Today I'm thankful for...

Good books.

Clean kitchens.

Adorable brothers.

Libraries.

Church.

Ten Years Ago Today.

Ten years ago today a family was watching the President ride down their hometown streets. They were celebrating, unaware of the horrors taking place within our great nation. Ten years ago today a little girl turned nine years old amidst the emotional turmoil and unforgettable tragedy that enveloped a nation and brought a world superpower to tears. Ten years ago today thousands of men and women gave their lives as we watched two proud glories of our nation crumble into oblivion. Ten years ago today a group of men became heroes as they deliberately went from soaring the skies on a beautiful day to diving to their death to save the lives of countless others. Ten years ago today we saw sacrifice so great, so pure, so humbling, may we never forget what it was. Ten years ago today husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, wives, sisters, mothers, daughters and friends were tragically taken; some in an effort to save, some the victim of cataclysmal tyranny.

Today, we honor those men, those women, who's legacy we cannot and will not forget. Today, as a nineteen year old woman, that little girl writes these things, now able to understand them, and prays for those who lost someone- an irreplaceable someone- that day. She prays that the legacy, the lessons, the courage, and the heroism will never be forgotten, never fading from our roots as a nation. It is these things that make us America. May we never forget them. And may God bless those hurt by the actions of that day. Please pray with me for these people, say thanks for those whose lives were spared, and thank God for the men and women who were willing to risk their own lives to save others.  As the granddaughter of a firefighter, I ask you to please remember to pray for these men and women, too. Honor them. Never forget them and their daily sacrifices and risks just like we'll never forget 9/11. God Bless.

Progress is being made…

Just to update a little about my book, I am nearly finished with one lesson, and the title has been tweaked slightly. My Mom suggested the title be “Dead Flies make Perfume Stink, and other life lessons for the young.

I have finally decided on a set in stone format for each lesson. I have also refined the goal for this book. This book began with me wanting to get something published and ready to sell in my little book store, but really it’s become much more than that. As I was coming up with the topics, I realized that most of these terms- biblical terms- are lost to society today. Terms such as folly, humility, and repentance are just a jumble of letters to most kids today. I went to my younger siblings and asked them the meaning of each word, and most of them gave me a blank stare. These very important topics, and many more are being bypassed now. People try to get by with telling their kids to “Be good” and “What would Jesus do?”, all the meanwhile, the kids don’t understand the concepts that are being taught in the Bible. Kids are given a watered down version because it’s assumed they can’t understand, when really the problem is that no one is teaching them what they need to know in order to understand.

Many kids today are also not learning the vital lessons of Christianity that will carry them through their teenage and adult years. Lessons on retaliation and why it’s wrong, pride and why it’s hurtful, forgiveness and the example Christ has set. These are the lessons my parents spent hours on end teaching me, but there are kids that aren’t getting that kind of teaching anymore. It’s important that kids learn these things when they are young, so that when they are old they will not depart from it. People today often think they have plenty of time to teach their kids, but the saying “can’t teach an old dog new tricks” has a tad bit of accuracy. It gets harder the older you are. You have developed your life habits, and habits are hard to break. So that, my friends, is the purpose of my book. To teach kids the life lessons they need in order to better equip them to understand the Gospel and to make it through life as a shining example of Jesus Christ.

Dead Flies Make a Good Smell Stink.

Yep. I did just use "Dead Flies" in my title. ;)

But that isn't just the title of this blog post. It is the title of my new project, "Dead Flies Make a Good Smell Stink, and Other Life Lessons For the Young." (Title subject to tweaking). I will be taking a lot of the topics I've written about here, and have taught time and time again to my siblings as I passed on what my parents have taught me, and putting them in book form. I would love it, though, if I could get some suggestions.

1. What kind of things would you want me to include?
2. What age group should I target this at?
3. Would you buy a book buy this title, or does it need to go?

Let me know what you guys think, please!

Edited to include a sample "Lesson"-

Just simply live. . .  can we do that? Can we just simply live? Can we live to be alive, and nothing more? Or could it be that there must always be something to live for?   

Can we simply live? The answer is no. Living is not simple. The Bible says in Galations 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me...". The third definition of crucified is to "subue (passion, sin, etc.)". So we must be subdued to live? What kind of living is that? The best kind! It would seem so contradictory, but it's the best freedom you can have. It is the freedom that gives you eternal life by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are able to live almost forever. Our minds cannot even fathom that. If we are able to live forever, how can we just simply live? How can we live eternally and just simply live? 

We have to live for something, and we have to live for it with all that we are. We live for Christ or we live for Satan, we live for Heaven for we live for Hell. 

When I was homeschooled as a young girl, my mother made me do handwriting lessons. Day after day I had to painstakingly scrawl each cursive letter until each curlicue was perfect. I hated each moment of it. There was one perk, however, that I greatly enjoyed. When I got to Friday, the end of the week, my cursive lesson was to write a Bible verse in cursive. That page of the book had a beautifully framed section for me to write my Bible verse in, and the drawings were black and white. Each Friday, as I finished my verse, I was allowed to color the frame that surrounded my hard worked for verse. 

The day came that my mother said I was ready to move on from handwriting, and that I could drop handwriting lessons and use my cursive in every day school. I was appalled at the thought. How could I give up my handwriting lessons when I still had a few Fridays left to be had out of my book? It was the incentive of those Friday lessons, in which I could color to my heart’s content, that kept me going through the rest of the lessons. This same concept applies to our lives. We don’t go through life and live for nothing. We do live for something, and we do not just simply live for it. We live and die for it. The question is who and what are we going to live for. The question is: Will you just simply live?

Repost: Two Lives Well Lived

In light of the one year "anniversary" (if you will) of the deaths of two bright and shining young men from our community, I am reposting this from my other blog, Sweet Tea and Magnolias. Please keep these families in your prayers as they remember and deal with the still recent loss of these two loved young men.

~~~

This has nothing to do with the South. This has nothing to do with anything you would ever expect to be put on this blog. But this is a post well deserved, and it shall be written. Today was a day of tragedy and yet hope. Today (April 26, 2010) around 6:30 pm Ryan Modrow (18) and Daniel Walters (22) died in a motorcyle accident. We lost two friends, two young men- sons, brothers, friends- in a tragic accident, and yet there is hope. These young men weren't just any young men. They were followers of Christ. The hope lies not in what they have done, but in what was done some two thousand years ago to give us hope today, tonight, and in the weeks to come. The grief is still here; it won't leave for years to come. But with the grief there is hope. They aren't gone. Their lives aren't ended. They have only just begun.

Ryan, I haven't known you long, and I may not know you well, but we had some fun times, and pulled some good pranks on each other. You always had a knack for dropping jokes at just the right time. You had a way of making everyone about you smile when you were doing the same. You were kind and caring, and you are sorely missed. You touched so many lives! Ryan, God had his hand on you, and loved you to the end of the life you lived here on this earth. I cannot even imagine the glory you are experiencing in Heaven. You will be missed.

His sister Hannah on the left, Ryan on the right.

Ryan to the left, Daniel on the right.

Daniel, I never talked with you, but I did know your brothers and sisters. You were greatly loved and respected, and you, too, will be missed. The Lord knew every hair on your head, and your death was not unexpected to Him. He called you home, and I know you will be happy there. There will be no more pain there. No more suffering, no more pain. We cannot understand the ways of God, but I know that what God has allowed to happen was for the best. Daniel, your family and friends love you, and you will always be in their hearts.


I know that we cannot know why they died when they did. But regardless of that, they lived full lives. Their lives were not in vain. God used them to touch so many others. The Bible tells us in James 4: 13-15 that life is a vapor:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city,
spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know
what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that
appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If
the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

And I know that neither Ryan's nor Daniel's lives were empty. Both lived wonderful lives and leave behind many, many loved ones. And these loved ones will treasure their memory forever. You will never be forgotten. The day will come when all will reunite with ya'll in Heaven, and there will be much rejoicing. Until then, we love ya'll.


~God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain. But He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way. =`)

If Only.

If only I could tell you
everything I think;
If only you could smooth away
every single kink.

If only we could always be
together, not apart;
If only we were tethered strong,
together, at the heart.

If only time, and age, and space
never did exist;
If only we could overcome
these problems that persist.

If only as I sit and think
of all these little things,
We could somehow rid ourselves
of the tears our feelings bring.

But no matter how we try
to wish our troubles gone,
Only God can know the times,
whether short or long.

In His name and by His power,
we are made brand new.
By His light, and life, and love
our paths run straight and true.

God, take my "ifs" and "only's",
and throw them far away.
Help me trust in You alone,
and do so every day.

©2011 Kaitland Conley