Martyr Monday

"A martyr is, he who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, not lost it but found it, for he has found freedom in submission to God. The martyr no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of martyrdom."
-T.S. ELLIOT Murder in the Cathedral

"God, I do not ask you to make my life easy; I do ask you to make me strong."
-A JEWISH CHILD Found in the rubble of a Jewish ghetto in Poland after it was bombed by the Nazis

I'm bored so.....

I found this the other day on BethAnne's blog and seeing's how I have nothing better to be doing right now, I thought I'd do it and share all this random information with ya'll :)

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yes, my grandma's name is Jane. My name is Melissa Jane

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? couple hours ago :(

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes, it's kinda funny, but my handwriting changes a lot!

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? I'm wierd...I don't eat lunch meat

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? no

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Best Friends

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? No! Never! lol

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS ? As far as I know

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Yes! It's on my "list" (of things to do before I die)

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Rice Crispies with fruit on top

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? nope

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? for a girl...yeah

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? cookie dough!!!!!

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? eyes

15. RED OR PINK? red...pink is too girly!

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? my skin

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? my friends in Romania

18. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? blue jeans, no shoes, black socks though

19. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? a sugar cookie

20. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Deeper by Hillsong

21. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Cerulean

22. FAVORITE SMELLS? Cookies baking, peach, grapefruit

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Zack


24. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO YOU LAST SPOKE TO? Yes, he's a very good friend

25. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football and soccer

26. HAIR COLOR? Dirty blonde

27. EYE COLOR? Blue

28. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes

29. FAVORITE FOOD? I don't think I could pick a favorite....I like just about everything!!!!

30. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings!!!!!!!

31. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

32. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Purplish/Redish

33. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer

34. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs!!!!

35. FAVORITE DESSERT? Ice Cream!!!

36. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Innovator's Dilemma

37. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? fingerprints! haha....my mouse pad is built into my laptop

38. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T. V. LAST NIGHT? Law and Order: Criminal Intent

39. FAVORITE SOUND? Music

40. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles....we all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine.....

41. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN from HOME? Brasov, Romania

42. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I hate questions like these.... I think I am a good leader....

43. IF YOU COULD BE PRESIDENT HOW WOULD YOU CHANGE THE COUNTRY? I would abolish abortion. I would have stricter rules for welfare so that the people who seriously need it can get it, and those who are just mooching off the gov't have to work. And I'd make the domestic adoption less complicated so more children can be adopted.

Hanging with the girls!

Yesterday, Anna, Kaylyn and Libby came over for their first cooking/baking lesson. We had so much fun and made a ton of yummy stuff....check it out! Also, I'm going to post some more pictures and recipes on my recipe blog.


First order of business, drink an energy drink and eat a ton of pixi stix. Sugar's good for you right? :)







Kaylyn chose to make Creme Brulee for her mom because it's one of her favorite desserts.







This is the end result...it was very delicious!






Creme Brulee only uses egg yolks, so we had a dozen egg whites. We decided to make meringues, and dyed them purple because it's Jennifer's favorite color. After about 30 minutes of mixing, nothing was happening...that's when I realized we forgot to add sugar! No wonder they weren't peaking!





Libby working on the homemade french bread








We made two large loafs, and there was enough left over for Libby to make an L









Our main course was lasagna. We made homemade sauce!







Kaylyn chopping mushrooms for the sauce









Anna browning the meat and Kaylyn mixing the sauce.








Lasagna and bread in the oven








Garlic bread and lasagna= delicious!!!!!








Libby wanted to learn to make no-bake cookies









They turned out delicious!






The kitchen table was covered with our makings!
Clockwise from bottom left: Creme Brulee, No-bake cookies, (unbaked) Meringues






Anna working on the sugar cookies






They turned out kinda funny, but they still tasted good. I think the dough might have gotten too warm, and the cookie trays might not have cooled down enough, so they spread out a lot! :)







The finished products!
Clockwise from left: Finished Creme Brulee, No-bake cookies, A mix of chocolate chip and sugar cookies, Meringues



We had a ton of fun, and made a lot of good stuff. And we didn't have a single problem with too many people in the kitchen. After eating dinner at my house, we took samples of everything back to the girls' house. Jennifer was thrilled with everything we made, and I heard some raving comments from Zack and Mark as well when they got home. (By the way, go to Jennifer's site to read about how awesome Zack did at the track meet! I'm so excited for him!!!!!) Libby wanted to go iceskating, but she was way too exhausted, so I hung out over there for a while. We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There is an Oompa-Loompa Dance feature on the DVD. I watched the girls and Jennifer learn the dance, it was fun to watch. Finally, they got me to try it...on the condition that they wouldn't film me. I can't believe I fell for that!!!! Halfway thru the dance, I noticed that Jennifer was filming!!! How sneaky! :) I think you can view it at her site sometime this weekend, if you want a good laugh. They tried to get me to do it again for Zack and Mark, but I was smart this time and refused! :)

Valentine's Day

Love. That's what this day is all about right? It's a time to let those you love know you love them. But what if you don't have a special person, a significant other? Is it the end of the world? NO!! I've seen many people calling it "single's awareness day" and it just made me laugh. Who cares if you don't have someone special...sure it would be nice. But I'm okay with eating a box of chocolates on my own and not sharing. ;) Plus, I can wish all my friends a Happy Valentine's Day, and if I say it to a guy, I don't have to worry about anyone being jealous! :)

But anyway, that's not the point of this post. A few weeks ago, I made a flippant comment on this post about never kissing a guy before. Patty saw it and gave me a book to read. I've had the book finished for a few weeks, but I thought I'd wait until today to share it with you. Bear with me, as this may be a longer post than usual :) I'd like to share a bit about the book, and also add in my thoughts and such.

The name of this book is "Saving My First Kiss--Why I'm Keeping Confetti In My Closet" it's written by Lisa Velthouse. She actually grew up in Holland :)

She starts out the book and tells about how she was totally guy crazy. Her life literally revolved around getting the attention of boy's she liked. Only she was afraid to tell the guy she liked him, so she'd get her friends to do that, or completely make a fool of herself in front of him. I sure hope I don't do that. Usually, if I like a guy, I keep it to myself and see what happens (nothing so far lol). Lisa says that she longed to be accepted and to go on dates and kiss a special boy and not feel like the odd one out. And she wondered why her life wasn't going that way.

My own insert here. Okay, I'm 19 years old. Never been kissed. Does it bother me sometimes? Sure....when all my friends are hanging out with their boyfriends. But you know what? God's got someone for me. And someday I'll find him. But unlike Lisa, my life does not revolve around getting a boyfriend or being kissed.

Anyway, as Lisa gets older, she realizes that it really is a good thing (or a blessing maybe?) that she's never been kissed. She begins to see it as something that she can offer her future boyfriend. And she begins to plan a party (hence the confetti in her closet). She plans that when she does get kissed, she'll have a first kiss party, just for herself to celebrate. That's kinda a cool idea!

Well, pretty soon, Lisa realizes that God has a plan for her life. And right now it doesn't involve a guy. And finally, she learns to accept that. Now she has chosen to use her story to touch the lives of others through this book.

I don't want to necessarily compare myself to Lisa because I don't think that I am quite as obsessive about this as she was. My brief summary of this book doesn't quite explain her situation. So many girls today put so much emphasis on having boyfriends. I know a lot of girls who move practically seamlessly from one guy to the other without a second thought. I don't understand that. I was always told that dating is a serious thing. There's no point in dating someone unless you are considering marriage. (I don't know if I necessarily argee with that exact idea, but I do think that we need to be careful about who we date and "how" we date them). So Patty, thank you for that book. It was a good easy read, but had a lot of Biblical ideas and thoughts in it. I recommend it for any teenage girl who is struggling with the thought of dating. I think it would probably be best to read it around 14 or 15, or before you start dating, kind of to get some ideas before you enter the dating world.

Anyway, enough of my unorganized rambling! I hope that you have a great Valentine's Day...tell someone special how much you love them!

Update on Gerri

Thank you for all your prayers for Gerri. She isn't in pain...yet. She's on a lot of (doctor prescribed) drugs, I can tell just by the way she's talking. They are helping a lot with controlling the pain. I'm not sure exactly what went on in the surgery, but she had one toe aputated, and tendons or something manipulated for the other three smaller toes. Now she has pins in those three. She has a big ole cast on her leg and has to keep it elevated. She also has to ice the back of her leg, by the knee...she's using a bag of frozen corn :)
I'm staying at her house overnight in case she needs anything. It hurts for her to get up, because she's been sitting all day. It's hard for her to use her crutches because the drugs are making her a bit weak. We'll see how long I end up staying here, but she seems to be doing well. Thanks for praying!

Prayer request

Please pray for my friend Gerri (the lady who I go to Romania with). She is having surgery tomorrow to amputate 2 toes, and do some work on her foot. Her surgery is scheduled for 8:30 am. Your prayers are so appreciated!!

Disappointed Excitement :)

I'm very disappointed in this Michigan weather of ours! Just when we start to think that the weather is cooperating, it starts snowing again! My hip hop dance class was cancelled tonight, so I'm disappointed about that.

But I'm excited because when I was reading my blogs, I discovered that I was given some very sweet awards from Jennifer! Thanks Jennifer!



I'm going to use Jennifer's idea (because I have a hard enough time making up my mine!) and pass these awards on to all the people whose blogs I read (see my sidebar)! It is a blessing to get to know all of you though your blogs!

Also, I have taken the test and I am proud to announce that my blog is G-rated!

I am also excited because I am starting a new blog!!!! Check it out at http://melissascuisine.blogspot.com/ :)

Martyr Monday

"EXTREME CHAINS
Cuba: A Christian Prisoner

"Sign the statement!" screamed the Cuban officer, forcing a pen into the Christian prisoner's hand. "Sign the statement!"
The written statement in front of the prisoner contained accusations about other Christians. His signature was all the government needed to arrest the others.
"I cannot sign this paper," the Christian said, calmly lookin the officer in the eye.
"Why not?" asked the captain, with exaggerated calm, before swearing at the man. "Do you not know how to write your own name?"
"It is because of the chain, my friend. The chain keeps me from signing this."
Grabbing the prisoner's hand roughly, the officer held them in front of his face. "But you are not in chains, you idiot!" he screamed.
"Oh, but I am," said the Christian believer. "I am bound by the chains of witnesses who throughout the centuries have given their lives for Christ. I am yet one more link in this chain, and I will not break it."
Though he was threatened and roughed up, the prisoner refused to sign.

Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses... let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

Christian martyrs leave behind a rich testimony of incredible poise in the midst of horrific circumstances. Their strength is heroic. Their words are wise. Their calm is unshakable. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "Words pronounced by the martyrs before authorities are not human words, the simple expression of a human conviction, but words pronounced by the Holy Spirit through the confessors of Jesus." Life by life, link by link, the words spoken through the power of the Holy Spirit in the midst of oppression are forming a powerful testimony. You, too, have the potential to add your own chapter to the pages. You, too, are a link in the chain of belivers. Will you hold it together?"

(White, Tom, comp. "Extreme Chains." Extreme Devotion. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2001. 68.)

Ice Skating Again!

Ok, so I didn't necessarily take it easy the rest of the day. Oops. I had a much better offer come up. Zack called me, "Hey, what are you doing today? Want to come iceskating with us?" Uh Yeah!!!! So we went to the local indoor arena (it had open skate today). It was so much fun!! We didn't get to skate as long as the other day because open skate was only from 2-3:50, and we didn't get there until about 2:50. We had a really good time though. After skating, we topped it off with ice-cream...good friends, good fun, good food...how much better could a day get?!?!? :)



Libby and Me. She was skating really well by time we left, when I was going "fast", she could keep up with me!!! Yay Lib, I'm so proud of you! <3








Zack...my crazy friend who just doesn't get cold!!! ;)













Libby...ain't she adorable?










If you look under the Lakers sign, you can see Zack, Anna, and Kaylyn. I think they were getting ready to race. Can you guess who won? :)

Sledding Adventure

My parents decided to abandon my brother and me last night. They had received a free night's stay at a hotel about a year ago and finally got around to using it! Of course, this left me home alone. I figured that I'd just rent a couple movies and have a movie marathon. Well, I went to Science Olympiad practice (I'm coaching this year) and my friends invited me to go midnight sledding with them. Fun! So I ended up renting only one movie (Step Up--one of my new favorites!!!) and relaxing for a little while.

At 9, we met at the local coffee shop and had some nice warm coffee....I recommend the White Lightening. Anyway, we had 8 sleds for 4 people, so we tried calling more people to come. We couldn't get ahold of anyone though. We even went to the local grocery store because we heard that one of my friends got off work at 10, so we went to see if he wanted to come. It ended up being just the 4 of us.

We had the sledding hill all to ourselves. Actually, I think the place was technically closed, because the lights for the hill weren't on, but there wasn't a gate or anything keeping us out! We had a blast! We had 2 tubes which we used most of the time, because plastic sleds over hard snow and jumps kinda hurts! Then we got the brilliant idea to put all 4 of us on those 2 tubes. It actually worked (one person lays on it and the other sits or lays on top!)! We also got all 4 of us onto a small plastic sled, kind of like a tobaggon. It was so much fun and we laughed so much!

I didn't feel any pain until this morning. I had to take a computer test at school. About halfway through, I started feeling kind of sick to my stomach. I figured I was just hungry, so after eating it would go away. Then when I left to go to my car, I had a hard time breathing, it was just really hard to catch my breath. I found some (year old dried out disgusting) brownies in my glove compartment, but the few bites I managed to choke down did nothing for the pain. When I got home, I went to webmd.com to "diagnose" my symptoms. From the sounds of it, I might have a broken rib. Oh joy! I can breathe better now (so all you mothers, don't worry!) But it still hurts. I ended up calling to get off of work tomorrow, so I don't have to do a bunch of lifting. I think I'll just take it easy today...hmmm....less chores maybe? :) I would appreciate your prayers too, I hope it's nothing serious! :)