Quick Encouragement #16

Royal Tailor - Ready Set Go

This song is so COOL! 

"You put my life in motion, Your love makes me wanna give my all READY SET GO!!!"

b3 bookmarks: GIVEAWAY!!!

Hey!

We just wanted to let you know that Elinor is doing a GIVEAWAY including some of her Spring Collection items on a great blog called Giveaways of Blessing!

You'll definitely want to go over there and enter! Who knows? You may end up with some new jewelry to add to your collection! 

Also, remember that even if you don't win, you can easily purchase jewelry from Elinor's blog TODAY! All proceeds will go to her Cow Project!

Thanks!

Quick Encouragement #15

Jamie Grace - Fighter

This is a very sweet and inspiring song. It is on Jamie Grace's newest album Ready To Fly, which we are very exited to listen to!

B3 BOOKMARKS: SPRING COLLECTION!

Hey everyone!

We just wanted to let you know that Elinor has recently come out with her new Spring Jewelry Collection!

All of the proceeds earned will go straight to her Cow Project! 

She has some beautiful new rings and earrings IN STOCK RIGHT NOW!!!!

Be sure to go and check it out at Elinor's Blog!
Thanks so much!!!

Quick Encouragement #14

dc Talk - In The Light

Book Review: The Book Thief

Review by Elinor

Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Rating: 4/5

Plot: Even though she couldn't read, Liesel Meminger's life changed when she picked up The Grave Digger's Handbook at her brother's graveside. After her brother's unexpected death, she is sent to live with Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Her new foster father teaches her to read, and from that point on, she can't get enough of it. When Hans and Rosa hide a Jew in their basement, Liesel is curious of this young man named Max. In their time together, Liesel and Max form a friendship, and he challenges her to be creative with the words given to her, and to hold on to hope.

This book was beautifully heartbreaking. I really don't know how else to put it. It was one of the most devastating stories I have ever read, but it was mixed with just enough hope and humor to make it bearable. I think that the writing used to tell this story was absolutely incredible. The story itself is one that I know I will never forget. Set in 1940s Nazi Germany, it showed a side of the World War II that I never really considered.

Characters: I don't think that I have ever bonded with characters of a book as well as I did with the ones of The Book Thief. I fell in love with every single one of them, most especially Hans Hubermann. Other than him though, Rudy (who becomes Liesel's closest friend) had to be my favorite. Those two characters had me laughing and crying the most.

Emotion: As you can probably already tell, this book was very emotional. If you are looking for a light-hearted, fun story, this is not it. However, it has to be one of the most touching stories I have ever read. There was humor in the book as well as sorrow, but as I said before, it was only enough to make it bearable.

Thoughts: Out of all the good things of this book, I chose to rate it 4/5 because of the use of profanity throughout. Although this book didn't have an inappropriate word in every chapter, the humor that was expressed in the book was usually expressed with one. If it weren't for this, I would rate this book 500/5, but the language used made me feel uncomfortable on numerous occasions, and I felt that it was something that needed to be mentioned in my review. For this reason, and for the over-all heaviness of the sorrow in the book, I would only recommend this book to a more mature audience.

Favorite Quotes:

The only thing worse than a boy who hates you:

a boy who loves you

She was home, among the mayor's books of every color and description, with their silver and gold lettering. She could smell the pages. She could almost taste the words as they stacked up around her.

In the tree shadows, Liesel watched the boy. How things had changed, from fruit stealer to bread giver. His blond hair, although darkening, was like a candle. She heard his stomach growl - and he was giving people bread.

...I have the endless ability to be in the right place at the right time. The consequence of this is that I'm always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty, and I wonder how the same thing can be both.

Favorite Music #4

Rend Collective Experiment - Build Your Kingdom Here

TobyMac - City On Our Knees

Hillsong United - Oceans

Shonlock - We Walk On Water

Matthew West - Do Something

Everfound - God Of The Impossible

Book Review: Secret Keeper

Review By Marianne

Title: Secret Keeper: The Delicate Power of Modesty

Author: Dannah Gresh 

Rating: 5/5
Age Recommendation: 12+

This book was amazing! My sister has read it before and you can read her review HERE! Anyway, since she enjoyed so much she shared it with me. I absolutely LOVED every part of it! The author wrote it in such an amazing way that you could just understand what she was saying. While I've always considered myself a modest young women, this book helped me become even more modest. Another thing that I liked, was that Ms. Gresh didn't just shout commands and try to force the readers to be modest, instead, she thoroughly explained modesty and the power of it. She opened my eyes and showed me how something that we consider to be "no biggie" (like a bra strap showing, for example) can really do bad things to a guy's head. Even if he's a good guy, something like that can do a lot. This book is definitely a favorite and the information that it gave will stick with me ALWAYS. I would recommend it to any young woman who is striving  to live her life for God. 

Quick Encouragement #13

Virtue Makes You Beautiful

This is the COOLEST video!

Quick Encouragement #12

Love & The Outcome - He Is With Us

I love this song! It's so cool! 

Have a great evening! And don't forget, HE IS WITH US!!!!!!

Quick Encouragement #11

Audio Adrenaline - Believer

In case you couldn't read the small words, it said:
Brazilian surfer Derek Rabelo was born without the ability to see.
Now, 21 Derek has surfed alongside the best surfers on the most sought-after waves in the world.
Then in the end:
Derek's story is being told in a feature documentary titled "Beyond Sight."
Stay tuned to beyondsightmovie.com for more details.

Sound's like a movie we'll definitely want to see.

Painting By Marianne #3

Hey everyone! So, I noticed that my painting posts have been getting a whole lot of page views therefore, I am going to do my best to write more and more of them! I got my inspiration for this next one from this site: http://diy-projectss.blogspot.com/2013/07/painters-tape-art-diy.html   

Step 1: After choosing the colors that would best match my room, I began painting differently sized portions of the canvas in different colors.

Step 2: I finished painting the entire canvas, making sure that all of the white areas (or most of them anyway) were completely covered.

Step 3: After the paint had dried, I put painter's tape on it alternating diagonal directions, and painting white paint over it.

 Step 4: After the white paint dried, I removed the painter's tape (don't worry, no matter how hard and fast you yank, it won't chip your paint... believe me, I experimented :D).

Then my painting was DONE!!!!

 This wasn't my usual painting, but I'm very glad I did it! Mine was a little bit sloppy, because there in the beginning I was having trouble figuring out how and where to place the tape, but, I still love it! 

Thanks for Reading!

Quick Encouragement #10

City Harbor - Come However You Are



Painting By Marianne #2

Hello again! I recently finished a painting and I wanted to share about it! My mom asked me to re-create a picture I had made for her when I was younger, except, this time on canvas.

This is the old picture:

I instantly began thinking of small improvements that I could make, including an actual setting instead of just loose vines. I chose for the setting to be a picket fence, with a house in the background. 

Step 1: I sketched all of the main parts of my painting except for the butterflies.

Step 2: I painted a soft green for the grass and a soft grayish blue for the sky.

Step 3: I painted a darker green on the vines, a reddish brown on the house, and black on the roof , door, and stone path of the house. After that I painted the butterflies. I did this by pressing my flat brush into the pink, blue, yellow, or orange paint, getting both sides of the brush covered, and then dipping the end into black for a nice edge.

Step 4: Then, after painting the sun and clouds, my painting was done!

 

After that I had to clean up my mess... it was a big one!

But, that's part of painting, I guess! Anyway, I had a really fun time making this and my mom loved it! 

Thanks for reading!

Encouragements & Reflections #3

Bibliography: http://www.muscogeemoms.com/2013/04/21/j-r-r-tolkien-quotes-life-lessons-for-kids/ http://www.dailymayo.com/2012/09/21/quote-j-r-r-tolkien-on-faithlessness/ http://www.dumpaday.com/random-pictures/55-motivational-quotes-help-get-week/attachment/motivational-quotes-26-2 /media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/d5/bf/bf/d5bfbffd7c5f316ca075ea62d73c50bd.jpg http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f8/88/c5/f888c51ea973add0609972d14582980e.jpg http://weheartit.com/entry/51791862 http://www.picmonkey.com/p/L5zLN4fD1Ru http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/521412_472532502786025_1767857501_n.jpg http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/6c/0e/7f/6c0e7f6fd5b1f75e8947bad51aeeb91d.jpg http://society6.com/chrispiascik/Doing-it-Wrong_Print?utm_source=typeverything&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=typeverything&curator=andreirobu#1=45