Wordless Wednesday

NIV Bible Quiz

NIV BIBLE QUIZ -- use http://www.biblegateway.com/ if you need NIV or KJB to compare.


INTRUCTIONS: Using the New International Version Bible (NIV), answer the following questions. Do not rely on your memory. As the Bible is the final authority, you must take the answer from the NIV Bible verse (Not from footnotes but from the text. Footnotes are not the Bible.).


1. Fill in the missing words in Matthew 5:44. "Love your enemies, ________ them that curse you, _____________ to them that hate you, and pray for them that __________ and persecute you."

2. According to Matthew 17:21, what two things are required to cast out this type of devil?

3. According to Matthew 18:11, why did Jesus come to earth?

4. According to Matthew 27:2, what was Pilate's first name?

5. In Matthew 27:35, when the wicked soldiers parted His garments, they were fulfilling the words of the prophet. Copy what the prophet said in Matthew 27:35 from the NIV.

6. In Mark 3:15, Jesus gave the apostles power to cast out devils and to:

7. According to Mark 7:16, what does a man need to be able to hear?

8. According to Luke 7:28, what was John? (teacher, prophet, carpenter, etc.). What is his title or last name?

9. In Luke 9:55, what did the disciples not know?

10. In Luke 9:56, what did the Son of man not come to do? According to this verse, what did He come to do?

11. In Luke 22:14, how many apostles were with Jesus?

12. According to Luke 23:38, in what three languages was the superscription written?

13. In Luke 24:42, what did they give Jesus to eat with His fish?

14. John 3:13 is a very important verse, proving the deity of Christ. According to this verse (as Jesus spoke), where is the Son of man?

15. What happened each year as told in John 5:4?

16. In John 7:50, what time of day did Nicodemus come to Jesus?

17. In Acts 8:37, what is the one requirement for baptism?

18. What did Saul ask Jesus in Acts 9:6?

19. Write the name of the man mentioned in Acts 15:34.

20. Study Acts 24:6-8. What would the Jew have done with Paul? What was the chief captain's name? What did the chief captain command?

21. Copy Romans 16:24 word for word from the NIV.

22. First Timothy 3:16 is perhaps the greatest verse in the New Testament concerning the deity of Christ. In this verse, who was manifested in the flesh?

23. In the second part of First Peter 4:14, how do [they] speak of Christ? And, what do we Christians do?

24. Who are the three Persons of the Trinity in First John 5:7?

25. Revelation 1:11 is another very important verse that proves the deity of Christ. In the first part of this verse Jesus said, "I am the A__________ and O___________ , the _________ and the _______:"

Conclusion: Little space is provided for your answers, but it's much more than needed. If you followed the instructions above, you not only failed the test, you receive a big goose egg. So now what do you think of your "accurate, easy-to-understand, up-to-date Bible"?If you would like to improve your score, and in fact score 100%, you can take this test using the Authorized (King James) Bible .

NIV Reader: Do you have enough confidence in the NIV to... tell God, OUT LOUD,that the NIV is correct in deleting these words & phrases?If not, you need to get a King James Bibleso you can have some confidence.

April 2008





I used to do this with my daddy and I remember the neighbor boys making fun of me on the bus. Eh, I think the ridicule was more because he would ride me up and down the street like it was some cool ride.   

I still treasure the memories 16 years after his death, though. 

An Unequal Balance

"There just isn't enough hours in the day."

How many times have we heard this saying?  How many times have we thought or said this ourselves?
I feel quite convicted when I say or think this.  God has given me 24 hours in a day and it's up to me to use them wisely.  That is where the problem lays, for myself anyways. 
If I'm feeling like my walk with the Lord is slipping, I spend hours studying God's Word, looking through every Christian- Bible based book I have, sometimes researching certain topics online.  If I want my children to get the 100% top-notch education that they deserve, then I am spending much of my time researching and preparing on top of the time I am spending teaching them.  If I want a clean home, I neglect schooling and spent every waking hour running up and down the stairs, sweeping, mopping, dusting, folding, and picking up.  If I want to have a social life, my husband feels neglected because I am asking him to stay with the girls on the few evenings that he is actually home when we could be together as a family.
On top of all that, I just want to read.  Actually, I'd prefer to be laying in a lounge chair or hammock in 87* weather somewhere tropical while reading, if I were to get technical. 
I love to read anything Christian fiction- except mystery.  I hadn't read much of anything the past 2 years while trying to stay on top of pleasing the Lord, my husband and my family.  This summer, my sister passed down a book that I devoured.  It really wasn't the best book, a little predictable to say the least, but it served it's purpose.  After that I went to the library and found a book myself.  Since then, I can't stop reading.  The crazy thing is, all I am reading is Amish fiction.  I really don't know what my fascination is with the Amish. 
I love their simplistic lifestyles, not that I would ever want to go without today's modern technology, I love how their life is centered around God (although not from a salvation through grace standpoint), family and working hard.  That is my personal goal!  The result in all this reading has left us with no time for tv.  Other than a few shows like Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy, or Leave it to Beaver, there really isn't anything on tv worth watching. 
I left Emily home with her daddy one evening earlier this week and came home to her watching a movie.  I exploded- literally.  I handled it completely wrong, but I got my point across to both her and Jay-- TV BAD.  Never mind the fact that they had spent a chunk of the time I was gone playing a board game, I was upset that it was almost 9 pm and she needed a shower and to clean her room. 
I think all this goes along with the book Emily is appropriately reading The Great TV Turnoff by Beverly Lewis. 
So why do I feel like there isn't enough time in the day to get everything accomplished?  Because I want to neglect it all and READ!  Just thinking of a week in November when we are on a cruise ship sailing to the Western Caribbean, reading a good book on my private balcony with the sound of waves and smell of salt water is making me giddy.
Ach, back to reality. I must get back to the things at hand which at this moment is 7th and 4th grade grammar.

Whirlwind Weekend Recap

The last few days have been so action packed that it feels as if I have been living in a whirlwind.  I am a stay at home kinda gal, you know the kind: don't wanna get dressed or put makeup on. 
It's had it's ups and downs, but we made it through it.  It's no wonder that I accidentaly hit the wrong button and turned the alarm off instead of hitting the snooze button.

 

The highlights of Thurs- Sun are as follows:

cold temps leaving us unprepared for this weather, a disturbing letter in the mail, gymnastics in full swing, soccer in full swing~ 4 nights a week and 2 games on Saturday's!~ a trip to a place I thought I'd never have to go again~ which made me very sick with nerves beforehand~, realizing that I'm handling certain people/situations better than I thought I would~ Praise God!~, Awana starting back up, soccer game in the rain~ winning 14-0~ niece's dedication to the Lord, sister announcing that she is 14 weeks pregnant, fellowship with friends and family, jr. choir and Lilies singing groups started back up, fantastic church service, ceiling pouring out water from the kitchen light, the whole in our bathroom floor and damage to the toilet worse than we expected, a sore throat, congestion, and feeling down right yucky, reminded of how blessed we are to have obedient children and I have such a great hubby!



soccer star Emily



niece's dedication



My sister at 14 weeks pregnant.



Field trips can be fun and educational at the same time!

The girls and I LOVE the series Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls by Meg Cabot.  We just finished listening to the 6th book in the series yesterday.  In the book, Allie goes on her very first field trip ever, and she is oh~so excited!  She finally gets to ride in a bus, something she doesn't get to do because she lives within walking distance of her school. She hopes to go somewhere fun like the children's museum to see the Barbie exhibit, one field trip that she had to miss due to her ex-best friend accidentally on purpose losing her permission slip.  When she finds out that she is going to Honey Pot Prairie, she is very let down.  Who wants to go to some boring old prairie to learn how those in the mid 1800's lived?  In the end, the field trip turned out to be fun and educational.  Who knew?!?! 

Anyway, all of that to say this... We took one of those educational yet fun field trips today.  I had every intention not to go, deleting all emails on the subject, but am glad that my pal invited us and dragged us there even drove!  So, even though we didn't get to ride in a bus, at least we were able to carpool with friends.

We had a 4 hour tour (with a lunch break) of two local battlefields from the Civil War. 

*Living in central VA, we have an enormous amount of history and natural wonders that, now that the girls are older, I am wanting to go visit.*  Below is a quote taken from the website and you can find out more information here. 

"Cold Harbor

In the overland campaign of 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant with the Army of the Potomac battled General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia for six weeks across central Virginia. At the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna and Totopotomoy Creek, Lee repeatedly stalled, but failed to stop, Grant's southward progress toward Richmond. The next logical military objective for Grant was the crossroads styled by locals Old Cold Harbor."

Emily volunteered to participate even though
"if a female was caught fighting in the army, they were sent home."

Being a confederate soldier, if you saw a wounded or dead man, you would probably
take his pants since he evidently wouldn't need them any longer. 
Pants issued out only came in 2 sizes- large and small. 

After practicing "right face, left face, about face" the children (soldiers) practiced marching in line.
Both of my children look bored here, but they were really soaking it in.

Fun fact: Since many men did not know their right from their left, they would put a small bit of hay in their shoe.  When "left face" was called, they could distinguish between turning left or right.  Sometimes it was appropriately known as "hay-face". 

Fun fact: You had to be over a certain age to join the army, yet many were dedicated to the cause and wanted to join at an earlier age.  One of the ways they found to get by the age limit was to put a piece of paper with the number 17 or 18 on it in their shoe.  That way, when asked if they were over the age of 17, they would not be lying when they said yes. 



During the walking art of the tour, we were attacked by mosquitoes.
I only added this picture because some of us moms were the biggest babies about it
and it makes me giggle just a bit.



 The above picture reminds me of how blessed I am and how hard it must have been for those men fighting for what they thought was right.  We were wearing comfortable shoes and clothing, carrying water bottles, and on a tour of our own choosing.  The soldiers were wearing woolen uniforms that more than likely didn't fit, carrying their equipment and guns, a short supply of dirty water, and fearing for their lives.  What they went through in fighting for their country was lost on many of the mothers today as they were shooing of those not so little blood suckers.



These houses have historical importance that I didn't exactly catch due to chit chatting. 
Hey, at least I'm honest.
One belonged to the Adams family who remained there during the 6 hours of battling that took
place right in their own yard.  The other home belonged to a lady who lived there for 66 years and
 died at the age of 79.  That's all that I remember :/






Maybe it's my love of historical fiction, but I love looking at settings such as these
and imagining what might have happened right here during the Civil War era.

Emily had lost interest of the walking tour by now and joined in with the little ones
 in collecting and playing with the black walnuts that had fallen off the tree that
we were standing by.

                         

Maybe some get a little goofy during picnics.

The cemetery with hundreds of dead soldiers was sad, yet surprisingly interesting.

They were given paper and crayons to make tombstone rubbings.

The girls picked up books with activities to fill out during the field trip.
Emily chose a spot behind a tombstone to work on hers.
 I don't think the concept of this being an actual cemetery with men
 (well, their skeletal remains actually) killed while fighting
in a war were lying beneath her rear.

Rebecca is going through her book while her friend is beside her
using a tombstone as a hard surface to finish hers.

We had a great day learning about what the men, and sometimes women, went through in the summer of 1864.  It was fun AND educational.  A win~win in my book :o)

MedFlight Field Trip

Thanks to homeschool mom, Kara, we were able to participate in our first field trip of the school year.

We toured Medflight, a service provided by the state police.

As interesting as it was, learning how they operate and getting to sit in the helicopter, I think the girls were just glad to see their friends.

Medflight in action (taken from their website)

This chopper is getting a new windshield due to a seagull flying through it yesterday.
Thankfully, the pilot was unharmed.

Rebecca and Emily hung on to every word the trooper said.

Cuties posing by the glider that "is just taking up space in the hanger".

Afterward, I asked Em if she had learned anything.  Her response, "I'm sure I did.  I just don't want to think about it right now."

Em wanted to get up early this morning to watch the children board the school bus, some for the very first time.  Since the elementary bus stop is in front of our house, I granted her this request.  Unfortunately for all those little ones and their parents (and grandparents), it was a rainy, gloomy morning.  No one was standing out there until the last minute as they heard the bus barrelling down the street. 
Em stood out there with an empty book bag and umbrella, letting the rain fall on her feet.  (see above)  She really wanted to walk down to the corner and when the bus came, turn around and come back home.  I was fearful that someone would force her to get on the bus and that would not be good!  Especially since I had no reason to wait out there in the rain. 
Here's to all those children, teachers, and school workers out there starting their first day of the 2011-12 school year.  May it be a blessed one with lots of fun, good experiences and education.

Candy, Sugar, and Girlies

Thanks to Hurricane Irene, Emily's 9th birthday party was postponed a week, but that turned out to be a good thing.  She was still able to celebrate with most of her friends.  We had a house full of children, friends, and family.  The best part... NO RAIN.  With around 25-30 people here, it was nice to be able to send the children outside.

Party prep started off by filling up jars and cute buckets with lots of yummy candy.



The loot.



Enjoying some yummy snacks.

A game that surprisingly all the children participated in.  It wasn't until they were stumped that they took off to play while the older ones stuck it out to see it completed.

Even their little cousin got in on the game.

gift time

Can you tell that she was elated to get 4 Barbies?

Many of the girlies wanted to check out the cool Barbies.

group shot attempt #1

group shot #2

Em wanted to decorate her own cake so this is what she started out with.

Turned out pretty cute, ya think?

Hamming it up

Use of Vocabulary Words

Emily : "One of my (vocab) words is mature.  Rebecca is mature for a ten year old."
Rebecca : scoffs and is offensed.
She is 11 and a half.