My wonderful Family!

Here is our family picture that was taken at Thanksgiving. 

So... what do you think, aren't we a good looking Family? :o)

-Destiny

Thanksgiving!

Hey y'all! I just wanted to leave a quick note and tell you all that I had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It just couldn't have got better! God is good... so very good (can I hear an amen?!?) :o)

Anyway, if I you could all tell me how your Thanksgiving was, that would be superb! Could you do that for me?? I would love to hear about it!

Alright, I need to go, but just so you know... I shall be posting pictures of our Thanksgiving soon!

God bless,

-Destiny

The Jr. Tournament

Duo partners. 1st place. They rock!!!

Grandpa with all the boys. So cute! :)

Jonathan, Abigail, Jared and Mercy. Aren't they all adorable!

The worship team (however, Karissa wasn't in this pic...)

Karissa and I

Here are some of the pictures that were taken from the jr. tournament which was actually about a week ago. I'm sorry they're so late.. but, they're better late then never! :D

Anyhow, all the kids did great! Here are the results for those of you who don't know:

• Duos: Maylee and Murren 3rd (The Parent Trap), Cassie and Esther 2nd (Sleeping Beauty), Abigail and Mercy 1st (Helen Keller)-
• Poems: Levi 3rd, Maylee 2nd, Abigail 1st-
• Scripture: Abigail 3rd, Esther 2nd-
• Open Interpretation: Jared 1st-
• Expository: William 2nd (Signs), Mercy 1st (Cats)-
• Apologetics: Esther 1st-

They all did really good and I am a very proud older sister and cousin!

God bless,

-Destiny

[note: for more pictures go here and here ]

Christian Concert

Francesca Batistelli

Logan Martin (he has an amazing voice!!! I got one of his c.d's! :)

If you haven't noticed, Karissa and I take much pleasure in taking silly pictures of ourselves (especially with Kaila's phone, and then putting the pic as the wallpaper! oh yeah!! :D) 

Emily, Kaila, Karisa and I

David, Dylan and Alex

Emily, Kaila, and I

Karissa and I

Last night I had the pleasure of going to an amazing Christian concert with all my family, cousins, and some friends! It was awesome!!! We saw 3 different artists who all had outstanding voices and glorified the Lord through the concert! We actually got our pictures taken with each one of them, but they weren't taken with this camera (maybe someone else will post them:).

Anyways, I hope you like the pictures! I need to get going, I need to get ready for ice-skating! Yup, that's right! I get to go ice-skating, one of my absolute favorite things to do! Okay, I need to go!

God bless y'all,

-Destiny

Can you do it?

Alright, you might all be wondering what the heck this silly little "thing" is ... well, it's something that I have tried and  tried to draw but to no success!! 

Many of you might be saying to yourself, "What are talking about... I could draw that anytime!"

Well, that's until you figure out there are rules to making this "thing". 

Rules: 

• You can't cross over any of the lines that you have already made (you can't backtrack any lines) -
  
• You have to draw the whole "thing" without lifting your pencil from the paper-

Now, you try and do it... and if you figure it out... call me! (or I guess you could just leave a comment).. :P

-Destiny

Drawing-

Original picture

[sorry about this picture being side-ways... I just can't get it to go strait!!]

Here is a drawing I did of my Grandma Dot when she was a little girl. Wasn't she cute!?!?! :) 

I gave this drawing to her for her birthday... and, uhh... I'm not sure if she liked... [she shed tears...] :o) 

I was so afraid I wouldn't get it done in time. I was actually drawing it on the way to the party! I really cut it close!! :D But, now it's done... *sigh*...

Well, I hope you like it! Tell me what you think... please:D

-Destiny

Of such-and-such

The Whole Crew!

The "Older kids" :) 

Samuel, Emma, David, Destiny (me) and Devin

The "Lil' kids" 

Abigail, Jared, Rhiana, Mercy, Kayleigh and Jonathan

Carmaan and I

These past couple of weeks my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins came to visit us from Kentucky! It's been so wonderful getting to see them again. The last time I saw them Kayleigh wasn't even born, and Rhiana was still just a lil' baby girl!

We've had a wonderful time with them. Oh, and about the pictures... well, these were taken late last night... (yup, David's really wearing his pj's :P)

 

Anyhow, I've also been very busy helping my younger siblings with the upcoming jr. speech tournament. I guess you could say we really didn't even start getting them ready till... um... like two weeks ago. So, they're really working hard! But, I know they'll do good, cause they're always good!!! :) Also, Kaila, Karissa, Alex, David and I will be leading worship at he jr. tourney, so we've been doing a lot a practicing!

Oh, and I wanted to save the last bit of news because it's really, really special... HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA DOT!!!!!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful day! You have been so loving, kind, encouraging and just completely amazing! I love you most, most, most (I said it last... :D)!!!  And also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLEE ANDERSON!!!! You are such a cute and kind little cousin! I hope you have a great day as well!

God bless,

-Destiny

Four Communication Gaps-

Four Communication Gaps that you must use to interpret and apply the bible correctly:

1.  Language Gap-
2. Culture Gap-
3. Geography Gap-
4. History Gap-

1) Bridging the Language Gap: 

-Even scripture itself says it will be hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16). If we distort the bible, and interpret it wrongly we will come to our own conclusions, which most of the time can be wrong.

-One of the reasons there are so many misinterpretations is because we don't understand the language Gap- 
-Some words just don't translate well from age to age and time to time-

-There are some vs.' that tell us clearly what to do and how to act that are easy to understand (Colossians 3:13, Ex 20:12, etc.) But, there are others that are hard to interpret (John 6:58, Matt 16:18-19, etc.).

- Example: Meekness:

• 2 Tim 2:25 - Since our culture defines meekness almost as "weakness", this vs. could be very misunderstood. People could say that since this vs. says to instruct one-another with meekness, that that would mean we shouldn't really instruct one-another at all. It's considered more loving in our culture not to even confront people with their sins, but just to leave them alone. We see that in the bible meekness wasn't defined as "weakness", but, it was defined as "power put under control." This definitions is almost the complete opposite of what the world views meekness as. 
  

So, we see that by checking the language gap we will be able to interpret the bible much easier.

2) Bridging the Culture Gap:

-Cultures are different. We can't interpret the bible in 20th century America and forget the fact that cultures do indeed change!

-If you ignore the culture gap, you can and will end up misinterpreting scripture. 

-Our culture has changed very much when we compare it to the culture of that of the bible. 

- Here are 3 questions you must ask yourself to make sure you can bridge the culture gap-

• 1. What can I learn from history about the culture of that date and place that might impact my interpretation of the passage?
• 2. Can the meaning of the words in the original language shed some light on this subject?
• 3. Is there anything else in scripture on this same subject that will help me understand the passage?

Remember to always ask these 3 questions when you are studying or even just reading the bible.

3)Bridging the Geography Gap:

-In modern maps we see that Jerusalem is under Jericho. But, when we read the bible, some passages say "They traveled down to Jericho from Jerusalem." 

-Many people have used these passages to prove that the bible is wrong. However, if we simply look at the land, we will realize that when you travel to Jericho you are 'literally' traveling downwards. 

-So, we must know the Geography gap in order to interpret the bible correctly!

4) Bridging the History Gap:

-You have to understand the historical settings of people in order to understand scripture. 

-We see that Pilot (in Jesus' time) came into Jerusalem with a complete different history then the Jews knew him as. You must know the history of people in the bible to interpret it rightly!

-But, you must know that in order to apply this gap, you must already have applied all the other gaps as well.

-Destiny

A Little Model-

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Here are a few picture of my beautiful little sister Abigail! I dressed her up and put make-up on her. It sure was so very fun! 

Don't you agree with me that she could become a little girl model? :) 

Please tell me which picture(s) you like best!

-Destiny