Graduation - One Year Later

My parents and I at my graduation
ceremony last May. :)

One year ago, I graduated high school. It was a very monumental day in my life. I had been homeschooled "all the way"- from preschool through high school. I was privileged enough to participate in a state-wide graduation ceremony for homeschoolers. There were about 125 of us!! It was a wonderful ceremony though, and the speaker gave a wonderful message about always remembering how God is right next to us. I was also thankful to celebrate it with my family and several of our close friends, who had been inspirations to me as I grew up.

I knew that I did not want to pursue college. I felt that the Lord has called me to be a wife and mother someday. I also feel that He has given me a talent for writing (at least I hope so), and He has definitely given me a passion for it. I chose to pursue medical transcriptioning as a way to work from home. Hopefully this is something I could do before, and possibly even after, I have a family. But of course I still plan to pursue writing.

And now here I am a year later, and I am about to graduate again. This time from medical transcriptioning school. I'm not there quite yet, but I'm in my final session and should graduate in June. I'm getting very excited!! I am so thankful for all the support I've had from my friends and family, and from the Lord. My future is unknown to me, but I'm excited to see what He will make of it. :)

~Brooke

I Love My Mother!!

So this post basically equates to a Mother's Day post. Yes I know, very late. :) I love my mother. A LOT. I'm thankful that she was willing to give up working a job outside the home to stay home and homeschool me and later my brother. I'm thankful for the instruction and teaching she has given me over the years and continues to give me. I'm thankful that she is patient with me and understanding, even when we don't see eye to eye. And my mother and I are very different at times! We have very different personalities. Together we have had to learn how the other works, and be patient towards each other in that way. We understand that the way she and my father raised me is very different from the way she was raised. And so, I love my mother! And I have no doubt that she loves me as well. I love you mom!!

~Brooke

Out of Thin Air

This is the first blog post I ever wrote. :) Hope you enjoy it.
God’s timing is perfect. Sometimes we might not think so, but it always is. It can be hard to wait- whether it is for a husband, a child, or anything else. We don’t like to be patient. We think we need it now, or at least in our own time frame. But the truth is, the world operates on God’s time frame. Which, by the way, is much better than anything we could come up with. Again and again he has demonstrated his perfect timing.

I was about 14 or 15 years old. I had very few friends, was rejected by kids at church because of my beliefs, and felt very alone. Then one day, almost out of thin air, God sent me a friend. She lived in a totally different state, but we became close friends through email. He actually provided me with 2 close friends- at the very time I needed it most. His perfect timing.

Sometimes I wonder where God is going to find a husband for me. Will he just pull one out of thin air? He could. He provided friends for me seemingly out of thin air. Why not a husband? This is the God who made the world in 6 days- out of thin air. He saved me through his grace and mercy. He planned out the salvation of the world. Do I really think he can’t plan out my very small life? I must trust him. Trust that his will, his plan, and his timing are perfect. Because they are.

And once I truly trust him, he will make things happen in his time. Even if he has to pull someone out of thin air.

~Brooke

Blog Makeover!!!

Well, as you all can see, we have gotten a makeover!!!! What do you think? A HUGE thanks to my dear friend Hannah over at A Homemaker's Daughter. She did the entire thing, and she did an awesome job!! I got to pick out the colors and some of the designs, so of course I had a lot of fun with that. :)

Let me know what you think of the new design!!!! I'm always open to any comments or feedback.

~Brooke

The Preacher and the Teenager

This is a short story I wrote recently. I appreciate any feedback and/or comments. I hope you like it. :)    

 The preacher closed his Bible and began giving his closing remarks. He looked out through the crowd gathered in church that morning. His eyes again rested on that girl. Normally she paid attention to what he was saying up there, but today she had been texting throughout the entire sermon. As he finished up and sat down in his usual seat, he was still thinking about her. He shook his head. Teenagers. What was to be done with them? He was going to have to have a talk with her now.

    Church ended, and he quickly made his way to her pew. He grabbed her elbow and pulled her to the side.

     “Elizabeth, I need to talk to you,” he said.

     “Okay… what’s up?” He could tell she was slightly puzzled.

     “Well, when I’m preaching, I can see everyone. A lot of people forget that. They think they can do things secretly, and no one will know. But God knows, and more often than not, I do too,” he paused for a breath. She was silent. He tried again.

     “Look Elizabeth, I saw you texting during church today. I know that you texted throughout the entire sermon, and you probably can’t remember a single point from my message.” He fixed her with a look that he hoped would make her feel remorseful.

     But to his surprise all she said, in a very quiet voice, was “You’re right.” They stared at each other for a bit longer, waiting.

     “I really need to go now,” she said and walked away, pulling out her cell phone again.

     To say the least, he was very surprised she hadn’t tried to defend herself or argue. She didn’t even seem sorry. She probably didn’t even care. He went on his way, wondering what good teenagers even were.

*******************************************************************

     The next Sunday the preacher noticed with a smug smile that Elizabeth didn’t pull out her phone even once during church. He also saw that she had brought a friend with her. Probably another rebellious teenager, he thought. But he decided to be nice and went to introduce himself, welcome her, and ask what had brought her there.

     He was shocked at what he heard.

     “I am so thankful to be here today sir. You see, last Sunday I was going to kill myself. I didn’t think I had anything worth living for. I had the gun to my head.” Tears filled the young woman’s eyes.

    “But then my cell phone went off. Elizabeth had texted me. Just to say hi and that she loved me. And I couldn’t help replying. Because it had been a long time since someone had said that to me. So we texted for hours, and she told me of this Jesus who loves me too. And well… that stopped me. So now I’m here to hear more about this Jesus. And I have. And I realized he loves me more than any human ever could. And I want to love Him too.”

     When everyone had left church that day, the preacher was still there. He knelt on his knees near the front row. And there he prayed that God would forgive his foolishness, as tears filled his own eyes.

*******************************************************************

     ‘Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?’ –James 2:2-4

      “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” -1 Timothy 4:12

~Brooke

Kansas City Convention!!!

The view of the city from the 32nd floor. :)

This past weekend my family and I, along with about 30 other people from our church, were blessed to attend the Leadership Training for Christ (LTC) convention in Kansas City, Missouri. We had a wonderful, fabulous time, and the Lord was certainly working! The kids did events such as Bible bowl, Bible quiz, Bible reading, speech, poetry, Live Drama, song leading, photography, scrapbook, and more. They were awarded either a bronze, silver, or gold medal. I don't think anyone got lower than a silver! Well the Live Drama was what I was so nervous about. I had been working with the kids on it for months. I tried to give them some last minute tips, and then just prayed that they could do their best. They were amazing!! They gave a wonderful performance for the judges, and got a gold medal for it. And as if that wasn't enough, their drama was chosen for the encore performance!! They got to perform it for over 1,000 people!! I was so proud of them. :) Not only did the kids all do very well, they spent a lot of time in God's word to prepare for the conference. I know they have done a lot of growing. That is a great thing to see.

Well if all that wasn't good enough, I also got to spend a lot of time with some of my best friends!! We stayed up into the wee hours of the morning talking, telling silly jokes, jamming on the keyboard, singing, and just enjoying each other's company. I have come back so encouraged. :)

So I hope this encourages you, and if your church is not involved in something like LTC, look into it!!

~Brooke

Homeschooling

Okay so I want to talk a minute about homeschooling. I am a homeschool graduate. And I have to tell you that I absolutely LOVED it! Sure it wasn't always easy... but in the end I think it was all worth it. The fact that my family chose to homeschool was definitely a God thing. My mother tells me how she never even was considering homeschooling. She thought she had everything planned out - she had a job that she absolutely loved. But then after she had me, she realized that she did not want to have to continue to leave me everyday. The Lord started drawing her towards homeschooling. She did a lot of research on it. And eventually she and my father decided that she would stay home and homeschool me and then later my brother. So I was homeschooled from day 1. And yes, I would choose to homeschool any and all of my future children. Homeschooling allows you to teach your children the way God shows us in His word, and it allows us to avoid the public school's agenda. Homeschooling allows us to give our children a Biblical worldview. It allows us to raise them with Christ being the center of their lives. It allows us to protect them from the evil influences of the world. So yes, I am a super big fan of homeschooling. :)