to hang out at the mall for a couple hours (while my parents were busy working on cleaning out our attic), and we had fun! Of course, Barnes&Noble was our first stop. Book lovers must put priorities first. We looked at lots of books, and Lil came out with a new C.S. Lewis book- and, lovely generous Lil, bought me North&South in paperback! (okay, so I finished reading it for the first time [via my Nook] over Labor Day weekend, and it's one of those ones that doesn't leave you alone after you finish....I still haven't been able to fully move on to a new book) We went on to look in at many shops, including tasting the tea samples at Teavana and smelling all the candles we could at Yankee. :-) It was a wonderful day spent with a new old friend. :-)

Sunday (9th) was my Bunica's birthday, and the whole family got together at one of my aunt's house for dinner and family photos.
The rest of the week was filled with work, which has picked up a little, but not much, and finally watching a bunch of DVDs I had purchased since Christmas but hadn't watched all the way through. I still have to watch N&S.

Now, I'm trying to avoid catching my mom's cold, and Artprize opened today. We're not going to Artprize until Monday or Tuesday next week, but I can't wait! It's really fun seeing all the creative works of art. I especially want to see a holographic art picture of a dragon I heard is on display. It's a great way for me to exercise my own artistic skills in my photography. ;-) I love taking pictures of both the art and the venues.
And this Saturday is the first day of Fall! I love it! I can't wait!
I can't help but agree to what many of our lovely friends have said about Fall being the most productive season for writing. I've recently been getting  ideas for So She Dances again, and can't wait for NaNoWriMo! One idea has to do with The Christmas Waltz. (If you don't know the song, here you go.)

So, that's all for now! More shall arise as we get closer to NaNo, I assure you. ;-)



P.S.
Somebody remind me to got to the Secretary of State's office on Friday to get my permit renewed, please!