Was There Advanced Technology in Past Civilizations?

"Popular culture has led us to believe that ancient man was primitive - originating from primates and steadily improving through a process of time and chance. But does that agree with reality? What does the evidence left behind from past cultures tell us? Was ancient man simple and primitive as we have been taught, or did the level of science and technology existing thousands of years ago rival, or even surpass, the level of ours today in the 20th century? ~Donald E. Chittick in The Puzzle of Ancient Man

The above book has really strengthened my faith. I began reading it a couple of weeks ago as my history curriculum, and I've really enjoyed it.

One of the main points that Dr. Chittick makes is that men did not begin living in caves and beating on their chests. Our race began with God. He formed and made us and Adam learned from Him. A little ways down the line: "His brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron." Genesis 4:21 and 22.

Hmmm... if a couple of men in only the fourth chapter in the beginning are creating things from brass and iron, as well as writing music and inventing musical instruments, people had to have had a high form of intellect. We know that we were created the way we are we did not evolve to the level we are at today. In The Puzzle of Ancient Man, the author gives a very convincing argument toward this end. He sites many different ancient civilizations.

When describing several wonders of the world, things that have stumped people for centuries, he has a whole different view of how they came about. He quotes respected and knowledgeable authors, professionals in those fields of study, Christian and secular. When referring to the huge, mile upon mile sketches drawn on the Nazca desert, he quotes an author,

"Regarding the methods employed, the designs of Nazca prove that their creators possessed a highly developed degree of abstract thought. The task of transferring to a desert the figure of a bird, or any other animal, is one that cannot be carried out by a mere enthusiast. It demands rather complicated geometric methods which alone can explain the extraordinary regularity and symmetry of the drawings as well as the proper proportions among their elements. It is quiet certain that the figures of Nazca were not the result of simple visual ad-hoc method."

This is one of many places that others have seen the anomaly of ancient man exhibiting technology that we never thought possible coming from those times. The tower of Babel, Stonehenge, The Incas and Mayans, the great pyramids and many other things are explained in this book.

We think we have come so far. And, really, the internet alone is an amazing thing. But, who is to say that people before us did not do equally amazing things? We have little of what was here before the flood. Imagine if today the flood happened. Everything was wiped away. Nothing was left but one family to go out and repopulate, reinvent and rebuilt. Yes, someone could have brought their lap top and ipod on board, but what if they weren't computer experts (Noah's family were carpenters, after all they spent their whole lives building an ark) and couldn't replicate them? These things would be lost. What they did have, they'd pass on to their children and their children's children, but each society would become experts at different things. "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9

It's so easy to go with the flow and say, "Sure, I believe in Creationism." But, you need to able to defend why you believe what you do. This book is a surefire way to build your knowledge and understanding as well as increase your ability to back your stance. It's a good read.

I'm Back!

After a nice, long break from Mr. Time Sucker, I am happy to say that he is now sucking my time again. These last few months have been crazy busy for me, but thankfully things are slowly, but steadily, starting to slow down.

At the end of August we started back up in school, which was quickly followed by a few breaks due to the Feast of Tabernacles, among other things. In September I started taking voice and piano lessons, which have been rather challenging, but I am thankful for the opportunity to develop in the area of music. It's something I've wanted to do for a while!

For about the last two months I've been working for a lady at a retirement center down the street from our house, for about eight to ten hours a day. When she originally hired me she had recently fallen out of a van and seriously bruised herself, making it hard for her to get around. Thankfully she is now back up and going again, and doing well. While it was a struggle at first to get used to not being at home, I learned to manage the time that I had wisely to get things done when I was.

The whole "job" was rather a large blessing and answer to somewhat of an unspoken prayer. Just the week before my mom was called up about it, a friend and I were talking about how we were in a bit of a hard situation, because while we wanted to earn a little money, we didn't necessarily want to be fast food girls. I mentioned that it would be nice to learn something that I would be able to do close to my home, or if possible, right at home. Then, this temporary caregiver job was dropped in my lap, which in turn has given me the experience to possibly explore the job as one. While I don't think I would choose do a full time job like this, it is a great opportunity to be able to work for an elderly lady once or twice a week, either right down the street, or someplace else.

Something that also took place in November was an Operation Christmas Child party my mom and I put on. About ten girls came with an assortment of moms, and we surpassed our goal of twenty gift boxes by three. We were able to get a few stores to donate money to help with buying the supplies, and the rest were brought by the girls, myself and Grandma. :)

These first few weeks of December have mostly been spent getting back into the roll of things at home. Also, we are currently right in the middle of celebrating the Festival of Lights, which carries the joys of latke making, dreidle playing and gift giving. Yes, it's true. I'm glad to be back!

Comparing and Contrasting Pollyanna and Veruca Salt

Today while I was picking up the office I came across a little file of some papers I had written for school over the years. I thought you might get a kick out of this one. I remember I had just mentioned that I had finished both books when I was told I needed to have a paper about a character from each book in by lunch time. This just goes to show how spontaneous my mother is on writing assignments! ;)

Comparing and Contrasting Pollyanna and Veruca Salt

This is an essay comparing and contrasting Pollyanna, a character from Eleanor H. Porter's fiction novel Pollyana, and Veruca Salt, from the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory written by Roald Dahl.

Pollyanna Whittier is a fun-loving, orphaned, ten-year-old girl who lives with her strict aunt Polly. Pollyanna always tries to make the best of every situation and encourages others to do the same. She loves making new friends and taking in all sorts of creatures who don't have any place to stay, much to her dismay, into Aunt Polly's mansion.

Veruca Salt is a rich, spoiled brat who "needs a good spanking". She was the second winner of Mr. Willy Wonka's precious five golden tickets. And, as you can guess, got it purely from whining and screaming her father's ear off (just like she gets everything else).

Here are some of the similarities of Pollyanna and Veruca Salt. Veruca and Pollyanna both live in wealthy households; Pollyanna was adopted into the money and Veruca was simply born raking in the bucks. Bother girls have lovely, blond hair and are somewhat curious.

Though there are very few comparisons between Veruca and Pollyanna, there are many contrasts. First of all, Pollyanna is much more well behaved. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Veruca's "Daddy" tells the newspaper that Veruca "would lie for hours on the floor, kicking and yelling in the most disturbing way" when he would come home from work with no Golden Ticket. But when Pollyanna doesn't get something she wants, or has to do something she doesn't want to do, she doesn't throw a fit screaming and kicking on the floor. For instance, when Pollyanna found she didn't have any "looking glass" in her bedroom, she tried to make the best of things and figured that she can look at her freckles. Also, Veruca always wants everything she sees. Pollyanna is much better behaved than that. Thirdly, Pollyanna and Veruca each live in different time periods. You can tell because in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mike Teavee, another Golden Ticket finder, watches television. In the early 1900's, the setting of the book Pollyanna, there were no TVs invented yet.

As of closing, my favorite book was probably Charlie and the Chocolate factory; I think it was more exciting. But my favorite character was NOT Veruca Salt, it was Pollyanna! I love all of her Innocent, hilarious ideas. :)

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Okay, so I realize I wasn't the greatest thirteen year old writer on the planet, but it was fun to look back on and remember my ideas on those two books... for the love of reading.

How To Make Your Own Herbal Tea

I love tea. I could go through the boxed tea section at the store for at least a quarter of an hour looking at this tea and that tea, matching up kinds that would taste good together, noticing one I know one of my pen-pals would love... But although I love the convenience of popping a tea bag or two into a mug with a drip of honey for an easy and soothing drink, I still have wondered what it would be like to make my own tea. I never looked into it because I thought it would be too hard and complicated, but this lady makes it look easy, showing you step by step what to do.

If you'd like to see how to make yogurt, start at the beginning of this video. If you would rather just watch the tea tutorial, skip to 8:55.

Tea making part two.

Anybody up for some pineapple coconut tea? Yum!

Got a Cold? Try Some Natural Ways To Fight It!

Sadly enough I have become one of the many people that've come down with a common cold this summer. It's kind of funny, because it seems like a lot of friends I've been emailing and chatting with on the Internet have a cold too. Guess I caught the bug off he web. (HAHAHA ahahaha...ha ha.....ahem.)

Anyway, I decided to look up some ways I can help my body fight this thing off, and here's what I found in an article off of Associated Content. It recommended all the things I've heard to do and backed them up with reasonable, well, reasons. And yes, they do work (I know from personal experience).

1. Sleep! Your body right now is in overdrive fighting off the cold and you will need extra rest. More so than normal. That extra added rest will give you a quicker recovery time. You'll be tired anyway from the cold so why not sleep?

2. Drink plenty of fluids. These fluids can include soup, water, juice (for that vitamin c we all need) or tea. No dairy here like milk. This can increase the thickness of your mucus and you do not want that. Keep glass of water always next to your bed. You will need to replenish those fluids that are lost and keep your body constantly hydrated.

3. Eat foods that are spicy! This is my personal favorite and I don't need a cold as an excuse to eat them. What does this do? This forces out the mucus which is a good thing.

4. Now this falls under the fluids category but in particular you should drink ginger tea. I'm not a big fan of it but it does work. It will calm that itchy and scratchy throat that has you up at all hours of the night which can be a nightmare to deal with. It will also help to clear out your nose. Ah relief! You can actually breathe, maybe not smell yet but that will come back in due time, I promise.

5. Eat garlic. Chop up a couple of cloves and put it in your food. If you don't like garlic, you can always take a capsule. It helps to clear things up, gets rid of fluids and is antiviral along with antibacterial. Not bad huh?

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I know we have garlic and spices (which I'll put into tonight's dinner), and I think we have some ginger tea waaaay back on our tea shelf, so it looks like I'm well on my way to getting better. Sleep is of course a welcome thing too! And besides, whoever said that DayQuil was the only thing that could help ya feel better?

Wanted: Ideas For Encouraging Our Sisters In Christ

When many parents think of Girl Scouts, they imagine young girls in uniform
selling Thin Mints and Tagalong cookies – not learning about stone labyrinths,
world peace, global warming, yoga, avatars, smudging incense, Zen gardens and
feminist, communist and lesbian role models.
But that's exactly what many of
2.7 million Girl Scouts will learn about with a new curriculum called "Journeys"
released last year.
Read the rest of the article here.

How sad that this huge program with 10 million girls and adults globally is putting out this sort of propaganda! How many parents enroll their daughters in Girl Scouts, thinking that they will be learning good, wholesome life skills, then, most likely, unknowingly expose their daughters to these things?

Okay, so we realize that there is a problem. Not only with Girl Scouts, but with many worldly programs put out for girls. Let's think of some ways that we as young ladies can encourage other ladies in doing godly things, lifting each other up in the Lord, and looking to the role-models He has given us.

Here are a couple of my ideas. If you would like to comment with yours, I'd love to post them here!

- Start up a pen-palship with your friend, sending back and forth a few paragraphs on different inspirational godly ladies each month, focusing in on one godly character trait for a long period of time. Honestly tell how your last few months have been, and keep each other accountable.

- Of course every girl needs a pick-me-up now and then. Put together a small box of treats, whether treats to eat or treats for the feet, it will be sure to put a smile on her face! Tuck in a little appropriately decorated note telling them how special they are. Here is a list of encouraging Bible verses you could add in.

- Start up a group for younger girls, taking advantage of the way they look up to you, directing them to the Lord's way of life. (A great program to use is Bright Lights, which I have used successfully in the past and am currently looking into using for a group for girls I will be starting.)

- Start a Keeper's At Home Group. ~Mrs. Carrie

- "If you know any Missionaries, I really suggest starting to write them...they really enjoy that and it can be an encouragement to them when they are so far from home...we have made SO MANY NEW FRIENDS by doing that." ~Mrs. Carrie

- "reach out to neighbor girls...with the permission of your parents of course." ~Mrs. Carrie

Anyone else have thoughts they'd like to share?

Thoughtfully,

"Enemies List" Denied

"The white house is asking to be informed about people who are speaking out about health care. Guess we don't dare disagree with the government now? Casual conversation even? This is straight from the White House blog:

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

Go here to view the article." Thank you to Mother Dear for her post I borrowed. :)

Now, go here to check out the White House's response. Very interesting, I must say. Whatever happened to answering questions directly?