Thursday 24 November 2011

Thanksgiving Proclamation


"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."

—George Washington 1789
RebeccA.

Give Thanks to Our Maker

Psalm 95: 1-6 " Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come to his presencs with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it and his hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before our Maker!"

Thanksgiving, what a reminder of how every day we should be thankful not just one day a year but every day of every year.  It is so easy to get caught up in life that we tend to not make a habit of thanking the God who has created it all and has given us each breathe, each day and each year we live here on earth.
So as you are celebrating this wonderful day our fore fathers have set aside. Thank the Lord above for the wonderful works of His providence in our lifes. And remember that each day we are given a new day to live it out for Christ and His Kingdom! What an exciting way to live!! :)
RebeccA.

Monday 21 November 2011

7th and 8th day in TN!

Did I mention the sunrises were beautiful!!



I love this one!! And all these picture are from the 8th day.
Well I did not write or take pictures on the 7th, but I did talk about it on the 8th day. So here is a little from my journal :
Tuesday Nov. 8th 2011
"Since I did not write yesterday I will briefly go over what we did. Because we had lost some time last week because people were sick, are day was quite compact. We had two sessions over a internet conference with Amy, a midwife that was apart of ATI for a while. Which was neat to hear her view and her stories of birth. This was followed by may more sessions by our staff with us. Which gave us little time to be out side.
Today like every day this week, we went for a walk around 6am followed by breakfast and then we plunged right back into out studies. We had some sessions of post pardon (after the baby is born), We got the opportunity to get an idea of how to start a business of being a doula, once we finish the course. We ended the evening with the "0" birthday Part. We played games and really just enjoyed our last evening together a a class.
What an experience this has been. I am very thankful God has given me this opportunity to come and learn all that I have!!" ~RebeccA.

Tuesday 15 November 2011

6th Day on TN Trip.

The Sunrise on Sunday Morning
"Today was a very restful day. That was most needed!! Because we had two more come down with the flu last night, we ended up not going to church today. We had bible study and watched a sermon/ conference video instead. We then had a bit of lunch. Afterwards, we were free to do as we please. I ended up having a head ache in which I took a hour and a half nap, that was most needed. I worked on a paper that is due on Wednesday and then was able to walk the halls before dinner. For dinner we had chicken noodle soup which really hit the spot!!
This evening I am finishing it off with a phone call goodnight to dad, a cup of Sleepytime tea (which I really like!!) and a bit of bible reading and maybe some book reading, from Joyfully at Home. Well more is to come about my happenings here in TN." ~Sundays Journal entry, RebeccA.

Monday 14 November 2011

The 5th Day, Saturday!!

Saturday November 5th 2011
I woke up to an over cast day.

But soon it turned into a beautiful sunny day!!

We had a little extra time that day, so I took some pictures around the place we were staying at.



Chandelier on the ground floor.
 
Ground floor looking to your left. See the grand piano!!
 
Looking to your right, a office/ meeting room.
 
A little book store.
 
There were SO many mirrors on that floor.... I some times scarred myself by walking by one... lol

"Today was a long day, spent going over the curriculum we are doing for the next 10 months. And boy it is packed! There are 2 dead line dates, 5 months apart, but in that time you are sending in a month by month completion of your work.  I am very thankful they gave us an over view of it all because when I was looking it over myself, it was very over whelming. But today made it clear of what my next year of life is going to look like.... allot of work!
Well the flu bug is among us. We have 2 of our 3 staff down with it and my roommate Tabitha isn't feeling well either. We are praying that it doesn't spread. As for Lydia, Galenna and I, we have been feeling great. We have been walking out side every chance we get, for the weather had been very nice, warm and 70 deg!! What a change from home. " My journal entry for that day. Which sums up what we were up to.
Thanks for reading!! RebeccA.

Saturday 12 November 2011

3rd and 4th Day in TN

The 3rd day on our trip was fully packed of teachings. Which I didn't take any pictures that day to share with you. :(  And what ever free time we had, was mostly spend outside, enjoying the nice weather!!

But on the 4th day, Friday, after bible study and a few sessions we toured a birthing center.


They had these all over, sticks in between glass on the doors and walls. I thought it was a neat idea.
We saw the birthing rooms (empty of course :) we found out about the basic process, all of which we had learned, but we were able to kinda put it in prospective when your there. We saw a suite room, where the mother and baby are transferred to after birth. And then best of all we got to see a few little ones in the nursery area. They were all so sweet!! Following the tour we had a few more sessions in between meals and resting.
Thats the story so far, with more to come!! ~ RebeccA.

The Quotable Lewis


C.S. Lewis on Creation:
I love to find neat photos from google!! :)

"No philosophical theory I have yet come across is a radical improvement on the words of Genesis, that "in the beginning God made Heaven and Earth"

When you study, venture on, and see from afar the work of Gods hand. You (or at least I) can't imagine not giving all the glory back to God. This last week was one I found myself in amazement. God has created the human body so intricately, that every part serves a purpose for the whole being. This brings me to a reverence and godly fear of the one who knows me from the inside out. Also it brings thankfulness to my heart, for I know that God is and knows all things, that I do not have to fear what the future may bring!
Thanks for Reading, ~RebeccA.

Friday 11 November 2011

2nd Day in TN

On the 2nd we had the oprotunity to do some more walking around, becuase the conferince didn't start until 4pm that day. But instead of walking about inside we walked out side....

The morning sun rise from my bedroom window.
The weather in TN was very nice!!! Clear skys, 70deg. and a slight breeze!! It felt like a nice Septmber day at home, except in November!! What a nice change from rain and 40deg. back at home! :)

This is the front itnrence now, that leads to the ground floor.
 
The Sign out side

I thought the street name was neat... Due West.

This is Part of the Parking Lot, where we walked by allot through out the week. I just LOVED the colors!!
 
When we walked, we went around the edge of the parking lot and part of the way around the street. Where we saw lots of brick houses.

I have never seen a red and orange fire hidgerent. So I took a picture of it!! :)


We also passed a patch of bamabo. Something different.
We walked practally all day, which was a nice change from the day before. Around 2pm classmates began to arive and we got meet them before class. That evening are class was an introduction to what a doula is, which is some one who helps the mother through birth. Supporting, encouraging and helping her and her family in any way. What a neat way to serve a family!! :)
Thants all I have for now!!
~RebeccA.

Thursday 10 November 2011

The First day of the Trip to TN!

As I have mentioned in a later post, I left on the 1st to TN!!  What a trip it was!! There was no internet access so I am way behind on posting about all that we did and learned. So I am very excited to share with y'all the fun that I had!! So here is what I would have said that evening.
 November 1st  2011
Today is the day we left today for Nashville TN!! What a long day!! We flew for over 8 hours, leaving at 9am and getting here at 7pm Central time (2hour difference from home). We had one plane we were on but we made two stops before arriving at our destination. We stoped first in Phoenix AR, then in Dallas TX, and finally at Nashville TN. Here are some pictures from the flight, when I had the window seat!! Which was between Arizona and Texas.


Every thing is so small!!

Some sort of mountain/ hills. Besides these, everything was flat land, what a change from home.
 
Seeing circles!!

More circles!! :)
 
Pac Man seen from above!! :)

Now Lydia, Galena and I arrived a day early, due to the fact that we could not find any reasonable flights that left the day of the first class. Now this conference was held at a old hospital out side of Nashville. What a large building!! Though we couldn't see it when we arrived but it sits on 42 acres, mostly concrete, from the parking lot. There will be more about that later.
So we to got unpacked and got to meet the three instructors, Grace, Krystin, Meagen and her little 9 month daughter Aspen!! All such nice ladies!!


There were 9 girls in the course and each door they labeled with a verse under there name.
 
After we got our stuff in our rooms, we decided to go exploring this huge building we were staying in. We found that there are 6 floors and a basement. We were aloud to "explore" the ground floor, and the 1st and 2nd. The ground floor was very nice, with a grand piano, a bookstore, and a office/ meeting area.( I think I have some pictures of the ground floor, I will post them later)  The first floor was a conference type floor, with a auditorium. There were allot of halls with no lights and a chill in the air. And then the floor that we were staying on, had allot of hotel like rooms. We also found out that there is a family living/ taking care of the place, and they live on the 3rd floor. And then the 5th floor is offices for ACE, Accelerated Christian Education. In which 80 people come in each day to work. The rest of the building is for the most part unrenovated, with dark cold halls, and some rooms are still in the same state as it was when they closed the hospital down. I would have to say that is was alittle creepy... Well soon after that we decided it had been a long day and in need of some shut eye.
Well there you have it the adventures of the first day!! Stay tuned for more to come!! :)
Thanks for reading, ~RebeccA.


Saturday 5 November 2011

The Quotable Lewis

Thoughts on Priorities:
"You can't get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first."
And
"Put first things first and we get second things thrown in, put second things in and we loose both first and second things." ~C.S. Lewis from Letters of C.S. Lewis
It is easy, when you have lots to do, to mix up the order in which you plan out your day. These two quotes are a reminder to me to take the first things that need to be done and do them. Then to move on to the next. This will not only help your day or pans go smoothly but will in the long run get the things that need to come first, actually be done first!
~RebeccA.