Renaissance Faire

Yesterday my dad took Candice, Luke, Noah, Gabriel, Veronica, and I to the Renaissance Faire! This was my second trip to the Faire and I saw a lot of the performers that were there five years ago! We all had a wonderful time learning about the Renaissance and being with our friends, the Chavezes.

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Here is a picture that we took the first time I went to the Rennaisance Faire. My Grandma Harlow made me the beautiful dress that I was wearing and I felt like a princess... some people even thought I worked at the Faire!

Then...

and now :)

Sedar Feast, Break = Bliss, and Other Blog Post I Meant to Write!

These past couple weeks have been super busy for me, full of fun (and not-so-fun) activities. As I've rushed through spring break and midterms, I've been in such a flurry that I have neglected my blog. I have so many things that I planned to write about in the past two weeks, but just haven't found the time! I have been thinking of everything in terms of what I want to write about in my blog and, despite my tardiness, I have decided to still write about the highlights :) So, with no more ado... Sedar, Break = Bliss, and Other Blog Posts I Meant to Write!


Sedar Feast - April 9, 2009

My family started a wonderful tradition this Easter week. Along with our friends, the Fitzpatricks, we had a Sedar feast to celebrate Passover. It was a special time for our family as we got to eat a meal full of symbolism pointing to Christ and His death on the cross. It was intriguing to think of how the Israelites celebrated this feast for thousands of years, looking forward to the coming of Christ, and now we, the grafted in (Romans 11:19), can celebrate it looking back to the Saviour that has already come! I am looking forward to celebrating this tradition every year!


He Is Risen! -April 12, 2009

Easter was too fun not to mention! We started off the morning chocolate-cross hunting. I helped my parents hide chocolate crosses all over the house and the youngsters got to search for them. After that we gathered on my parents bed (I wonder if the person who designed that bed meant for fourteen people to sit on it...) and my Dad explained how searching for those crosses was a lot like life. If we search after Christ with all our hearts we are sure to receive a reward (even greater than a chocolate cross!) in heaven. We then went to church and Pastor Chris gave a beautiful message about the redemption of the cross and the hard-truths echoed through the Bible. After church we came home and took a short nap before heading off to an Easter dinner at the Hubbs' house. We enjoyed fellowshipping with them, and my dad, Bethany, and I lead a time of worship with the adults. A perfect ending to a perfect day!


Break = Bliss - April 17, 2009

Spring break came and went faster than I could have imagined. I had so much fun being with my family and taking a break from the raucous of life. After a week of playing with my siblings and movie nights with my mom, I kind of wish I could always be on spring break. But then again, who wouldn't be happy with a schedule like this?

8:00 am - Wake up, eat breakfast, pick up house :)
9:00 am - Build train track for Elijah, help him obliterate it, build it again, and jump on the trampoline with Levi
10:00 am - Snuggle up on the couch with all the kiddos to watch "Princess and the Swan"
11:30 am - Lunch
12:00 pm - Naps!
2:30 pm - Swim time
3:30 pm - Fight Lab
8:00 pm - Movie w/ Mom
10:30 pm - Go on Facebook... ;-) and then off to bed!


The Small Things - April 19, 2009

This Sunday Pastor Chris gave a convicting sermon out of Daniel, chapter 3. The theme of the message was that it is the little things in a believer's life that prepare him for the big tests. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were able to be strong when Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw them in to the flame, not because they were tough dudes, but because they had followed God's law in their day-to-day lives. The reality that, "He who is faithful in little is faithful in much," (Luke 16:10) was a good reminder to me that its not just what I do, but who I am that shapes my life as a follower of Christ. I am a daughter of the King, redeemed, consecrated unto God, and I am not ashamed! I pray that I truly will learn to be faithful in little so that I may be trusted with much.


Well, there you have it. Now you know what has been floating around in my mind for the past couple of weeks! As the school year draws to a close I will continue to grow more and more busy with finals, 40-hour projects, and big papers, but I will do my best to not fall four blog post behind anymore ;-)

All for His Glory, Amanda

Bring Me Hope '09 Promo

I am going to China for six weeks this summer with an organization called Bring Me Hope. We will be putting on week-long camps for orphans as we try to love them the way Christ loves them. Here is a short video about why Bring Me Hope came together to do this and what they do. If you would like to know more about BMH and what they do, please check out their website: http://www.bringmehope.org/

It is truly heart-breaking to think about how many of God's children are alone tonight with no mommy or daddy to care for them. As you watch this video I would encourage you to think about how God could use YOU, "to reach out to orphans... in their distress." (James 1:27) No matter how much you CAN DO whether it is something little or big, God does call each and every Christian to DO SOMETHING.

*Because the video has sound, I would encourage you to turn off my music player before watching it. The music player can be found at the bottom of the page ;-)

Fun Sunday :)

This is a picture of Kristen, Candice, Me, and Bethany at a Little Women musical we saw last weekend!

Yesterday we had our good friends, the Hubbs, over for a fun afternoon of swimming, barbecuing, fellowship, and s'mores. I had such a good time hanging out with two of my best friends, Kristen and Bethany (who, by the way, made AMAZING brownies), but that was no surprise because we always have so much fun together!
It was also Elijah's first swim of the year and he had a blast! He literally took to water like a fish. My mom has posted a video of him jumping into the jacuzzi on her blog http://varnells.blogspot.com/ so if you want to check it out... he was absolutely adorable!

Mystery Night '09!!!

Waiting for the games to begin!

I think this is when some of the guys on our team had to move pickles and tomatoes from one bucket to another with just their mouth... waaay gross!


Eleni and Katie were characters from Wicked! They were hilarious. Eleni was sick with a cold so she actually sounded like a real witch ;-)

Tasos was a little reluctant to dance in the middle of Target's parking lot... so Chris and Jacob thought they would give him a hand!

We may have freaked a few people out...

Ending a fun night with two of my favorite ladies, Kenzie and Alicia!

Mystery Night '09 has come and gone! For those of you who do not know what Mystery Night is, Mystery Night is my youth group's biggest event of the year, after summer and winter camps. We recieve fifteen clues, decipher them, drive (techinically within the speed limit) to the location, and then have to complete some type of challenge. I had a fabulous times in the Calvi car... and we dominated everybody... well, everybody but whoever came in first. BUT I still had such a fun time and we even got a chance to talk to a visitor about Jesus which made coming in second place ALMOST ok :) All-in-all it was a wonderful time to fellowship with my Christian friends and share a lot of good laughs! One of my favorite games we got to play was the break-dancing challenge. Four guys from our team were chosen to give it all they had on the floor, and the results were hysterical! I could not stop laughing as I watched those boys go crazy doing something that can only be described as not-break-dancing... classic! As a senior, this was my last Mystery Night I will ever experience from the student perspective, but I look forward to the possibility of helping to put on Mystery Night '10!

No Accidents

This has been quite a week. As spring vacation draws near, I am looking forward to a nice break from the raucous of life. On Tuesday I got into a minor car accident when I moved into the left lane without checking my blind spot. My parents were very gracious and have loved me through the whole thing despite the stress I know it has caused them.
Other than that, the week has been going quickly and God has been using everything from the accident to my family life to remind me that He has every detail planned out and will ultimately use me to achieve His purposes. I feel so inadequate with all my faults and short-comings, but then I am reminded that anything I achieve in this life will be because of the greatness of my Lord. I am a daughter of The King and a bondservant of Christ! It fills me with peace to know that as I seek after the Lord I am fulfilling His calling in my life, and there really are no "accidents."