~ The Moon ~

I have always had a hard time getting night pictures.  Does anyone have any tips on how I could improve them or how to set up your camera to take them better?  They didn't turn out very clear though I used a tripod.

Our Bright Lights group is memorizing Psalm 119, we each have eight verses that we have to memorize in a month.   There are 22 sections of eight verses each in Psalm 119 and we have 23 girls.  The girls are all excited to get started!  It will be fun to be able to say that we have Psalm 119 memorized : )  I will record when we get together to recite it and share it with you all.

"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. " Isaiah 40:26

P.S.  Stay tuned for a portrait contest!

Yellow Flowers and a Testimony

I just have to share this wonderful testimony, I am so grateful to God for working everything out so perfectly! Our Bright Lights group meets every first and third Monday so when there is an extra Monday in a month (like November) sometimes a few girls get confused. Yesterday we had three girls come though it was an off week, to the first two we explained what had happened and they left, but as they were driving away dad said, "Oh! If only we would have thought a little sooner, we could have had them do a skit!"

 Not much later another girl showed up, this time she couldn't leave because her mom had already left. Usually the moms would come and check if they had come the right night if they don't see anyone else coming up the driveway, but because the two Realtors we had coming over were coming up the drive at the same time she thought it must be the right night and left.

 

Just the night before we had been discussing the next meeting as a family, and wanted to invite someone over to do a skit for the next meeting. I mentioned having a certain girl over because she is so good at drama and loves to perform. It happened to be the exact girl that came last night! God is great! We came up with a skit together and are all really excited to do it on Monday!

Bright Lights Clothing Exchange

On Monday we had a Bright Lights modest clothing exchange, it was a lot of fun!  The girls brought soooo many *cute* clothes!  I got some really nice things that I had been wanting, including a very nice-cute, big bag!  I haven't had a chance to take pictures of my things, but here are a few of the cute skirts that people brought.

This is a button that I made for our Bright Lights blog about the exchange, I thought that it turned out pretty good!

{As The Deer}

At our Bright Lights banquet the girls sang As the Deer with sign language! They did a great job!

Bright Lights Banquet~

~Haley put to gerhter a nice litttle program of the nights activities ~

: : My wonderful brother Vince helping grill the meat : :

+There were a lot of nice conversations+

Some of my wonderful Bright Lights freinds!

 

* Cute smiles *

One of our wonderful Bright Lights parents, raising 5 little lights with one on the way!

Haley and Me

This is a fun game to get everyone talking!  You have to go around and find someone who has done each thing on your sheet!

{We had a wonderful meal}

= Haley organized everything so nicely =

< Wonderful fruit punch >

The children enjoied out bunny, Anthony!

After dinner we had a wonderful time of worship which my Mom and I played our guitars for.

The girls did some sign language along with two different songs.  I think that sign language is a great way to make people think about what they are singing.

After the songs and testimonies, we had games, swimming, and a fire!

Psalm 117

1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations

praise him, all ye people.

2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us:

and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever.

Praise ye the LORD.

Footprints in the Sand -- Poem

Footprints in the Sand - Poem

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,

other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed

that during the low periods of my life,

when I was suffering from

anguish, sorrow or defeat,

I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord,

that if I followed you,

you would walk with me always.

But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life

there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.

Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”

The Lord replied,

“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,

is when I carried you.”

-Mary Stevenson)

Modesty

Hello!

One of our recent Bright Lights meetings was on Discernment, and one of the things that we need discernment in is how we dress. Haley made a fun scenario for the different small groups to evaluate! My group loved it! I thought that you might be interested in the discernment exercises so I put it in this post.

Jenny has a shirt that was given to her for a present. The shirt is tight and the neck is low, but it really is a cute shirt and it is in style. Jenny wants to wear it, but has some misgivings. Can you help her out using the eight steps of discernment?

1. Examine everything in light of God’s word. Ask, “What does the Bible say?”
Can you think of any verses that have to do with modesty?

2. Have right motives (identify and remove pride and greed).
Does Jenny just want to wear the shirt to show off or get attention?


3. Trust in God’s power rather than man’s skill.
God’s ways are always better than man’s.

4. Get advice from your parents and listen to their cautions.
What do Jenny’s parents have to say about the shirt?


5. Remember that God’s ways are usually opposite to man’s natural inclinations (flesh vs. spirit) (Gal. 5:16-17).


6. Make a commitment to have no fellowship with darkness (II Cor. 6:14).


7. Ask, “What is the source of this? Is it from the world?”


8. Ask, “Does this honor Christ? What would Jesus do?”

If you have any scripture verses that you have found about modesty, I would love for you to leave a comment!

The Bright Lights meeting.....

The meeting went great on Monday! 22 girls came!

A lot of them came up with somthing to share, Singing, crafts, piano pieces, etc.

Marie decorated the board for us.

It was Abigail's birthday so she brought cake and ice cream, also Maria brought a fruit tray, tea, and scones.

Thank you Gabbie for telling the story of Georgia Willis (A real girl who did the best that she could) you did great! Thank you everyone for doing a presentation!

After Gabbie told the story we sang Jesus Bids us Shine (the song that Georgia sang in the story). You can read the story of Georgia at: http://library.timelesstruths.org/texts/Stories_Worth_Rereading/Little_Corners/

If you want to hear the song, click on the little star where the song is quoted in the story. Then, go to the bottom left hand corner of the page it brings you to and click play. It is not-the-best recording, but you can hear the song there.