Confident Young Women

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”

-- Nora Ephron

Stand Out Warning by George Hodan

This past week I had the opportunity to go to Girl's Camp. The last night we were there, all of the girls, including myself, got to participate in a Faith Hike. We walked to different locations where a speaker had a five minute talk on a specific subject prepared for us. Each of the stops were greatly touching and spiritual. At one of the stops the young woman, in her middle twenties, she said she asked ten of her guy friends what was most attractive in a young woman. All ten of them said "Confidence." We must learn to stand on our own two feet. This does not mean pushing away all help. It means not depending solely on the new trends and opinions of today's world. We must live with confidence, and ultimately, we will leave behind our years of being a victim, and emerge triumphant; a heroine.

Guest Author: A "scientific" view on Friendship

A short attempt at a reasonable Bio.

Mari is a good friend of both Emily and Kenzie, and she also claims she is a close acquaintance of Sherlock Holmes. She is a few hundred years old, or so she says, though we never quite figure out how she manages to look only slightly older than us. She spins words together in a creatively entertaining way, but you almost always have to reread them. Please, enjoy, and don't feel too bad if you're slightly perplexed, it will only make us feel better. ;) -- Kenzie and Emily

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”

― C.S. Lewis

Is it even possible to question the truth of this quote? 

Wait, it is? Okay, let's give you some examples, then.

*At Shakespeare Showdown*

Me: Guys, let's talk about cool space stuff that's really confusing! Do you think time travel is possible?

Random Stranger Wearing a Trench Coat: Yes, but we would need to advance our technology to the point were we could create a tesseract in order to do it.

Me: *Falls off Chair* Ah!!! You really actually just used the word "tesseract" in a sentence!!! In real life! Do you read Madeline L'Engle? 

Trench Coat Guy: Yes! And I also study really cool stuff pertaining to space!

Me: *Gasp* SO DO I!!!!

Trench Coat Guy: Let"s be friends.

Me: Agreed!

*Shake Hands*

(Note: The actual conversation may vary slightly from the above)

Space by Silviu Firulete

Let's take a quick sidetrack here and talk about Cultural Backgrounds.

Basically, each and every individual in this world has a cultural background. I'm not talking about things like Chinese cultural backgrounds, or Irish backgrounds, or Tatooine backgrounds, because even those do contribute, what is important in friendship is the individual, personal cultural background. Everybody has one, and I believe that there are not two in the world that are exactly a like. Even siblings, who are  raised by the same parents, live in the same home, and have the same experiences, have totally different backgrounds. "But Mari, how does having a different cultural background then everyone else in the world relate to me making friends?"

Good question, but it actually is highly relevant. And this is the part were the "What, you too? I thought I was the only one" comes in. We all have different cultural backgrounds, yes, but we also have cultural similarities. For instance, Trench coat guy and I share a cultural similarity of reading L'Engle, a good astronomy class, and an appreciation of well made overcoats. Another friend has the cultural similarity of appreciating children's television shows, philosophy, and the art of being a cool homeschooler. Anyway, my point is the more cultural similarities we have the more likely we are to become friends. What? Yes, of course there are other factors, but they don't pertain to the quote at the top of the page? You forgot what it was? How could you? Silly people, now you'll have to read this all over again. Mwa ha ha!

The End

Pioneer Day

“It is not easy to be a pioneer - but oh, it is fascinating! I would not trade one moment, even the worst moment, for all the riches in the world.”

-- Elizabeth Blackwell 

Barren Hills by Lilla Frerichs

What an attitude is that! I feel her enthusiasm popping with her words and it makes me want to sing praises and shout! In Utah today is Pioneer Day, the day we celebrate all of our Pioneer ancestors trekking to settle this desert land. We thank them for their determination and will power that has made this land beautiful. I myself have pioneer ancestors, and I am very grateful for all that they did, pulling a handcart across barren and cold land. I'm certain they did not all share Blackwell's view, at least not at every moment of their hard trek, but I am sure that they must have, at some point or other, felt the same determination, strongly enough to carry them on and complete their journey. Once again, we thank them for all that they did.

Roller Coaster

“There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come.”

--Victor Hugo

I love ideas. Just the word fills me with excitement, like a thrilling roller coaster ride. I chug along, putter putter putter putter, then reach the top, emotions go wild knowing in that split second the ride is about to truly begin. Then it whirls down, tossing my emotions together in a great big barrel. Fear, excitement, doubt, thrill, and joy. Then the ride ends, and breathe enters my body. And that's when I know, I need to do it again. So I get back in line, then putter putter putter putter, till the idea reaches its peak and I can't defy gravity. -- Kenzie

NJ Six Flags Rollercoaster by K Whiteford

Restful Sleep

Have courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake.

--Victor Hugo

I Sleep by George Hodan

Life is such a beautiful thing. Full of sorrow so that we might have joy. Full of work so that we might have rest. Yes, we need courage to help us carry on when it is too dark to see. And patience when we just have to wait them out, carrying on with our daily life. But the greatest reward is the rest, when we sit down on our aching bones and feel the satisfaction of our hard work and perseverance. Then while we sleep, God watches over us till we awake the next day. And then he gives us strength till we sleep again...

The Truth Will Make You Free

God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Free Flight by Steve Linster

I love this. The wording is perfect. The meaning is clearly expressed. You cannot be at peace when you don't live in accordance with the truth that you know. And once you begin to seek truth, it is a restless, never ending search. But at the same time, it is a happy search, because you are learning new things, and growing, and becoming a better person. And since that is what life is all about, then well-done. The truth has made you free.

Shallow Waters

"I am very careful to be shallow and conventional where depth and originality are wasted."
- L.M. Montgomery

I love this quote's subtle humor. To begin with, it implies that there are people you would not want too waste your charming personality on. The words dance on to slyly suggest that if you are entirely serious when you read them, perhaps you are one of those dull, oblivious people. Finally, you realize that in addition to this quote behind-the-scenes humor, we also get a full dose of Miss Montgomery's depth and originality. I guess she didn't think it was wasted on us! -- Emily

Diving Off Pier by Lilla Frerichs

A subtle tint of humor, and it twitches my lips into a smile, and causes a laugh to escape my throat. How true that sentence is! There have been times when I try to reverse the shallowness of a situation, and add "depth and originality", but so often it is discarded. I often give up my futile attempt and remember not to try again. Alas! What are we to do in shallow waters? Putter along like we're playing with a toddler, and when we find someone who can swim in the deep end, then perhaps I'll try a dive off the board. -- Kenzie

A Million Years

"Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground." 
-- Theodore Roosevelt

The Star Sun by Bobbi Jones

 There is something magical about stars, endlessly shining in a dark sea of black. I remember learning that it can take thousands, maybe even millions, of years for a star's light to reach our eyes on earth. I love to gaze up at them, and when I do, I feel like anything is possible. If I can see their light after a million years of travel through space, I can make a mark in the world. So even though my eyes gaze ever upward, I plant my feet firmly here, and add to my intricate painting of life. Even if it takes me a million years, I'll shine through.

Inner Fire

“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” -- Albert Schweitzer

Our Freedom

There is an aura of grandeur about the dull routine of maintenance.... It is easier to build than to maintain. Even a lethargic or debilitated population can be galvanized for a while to achieve something impressive, but the energy that goes into maintenance of things in good repair day in and day out is the energy of true vigor.... It is easier to win our freedom, build a nation and subdue a continent, than it is now to maintain that freedom, and live peaceably with ourselves.

-- Eric Hoffer and Clifton G. M. Kerr

Baking by George Hodan

What can I add to such simple truth? All I have to do is look at my bedroom to see the logic behind this statement. Or even dishes... bake a beautiful cake =  messy pan, bowl, spatula, whisk, etc. And yet, we clean it up, and bake a cake another day. Why? Because the reward is so much greater. Our freedom is so precious. So beautiful and unique. We must step up and be valiant to protect our freedom. The taste is too great to savor only to lose it now. We have something special here in America that many places don't have. We have freedom. It is up to us now to maintain that freedom. -- Kenzie

Tomorrows' Freedom

For in the end, freedom is a personal and lonely battle; and one faces the fears of today so that those of tomorrow might be engaged.
- Alice Walker 

Red Arrows by David Green

This has a melancholy feel to it. Full of despair, perhaps hurt or anger. It is like a man taking his dying breathe, accepting his fate because there is nothing else to do. Yes, freedom can be lonely, and we must face our fears every singe day. But we forget the hope of tomorrow as well. With each new fear triumphed, we gain one small ounce of hope. And that is the reason we must live till tomorrow, even with a new volley of fears prepared to shoot us down. We will stand strong, because we have hope in a greater freedom.

For Freedom

“Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.”

--Pericles

This week we celebrate the beginning of our country. We revere and commemorate the great words penned by Thomas Jefferson, that declared the independence of the United States of America. I cannot write anything that might adequately express the feelings of Americans this week. Instead, I will borrow the words of Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

We cannot voice our gratitude in a way that will do our founding fathers justice. We can express our thanks and honor their sacrifice far better by following in their steps. Their offering must not have been made in vain. This week we re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of freedom. We choose to defend our liberty.