A Saga of Many Things...

Ah! My first blog post in months! I have to say, it's nice to finally have the inspiration to sit down and write once again. My recent completion of some truly amazing novels have helped to fuel it, I believe.

School-wise things have been going quite well.  Although I sometimes miss the perks of homeschooling, I still love public school. Getting to see and meet people has opened many doors for me, and getting to see friends is fun everyday. I can honestly say that I have become much more outgoing and more confident in social situations since I started.

The other day I finally got around to finishing the book my brother gave me for Christmas, Kestrel's Midnight Song. It was spectacular, and truly breathtaking, which was no surprise after all of the raving reviews I had heard. It deserves a post of its own and a full review, which hopefully I will someday produce. If not, I will leave you with this: J.R. Parker will not leave you disappointed or angry, but fulfilled and happy and waiting for his next work to hit the shelves.

I also just finished, literally a few hours ago, Immanuel's Veins by Ted Dekker. You all know that I'm a HUGE Dekker fan, and this latest work just proved to me why I am. I was a bit.... puzzled by the first part. Puzzled is not quite the right word. I don't know what would be. But as I neared the 50% mark (yes, I was reading on my Kindle :D ) I began to see things more clearly. The ending delivered a powerful message that left emotion clogged in my throat until just recently. After I had read the final word of that book I wanted to run around the house screaming, "I've been saved by the blood!!"

Oh! Saturday, I went to a monster truck show in Rapid City with the family and found it quite.... disappointing. :(  I guess I just went in with too high of expectations. A couple of trucks roared around in a circle and drove over a pile of cars a couple of times. I was expecting a few more cars to be crushed, but I suppose.... The arena was awfully tiny. The motorcyclists were pretty cool though! They performed some amazing tricks. 

And so as this day draws to a close, so does my spring break. My nights of staying up until three watching movies and reading and lounging about all day. So ends my freedom from school and homework. So ends my freedom of the never ending bus rides! So ends my freedom of wearing sweat pants all day! So ends my freedom of!....... Ahem, well, yes. Anyway. I am very sad that my spring break is coming to a close, but it does mark the beginning of that last final stretch before spring actually begins. Before the snowing finally becomes more and more infrequent, before the tiny blades of green grass begin to push up from the soil, before the meadowlarks begin their constant singing, and before I can finally stop wearing a sweatshirt all the time because it's so cold EVERYWHERE. Sadly even in the school. >_> Yes, I am very much looking forward to spring and summer. But until then we shall have to be content with the current conditions of many things.

Farewell for now!

In His Service,
Brenna

What in the World is Going On? by Dr. David Jeremiah

From the Back Cover:
The Bible has plenty to say about end times. But until now, there has been no other book that-in straightforward prose that's easy to understand-gathers ten scriptural prophecies, lays out a chronological checklist, and offers a guideline for sorting it all out. In What in the World Is Going On? Dr. David Jeremiah answers the hard questions, including these: How is prophecy playing out in modern Europe? Why does Israel matter? How are oil reserves and Islamic terrorism related? Does the United States play a role in prophecy? How should we live in the end times? 





Events unfolding in today's world are certainly unsettling, but they need not be confusing or frightening. Now you can know the meaning behind what you see in the daily news-and understand what in the world is going on!

~--------~

By the time I had finished reading the first page- no, the first sentence- of What in the World Is Going On? I was completely sucked in. When I stayed up late into the night reading the first chapter, I felt as though I knew more about Biblical prophecy and the end times than I ever had in my whole LIFE. And that was only chapter 1 of 10!
Everything, from the rapture to the return of Christ, was explained in a simple and cohesive manner that never confused me or caused me to have to stare at the page for ten minutes before I finally understood what Dr. Jeremiah was trying to get across.
If I ever need to explain to someone what will take place during the end times, I know I can always pick up What in the World Is Going On? and the Bible and be totally equipped to make a clear explanation.

Easily, this book has earned itself 5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat.


This complimentary copy of What in the World Is Going On? was given to me by Booksneeze.

Six Reasons Why Magazines Are Stupid

Okay, so that's actually quite an exagerated title. Magazines aren't really stupid... just some things about them are. =P In fact I used to LOVE getting my American Girl magazine in the mail every other month... I even now like flipping through my little brother's Lego magazine and looking at the Star Wars sets. But as we were traveling to Nebraska yesterday my mom was reading a few magazines and these things popped into my head.   6 things about magazines that I find silly:

1. You can read a 200 page magazine in about fifteen minutes to half an hour. It takes about 1-4 hours (just a guess) to read a 200 page novel (small print)

2. It's about the same things over and over again, basically. (How to shed 2 pounds in two weeks; How celebrity moms handle kids, husbands, and life; What the First Lady thinks about stuff; etc.)

3. The cover model's head usually covers part of the title.. I mean, what if a foreigner came over and was looking at the magazine rack in Wal-Mart?  They'd be like, "Goodeeping? [GoodHouskeeping] Reok? [Redbook] Outoorife? [OutDoorLife]"

4. You've got at least 30 pages with ads on there, and some of it isn't an ad! It's the side affects for Advil or something! And who wants to read THAT?

5. There usually aren't any useful columns... (unless you're reading something like a hunting magazine that tells you how to clean your duck decoys)

6. The recipes are beyond my cooking skills.


**This post is not meant to slam any magazines or offend their readers. It is for entertainment and amusing purposes only**

Haha, this post is more of a filler. I couldn't think of anything else to blog about XD

In His Service,
Brenna

I Was Tagged by This Crazy Dude....

Wow, I mean, WOW. This is SO awesome. TWO blog awards??!? Dude. This. Is. Wicked. Lol =P But seriously, it totally made my day when I found out I had been awarded twice by Nathan. These are what he gave me:

(I felt especially honored by this one)

Okay, now I'm supposed to answer these questions:

If you could write one word, what would it be?

Frolic

Use one word to describe yourself.

Unbalanced

What is something random about you/your writing that you'd like to say right now?

I hate writing from prompts. Besides the fact that I'm terrible at it, I think real, pure stories come from God, not other humans.

Think up an absurd title for a book.

The Lame (Current) Thoughts of Doofus, A Dead Dingo

What is the strangest sentence you can think of?

"Used to be I'd scream like a mashed cat when you wanted to spend that kind of money." (Something my dad said once...)

What do you write?

Mostly Christian fiction and fantasy, though right now I'm outlining sort of a love story *hears guys gagging in the background*

If you had a weird disease and could only make one sound over and over, what would it be?

Woof.

Here are the rules all ye tagged people must abide by:

1. Post about the award

2. Award 3 other people

3. Answer the tag

I hereby award these people: Brayden Hirsch, Silver Angel, and Jacob Parker



Now for the next one:


Awesome! I have a stylish blog? Neato :D

I have to list five random things (This is going to be fun...)

Pickles are tasty
Napkins are overrated
Skillet is amazing
I can't wait to get through "The Last Battle" so I can move on to "Venom and Song"
Night is the best time to read

I now give this award to: Seth Reid and Millard (you can post it on your regular blog, I just used this blog cause I couldn't remember the url to your other one =])

Same rules as last time apply.

That's all of 'em! Thanks again Nathan!

In His Service,
Brenna

Camp Grace 2010!!! WOOT!!!!

Last week I was at the most amazing, fun, cool, awesome, fantastic, enjoyable, great, and all around spectacular Christian camp in the whole wide world. It's located on a sort of smallish mountain in the Laramie Peak mountain range in Wheatland Wyoming. This was the fifth year I've attended the camp, and guess what? I was in the senior division! (and will be for the next three? years) 'Twas awesome =] I had the greatest cabin-mates, team-mates, class-mates, and teachers.

What do you do at this camp? That's easy: Learn about God and have a boat load of fun!

You have three classes throughout the day (mine were "The Revelation", "Grace U", and "Wild or Wise; What Will YOU Choose") You also have your three meals, recesses, a Singspiration time, a time to learn about missions, and crafts or recreation. Later is a clean up time, a rest and study period, and after that... SURPRISE TIME!!!! (will later go into a story about that...) Then you have cabin devotions, evening service, and then bed time.

Surprise time: This is where the counselors and camp helpers perform super funny skits AND it is also a time where campers can volunteer to do crazy things. What did I volunteer for? Camp Grace FEAR FACTOR! Me and a boy were chosen out of the crowd of campers and were sat on a bench and given, guess what, SPAM. Whoever ate the most spam in one minute won.
Now, for those of you who have never eaten spam or don't know what it is, it's this: DISGUSTING. It's this ground up mysterious stuff (kind of like no one knows what's in a hotdog) that's really greasy in a can, that old people tend to enjoy.
Anyways, I just started shoving the stuff in my mouth, and at one point I was sure I was going to give into my gag reflexes and vomit the stuff, but I used my awesome will power and continued eating it. I didn't have much competition though, because the other kid was just nibbling at it, and by the time a minute was up I had about two thirds of the stuff eaten. I won that round! Yay! But for the rest of the day my stomach wouldn't stop rolling. >_<
So then for the finals, I went against two boys and another girl who had won other rounds. The plate they gave us to eat off of had a dog biscuit on it, some oysters (thankfully not the Rocky Mountain kind, hehe), pickled beats (which I detest), and mashed pea baby food. I went for the dog biscuit first because that was a familiar food (I had eaten dog food as a little kid), then attacked the baby food, and got a few oysters eaten, but I looked over at Laura and all she had left was the baby food. So I quit eating then and she won. Yay Laura!!! =) I was very impressed by her iron stomach, because she didn't puke after all that.



My mom was a cook again this year, so that was fun to have her around (and get to shower in her private shower! Even though the only temperature on it was ice cold, I would much rather be cold than not have any privacy)

Oh, and we actually had a mouse in our cabin. ACK! So I had a couple of Oreos in that tube plastic wrapping, and I'd had it on my bed, but when I found out there was a mouse living with us, I put the oreos (in the wrapper) on the floor so the mouse wouldn't climb on my bed to get the tasty morsels. Thankfully when morning came I discovered that my oreos had made it through the night un-nibbled. YES!! =D

For recreation (I never do crafts) we got to play volleyball and an awesome game called Human Stratego (VERY FUN). Then on Thursday we got to climb up a hill for rec, and on Friday we got to have a water fight.

Two of the nights during the week were dress up nights where you dress up fancy-like, and then on one of them there's a talent show before chapel. I didn't participate, but some of my friends did, and they had some really cool stuff that they did!

On Friday night after chapel we all gather around a bonfire and people can come up and share their testimonies or tell about what God has been doing in their lives. It's a really neat event.

To view the rest of my CG pics, go here: http://img25.imageshack.us/g/life058.jpg/


Well, that's about all I have to say about camp. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings!

In His Service,
Brenna

Tribe Building!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper are doing Tribe Building again to promote their book, Curse of the Spider King, the first novel in the Berinfell Prophecies, and the second one in the series that you can pre-order on Amazon called Venom and Song.
This is an amazing opportunity to make friends, have something awesomely fun to do this summer, and get tons of great PRIZES!!!!!!
I'm participating in the SilverTree tribe again this year, led by Nathan R. Petrie (aka Keeneye). We heartily welcome new members! For more info on how to join you can go here: http://www.heedtheprophecies.com/theunderground/
Or shoot me an email! 1tallcowgirl@wildblue.net

In His Service,
Brenna

Top Five Books for April

5. This is a very difficult decision, but I think that Nightmares Edge by Bryan Davis has earned fifth place. I might not have enjoyed it as much because I had stopped it in the middle and then restarted a while later, but I also felt a little confused at times about what was happening. It moved super fast, and sometimes I had a hard time picturing what was going on.

4. BoneMan's Daughters by Ted Dekker. Okay, so the beginning of this one was great. And so we're all excited for the grand finale, the huge twist, and.... it just went pwooosh in the last few chapters. So I was left sitting there, thinking, "Wait, that's it? Wha- What happened? Where's the giant BOOM?" I don't know, but it seemed like it was just too easy for the main character, Ryan Evans, to defeat BoneMan.

3. Blink of an Eye by Ted Dekker. This book was amazing, and I learned a lot about Saudi Arabia =D It was just great. Nough said.

2. Green by Mr. Dekker. It made the Circle Trilogy come full circle. (I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself from the cheesy pun) It filled in so much stuff from the other Circle books and especially the Paradise Novels. Although it seemed to lack the strength the previous novels in the Circle had shown, it was still magnilicious. (Lol, Circle joke :D)

1!!!!. Numero Uno goes to..... *drum roll* Thr3e by Teddy Dekker!! Yay for mister Ted! *confetti*
Thr3e was just... just... breathtaking! It kept you guessing throughout the whole novel, which is what I love about Mr. Dekker. He is an amazing contemporary writer if there ever was one.

Thanks for reading!
In His Service,
Brenna