Quiz Book just for You

Later this year I have a new book coming out called The Christian Girl's Guide to Me: The Quizbook. It has 25 quizzes with titles like:
Are You a Good Loser?
Follow, Lead or Stay at Home?
Are You Clothes Crazy?
Are You Content?
What Does Your Room Say about You?

Besides 25 quizzes written just for girls like you, there are puzzles, crafts, stories and activities. This book will be fun to do alone, but will be much more fun shared with a friend.

Here's one of the quizzes (but when you see it in the book it'll have drawings and lots of fun activities with it)

Are You a Good Loser?

   Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might... (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

   It's fun to win, but it's not much fun to lose!  However, it's important for you to be both a good winner and a good loser. It's all about attitude. The key is to have a good attitude at all times no matter what happens. How well do you do at that? Take the quiz below to find out. Read each question and then circle the letter in front of the answer that sounds most like what you would do.

 1. Middle school cheerleading tryouts are taking place. It's your turn and you're doing great. Just as you do your final jump, your foot slips and you fall. What do you do?

A. Get up, smile, and finish.

B. Blame whoever was supposed to clean the floor.

C. Leave the floor and hope the judges liked the rest of your routine.

2. You arrive early at the science fair and discover that you won the grand prize. Then you notice that the girl who always teases you for being slowest in PE didn't place at all. What do you do when she walks in?

A. Find one good thing about her project to compliment her for.

B. Say, "Ha! You might be better in PE but I aced you in the science fair."

C. Ignore her and spend time with your friends, enjoying your moment of fame.

3. Your girls’ basketball team is playing a team known for fouling. You've been elbowed several times. But then you come down from a rebound and hit one of their players in the head with your elbow. What do you say?

A. “Oops, sorry.”

B. “Move next time.”

C. Nothing.

4. You and another band member are playing a duet at the city competition. You don't place well. What do you say?

A. Maybe if I practice more I'll do better next time.

B. Maybe if you would have practiced we'd have done better.

C. I guess the judge thought we didn’t  play well.

5. You pride yourself on being a good writer. You place second in an essay contest. When you read the essay that beat yours what do you think?

A. That's a really well-written essay.

B. Mine should have won.

C. I wish I had won.

How did you do?

If you had mostly A's, you are a good sport! You like to win, but you accept it when you lose. You try to congratulate the winner. And if you are the winner, you make sure to say something nice to the loser. Way to go!

If you had mostly B's, you need to practice your sportsmanship skills! We'd all like to win but that rarely happens. Don't blame others when you lose. Just determine to do better the next time. And when you win, do it graciously not rudely. Real winners have good attitudes!

If you had mostly C's, you aren't a poor sport, but you're not really a good sport, either. Go a step further and compliment the winner, or if you are the winner, say something nice to the loser. It's good to be able to both win and lose well.

New Beginnings

Hi, it's Marilyn! Hey, it's almost the new year--2012! Are you excited about celebrating on New Year's Eve, or is it just another night for you? Do you stay up to greet the new year, or go to bed at your usual time?

Here are some things I'm going to do:

1. Clean my house. When I lived in Japan several years ago, I helped my school and host family prepare for the new year by cleaning the house so it was sparkling clean when the new year arrived. Ever since then, I've tried to keep that tradition by cleaning up near the end of December.

2. Pray for one word to focus on for 2012. I'm quite sure I know what this word is, but I'm keeping it in my heart until the new year begins.

3. Have a party! I'm inviting friends to my house for a celebration. We'll eat "small bites," drink a yummy punch made of fruit, fruit juice, sherbet, and soda, and enjoy one another's company.

4. Set goals for 2012. I can never keep resolutions, but I often meet goals that I've set. These goals include finishing tasks (such as completing the draft of a new book) and improving on things I already do (such as deepening my relationship with God).

The end of the old year and the beginning of a new year means a chance for new beginnings, a chance to start fresh. It's like our relationship with God--even if we drift away from him or do things we know he doesn't like, he loves us so much that he always welcomes us back and invites us to come closer to him.

Happy New Year, and God bless you!

Family Fun

With the holidays coming up, you're sure to have more time with family and maybe even family members you don't see often.

Here's an idea for family time fun from The Christian Girl's Guide to the Bible:

Family Fun

     Talk to your parents about having a special family night. Then make one or more of the snacks below to share while you spend time together. Pour the ingredients listed into a bag or bowl for sharing and just mix or shake.

Sweet Family Mix

1 cup plain M&Ms

1 cup peanut M&Ms

1 cup white morsels (chips)

1 cup gummy bears

1 cup malted milk balls (Whoppers)

Pretzel Mix

1 cup plain M&Ms

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1 cup pretzel sticks

1/2 cup peanuts or sunflower seeds

Healthy Mix

1 cup cubed hard cheese

1 cup peanuts

1 cup cubed turkey

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

     Kabobs are fun and easy to make! Just thread the ingredients listed and on a wood or metal kabob stick .

Fruit Kabobs

Kiwi squares

Strawberry halves

Pineapple chunks

Sandwich Kabobs

Lunch meat cubes

Cheese cubes

Bread squares

     After trying some of these ideas, create your own mixes and kabobs. See who can come up with the most creative ones.

Thank a Veteran

Be sure to thank a veteran for his or her service. Here's a video that someone put together on youtube. Unfortuately I can't get it to embed, so I'm putting the link.   http://youtu.be/5pfBUUZNbFM

It's Save Our Girls Day

This is the first national day of prayer for girls-especially for teen girls. You are close to being a teen so we also want to pray that your teen years will be great and you will stay close to Jesus through them all. Look at your friends and consider just a few facts:

1 in 3 teen girls becomes pregnant

1 in 3 teen pregnancies is ended by abortion (so one in 9 teen girls will have an abortion)

Girls get depressed more than boys and experiment with drugs more than boys

The world can be tough, but as young women prayer can make you strong, so spend P-O-W-E-R time with God

• Pray -pour out your thoughts and feelings and listen for God to respond-HE will
• Open up to other Christians in praying together-who share your faith will strengthen you-ask your mom, friends,and church to pray 4U and with U
• Word of God will strengthen you-so read the Bible and gain wisdom and encouragement from it-read about Hannah pouring out her heart to God(1 Samuel1:7-20), a forgiven woman (Luke 7:37-48) , and how God made plans for you as he created you inside your mother's womb--let God's Word be prayers-Psalm 51:10 is a great morning prayer (create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me)
• Evaluate of life and what's happening--think through to the outcomes and ask God to show you his plan and how he could use you--things may seem terrible but know the season will pass and joy will return
• Request better results--look back at how God has answered prayers and how you have grown. Consider the results you want it you life and set those as goals and then work toward the goals--you cannot control people but you can make wise choices in how to live--ask God to give you a vision of the results He can help you achieve and trust he will do it

And pray for a teen girl you know--pray God will give her strength and peace and much more!

Check out Save our Girls Day on facebook---http://www.facebook.com/SaveOurGirls

Abraham, the Father of Nations

Marilyn here! Today I spent a few hours with some dear friends. During that time, I heard a remarkable story about faith. It reminded me of Abraham, so I thought I'd post a bio of Abraham that I wrote for my book It's All About Dad & Me. How much do you know about the Father of Nations?
His name means: Exalted father/Father of a multitude
Born: About 4,000 years ago in Ur of the Chaldeans (a city in Babylon)
Husband of: Sarai/Sarah
Father of: Ishmael and Isaac, father-in-law of Rebekah
Occupation: Farmer, herder, and father of a nation

God promised Abraham (who was born as Abram) the Promised Land. When he was seventy-five years old, Abram moved his entire family (which included a lot of people—brothers, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins) to Canaan, the land that God promised he would inherit.

God also promised Abram that he would become the father of a new nation, Israel, which included all God’s chosen people. Even though Abram and his wife, Sarai, were both very old, God continued to promise these things to Abram. Despite how unrealistic and ridiculous they must have sounded to Abram, he responded with faith, trusting God’s words and obeying Him.

God said to Abram, “Number the stars, if you are able to number them. So shall your descendants be.” (Genesis 15:5)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God changed his name to Abraham and changed Sarai’s name to Sarah. Their first son, Isaac, was born a year later. When Isaac was still a boy, God told Abraham to take his son to a place in the mountains of Moriah and offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God.

Although Abraham must have been in complete shock at this command, he obeyed God and took Isaac to the spot that God had chosen. While Abraham and Isaac built an altar for the sacrifice, Isaac asked, “Where’s the animal we’re gonna sacrifice?”

Abraham said, “God will provide the lamb to sacrifice,” as he prepared his son on the altar.
Convinced of Abraham’s complete faith, trust, and obedience, God told him to stop preparing Isaac for the sacrifice. Just then, Abraham noticed a ram (male sheep) caught in the woods nearby. Realizing that God had placed the ram there for them, he and Isaac sacrificed it to God. God then repeated His promise that Abraham would be the father of the nation of Israel.

* Read all about Abraham in the book of Genesis.

And God bless you!

Doll Necklace

Aloha from Karen,

It's autumn so I thought making a doll necklace similar to one in God's Girls#1 could be fun.

Take a piece of thick yarn and cut it long enough to go around your neck and end about the middle of your chest. Bend a 2-inch piece of chenille stem in half to make a simple needle. Fold yarn in half and over the chenille stem-needle. Thread 5 pony beads for the body and then a larger bead for the head. Remove the needle. Slide beads so both ends are about 4 inches below the bottom pony bead. Tie the ends together twice under the last bead to hold beads on necklace. Tie an overhand knot towards the end of each end to form feet. Cut a  5-inch piece of yarn and tie the middle of the yarn between the head and top body bead to form arms. Tie overhand knots at the end of each arm to form hands. Cut a 3-inch scrap of shiny garland or boa to make a skirt. Twisst a piece of chenille stem around the center of the skirt and then around the necklace, between the bottom two beads, to attach the skirt. Add yarn or twist another piece of chemille stem around the top of the head to make hair. Use permanent markers to draw a face. It's ready to wear.

Have fun with the doll necklace. Cut fabric or paper scraps to make little costumes to dress the doll. These can be attached with short pieces of wire or chenille stems.

From my book, there's a matching devotion for the doll. The verse Romans 16:12 in a letter from Paul asks people to greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, two women who work hard in the Lord. He praised them for their hard work. Tryphena means delicate and Tryphosa means dainty. These were ladies who served God and impressed Paul with their virtues. God sees them as special daughters, so you can make dolls as reminders of these gentle, delicate women. Make a second necklace for a friend who also loves God.

Enjoy these autumn days and bright colored leaves!