{Update From MI}

Hello everyone!
Many of you know that my family and I went to Michigan for Thanksgiving, if you didn't know, now you do! Excitingly though, we stopped for THREE WHOLE days at the Warner's house!!!! (Some very good friends of ours, who moved away:( ) Guys, their new house is so cool! We stayed there three days, and had so much fun! Savanna, Bryn, and I got to stay in her bedroom, while the rest of my family were in the guest room. The first day Savanna, Mom, and Dad went to Cornerstone College for a visit day, (Savanna loved it! *happy/sad dance* BUT don't freak out, she hasn't fully decided yet!) So the younger three were left with Mrs. Warner and Bryn all day!!

Us youngers spent our whole day together getting ready for a puppet show. They have an awesome staircase, and rafters right above, and it reminded me a LOT of the Sound of Music, (goat song, remember?!) So! we hung blanket from the rafters and from the stair case, and turned the stuffed animals brave enough to come on holiday with us into marionettes! (They actually worked!) Bryn and I
wrote original song lyrics to common Christmas songs, giving them titles such as 'Oh, Ornaments', to the tune of 'Oh, Christmas Tree', and 'Oh, Holy Cheese',to, you guessed, 'Oh, Holy Night'. All of us had so much fun!

On the second day we all slept in VERY late, and had breakfast at twelve! I can't go into so many details, it went so fast, but we had so much fun! On Sunday, we got up a little earlier, ate breakfast, packed the car, and then the Warner's and the DeWolf's had a family worship time. It was really fun to see how they did Church. I have never experienced using prayer books and written prayers like that! It was hard to leave, but we'll see them again soon, hopefully! Right now I'm sitting in my Aunt and Uncle's house, and this is a particularly comfortable couch! I also have to finish getting ready to go to Grandma D's, so goodbye! See you soon!

                                                        ~Avery

Idolatry

1 Corinthians 10:14

"Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry."

idolatry |īˈdälətrē|nounworship of idols.• extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone
While Jesus sat in my chair this week, he pressed this into my heart. So, in reading the definition, you might get confused, I mean, how thin is the line through revering someone/something, and idolizing them/it? I don't have the answer. What I do know I'll tell you about. Can you think of something off the top of your head that you don't think you could live without? Not the necessities, like food and water, but something that if you really tried, you would at least be alive without it. For me, a lot of things come to my mind. A mirror, the Internet, friends, and control are just a few. Jesus told me to look at my life, and see what was placed higher in my mind than him. Let me tell you this, he wasn't number one. There were many other things that I spend more time with, put more thought into, and think about more often. 
What does the bible have to say about who takes first place in my heart?
Exodus 23:33

"They must not live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me. If you serve their gods,   

                                 you will be caught in the trap of idolatry." 

Now, this might sound like it has no meaning at all, but for those of you who went to CYIA, you might remember Kevin's speech about sin in the camp? (Basically it was about not letting sin gain a foothold, because it will be even harder to destroy it.) Well, I thought this verse went along well with that topic! If you think of the "They" as the world, or sin, trying to move into your "camp" or heart, it makes more sense! Now, sin's gods will not look like the pagan gods we know are wrong! My idols aren't wooden statues, they exist in my mind. I'm pretty sure we've all been taught that worshipping Satan is wrong, but what about are own image? What about praise, and love? Some of the things we worship are good, but is anything good if it's placed in our hearts before Jesus? Idols aren't always easy to find sometimes, and sometimes you have to take it away to see what it is! Right now I need to keep evaluating myself, and be alert for anything I might worship other than God!  I need to keep spending time with Jesus!

                                                                     ~Avery

Life of Avery

This is just a test, to see if our music video will work on here! (It's one of the bloopers for it:)

So, because Chloe said I could copy her good idea, here is a recap of this Friday:)   

7:30-Oh, yeah, I have to get up on time today! Mom said we all had to be up by 8:00... (My logic in the morning is NOT so sound!) 

7:40- Now I'm ready for the day... I'll just stumble through the dark basement until I find the stairs... wait, it's dark, that means I'm up before Savanna! *fist pump* Oh lovely, upstairs is mostly dark too, that mean only Mom and Dad are up...I guess I'll just go on pinterest...

8:00- Oh good! Mom is out in the kitchen! Now I can eat breakfast! I help Mom get packed, and collect the food she'll need in Kansas City, and eventually Savanna comes up. 

8:30- Mom and Dad are ready to go, and we all get our goodbyes and instructions. Bye bye! I know they'll have fun...

8:45- Now for school, today I'll be diligent because Mom isn't here... (really) Okay, so there were a couple trampoline breaks, and some snack breaks, but I got most of it done! 

12:00- Yes! Finally lunch! Now I can read... shucks, I have no new books:( Time to visit the bookshelf, of all the books I already read...

12:30- No time for school now, I have to get ready for Bright Lights! Well, maybe a little bit too much time! 

12:40- Well, back to school, we don't have to leave until 1:00! 

1:00- Now we can go! First we have to drop Sam off at Emily Weddle's, of course we have to stay a little while and talk! 

1:20- Now off to Bright Lights! (I can't really recap the whole thing, but it was fun!)

4:00- We return to Emily's to pick up Sam, and again stay to talk...

4:45- Time to make dinner! I start my gluten free pasta, I don't know how much to put in, so I guess... all of us kids do our chores and dinner prep. 

5:30- Sam decides we're going to have a fancy dinner. He and Savanna go to the grocery to pick up some 'glutinated' pasta. 

6:00- We are all  super dressed up and ready to begin! (Pictures will hopefully come next week:) We pour our cherry 7up into the wine glasses that we hope aren't too valuable... and begin our fancy dinner! 

6:30- We are busy talking laughing, and drinking soda, mostly talking about who would be who if we were Lord of The Rings characters! Olivia and Sam tried to convince me I am a mountain troll, their  reasons were that I'm bald, fat, and stupid... ?? I told them I was not. If you are wondering, I'm the One Ring, irresistible to all mankind. (There's a saying for you Beth!)

7:00- We all clean up dinner, and then wait for Savanna to finish piano practice, and dished out dessert!    

We all tramp downstairs to watch the new movie Monsters U. We all loved it! 

8:30- get ready for bed.... so tired... can't function....

9:30- Okay, time to stop reading! Lights out. 

Hope you enjoyed reading about my day:) 

~Avery

Motivation

So, volleyball is officially over for me! This year has been a blast, I couldn't have wish for a better team! Well, the sad thing about volleyball is that I don't get to see my friends every day, but I won't be as busy! This year I've given myself a challenge to not stop working out when volleyball is over, last year I was pretty "in shape"... not to Mrs. Marteney standards, but for me:) I stopped working out though, and I lost a lot of weight... not so good. This year I'm more motivated, because I know that I don't want to repeat last year! So, I've finally started running, my goal is four miles by christmas, I don't exactly know how that will happen, but my mind is set! (Trust me, it doesn't seem like much, but for me, after two miles, it seems like a lot!) Sam and Olivia want to work out with me too, so I lead them in "fun" twelve minute ab workouts, they haven't given up on me yet!! 

So, why is this post titled 'Motivation'? Well, today I wanted to talk about something that's been bugging me lately. Who am I working out for? Am I doing this for myself, God, or other people's opinions? Like I said at Bright Lights, (for those of you who go:) I want to be perfect, but am I doing this to be perfect, or for good reasons? I don't want to get sucked into the sinful thoughts of being perfect again! Remember how I said I needed to accept God's grace in my life? Well, this is part of my life! This is a hard question for me to answer. I'm praying for God to work in my heart, and as I run, I pray God would help me run for the right reasons! I've decided that I'm running to stay strong. 

Sorry for the short(er) post, this is a slightly hectic weekend:) 

Feel free to ask me about my running, I need some people to keep me on track other than myself:)

                                                                              ~Avery