A Movie From the Hastings Five

Wow, today has been BUSY. My family and I filmed a movie today at the library for a film contest sponsored by the library system of Minnesota. We had been planning the movie for over a month and now the whole filming in the library part is done! Now the hard part: Editing.
Thankfully all I am is the costume designer for the movie so I don't have to worry about editing. This was my first official job as costume designer for a "movie", and I got to design a cowgirl, a space lady, a detective, and a scientist. Here are the actors wearing the costumes along with the cast and crew.

I am the cow girl in this picture and my mom is the space person. My dad has the camera on the tripod and my sister is the scientist. My friend Mia is standing next to me and her mom is the detective. My brother is standing in between my sister and my mom, and last but not least, my friend Mrs. Waltho is holding the yellow pamphlets.

I know that was a long train of names, but I thought I would mention all the people involved.

So there we are, filming in the Library having a blast. If you want to know how to have fun, film a movie with your family, that truely is a blast!

God is Good

I have a favorite Psalm that I would like to share with you. I t is Psalm number 40 and has a message about how God saves us when we cry for him.

Psalm 4o

Verses 1-5

1

I waited patiently for the LORD;

he turned to me and heard my cry.

2

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and the mire;

he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

3

He put a new song in my mouth,

a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

4

Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look

to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.

5

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done.

The things you planned for us no one can recount to you;

were I to speak and tell of them,

they would be too many to declare.

Sun Springs in Summer

Summer is almost here! I can hardly wait for the first day of summer because I am starting my own summer writing challenge. I will write a novel starting the first day of summer and ending the last day of summer. The goal is as it was for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which is 50,000 words. For NaNoWriMo I wrote it by hand because I am better at it, but this time I will do it on the computer because I need to learn. Also my summer challenge is three months long rather than only one, but has the same word goal of 50,000.

The novel I will be typing is called Sun Springs Samantha about a girl who lives on a ski resort in Sun Springs Montana. I have been planning it for about three months now and I can't wait for it to begin!

Samantha Saint Michel ( pronounced "SAY Mee- shell", it's french.) lives on one of the biggest ski resorts in the north west with her parents, and every once in awhile she will go to her Swedish friend's resort in Sweden to visit her. On one of these visits she finds her grandmother's journal. She can't figure out why her late grandmother's journal is in her Swedish friend's home. When she starts to read it she realizes it is from her grandmother's childhood. No one had ever known about her grandmother's childhood because she went missing at that time for 14 years. She never talked about her childhood to anyone. As Samantha reads it she realizes why her grandmother never talked about it. Her grandmother's story changes Samantha's way of thinking forever.

That is the basic story line for now. I didn't give away any thing on purpose because I hope to self publish it soon after writing it.

Barack Obama, Our President

Let me tell you about Obama, our President. Obama said in 2001 that the Constitution of the United States of America reflects a fundamental flaw, which means that he thinks the founding fathers were wrong in what they wrote in the Constitution. The President of the United States of America is supposed to protect the constitution, not say that the founding fathers were wrong in what they wrote! He is also for killing live babies, (Babies that are in the womb are alive and can feel pain). Just think what our country would be like if Abraham Lincoln's mother had aborted him! Choice or no choice, a mother should love her baby enough to keeps it's life. I am not a supporter of killing babies made in the image of God.

"Spread the wealth" is a socialist idea. America is gradually becoming more and more socialist. Let’s say that you work hard at starting a business out of your home. Year after year you work on making it better so that people will buy your product, and a long time from now you are a big thriving business. But the government says “You don’t deserve to be wealthy, there are people in this country who aren’t as rich as you!” So they take away your wealth and make you pay the other people who didn’t get a job, in the form of taxes. Wasn’t America founded on the rights of men to defend their freedom? The main idea of the founding fathers was liberty and justice for all, not, “You don’t have rights to be wealthy and be your own boss!” When people realize that they can vote into office someone who promises them gifts from the government treasury, they become dependent on the government.

Do you know what money is? It is society's evaluation of how much you have contributed to it. So when the government takes over and "spreads the wealth around," the competition that drives this country goes down the drain. Working harder will do you no good when the government will only take your money away from you and hand it to the person watching TV, waiting for the next government welfare check to come in the mail.

Here is a video of the first 100 days that Barack Obama has been president. He might say somethings that sound good to the American people, but his actions will not necessarily agree with what he just said. this video can put it into words better than I can.



In the upcoming four years, I hope you all begin to see who Barack Obama truly is underneath all his smooth speech and winsomeness.

Abigail Dorothy, a proud Christian conservative American.

Words in Wordle

As you may already know, I wrote a novel during november last year, and my sister has been typing it out on her computer for me. (I hand wrote my novel.)

My sister put all the most used words in my novel into this fancy pool of words that you see below. The program she used to do it is called Wordle. It is very simple and fun to do with any written works. As you can see, I used the main character's name the most so it is the biggest of all the words.

The Grand Canyon is.....GRAND!

I just recently got home from the grand canyon with my family during spring break, and wish to share God's splendor with you. We really didn't have the money for a vacation to Arizona from Minnesota, but God made it work. My family and I started to put some cash in a jar labeled "The Grand Canyon Fund" to see if we could come up with enough to go. Well, some of us were doubtful, in fact, we all were doubtful at times that we would be able to go. But then, in just one morning, the jar had 500 dollars from only four members of my family, which showed us that God will provide if he wants it to happen.

We did go on to the Grand Canyon very soon after we gathered enough money to drive down, spend a few bucks down there, and drive back up. I had never been through the rocky mountains before and we were going to go right through them at Denver. I had never seen anything so beautiful before in my life. As we drove through the mountains, my siblings and I kept trying to take pictures as we went along, but the windows were rolled up and very dirty so we really didn't get any good pictures.

(This is a picture of our hike into the Grand Canyon.)

I had never really thought much about how pretty the mountains could be, or the Grand Canyon for that matter, and once I got there I was blown away at the idea that God created all the beauty of the mountains and the Canyons we saw with just a stroke of his fingers. It all proves the power, love and might of our God.

May God's passion fill your life.

What I have been doing lately

What a long and busy time these last eight months have been for me! I wrote a novel in a month, sewwed a skirt, started playing my tuba in a new band, had friends from half way around the world come and stay at our house, went on a church youth retreat and saw God in a new and wonderful way, and made it into the youth Honor band. I have been naglecting my blog through it all and now feel compelled to do something about it.

For starters I think I will go a little more into the subject of my novel. Yes! I have writen a novel, and I did it in a month. November was National Novel Writing Month, which is shortend into NaNoWriMo. thousands of people are involved in NaNoWriMo every year and most of them use the NaNoWriMo website to talk to other NaNo writers and update their word count. They encourage each other and inspire each other to keep writing and not give up. Most people set their goal for 50,ooo words from the beginning of November to the end of November. 50,000 words is considered the size of a novel. That was my goal and I barely made it. I stayed up writing on the last day to midnight with my siblings and finished it as the clock chimed twelve. My word count added up to 50,006 words! But my novel needs alot of work still and it will take a lot, I mean A TON of editing! I am working on that now. My dream is to get it in publishing shape by the end of this year, but that is a bit of a high goal for a year. We'll see.

And that is the highlight of 2008 for me.

NaNoWriMo!

National Novel Writing Month is on its way! November is National Novel Writing Month for anyone who loves writing. I love to write, so I am really looking forward to November this year. My brother and sister will be writing novels this November as well. Most people set a goal to write at least 50,000 words in the 30 days of November, But my siblings are going for a far higher goal: 100,000 words! I am just going to 50,000 and hopefully I will finish this time. Last year I found out that trying to write a historical fiction novel in only 30 days would be a stressful stretch. This year I will have to settle with a fantasy fairytale. I will be writing about fairies because they inspire me even though they are not real. I have drawn some of the charactures, and that helps me to think about the plot of my novel.

Productivity Challenge!

I just got another idea! I am going to start a challenge called the productivity challenge। I am so exited about this i can't wait to tell you. This is a challenge to go a whole day with out watching any tv or using the computer for no reason at all, and no video games either. (Some times that is a big challenge for me.) And if you want, you can make it last a whole week for more of a challenge. I think I was not realizing that I was wasting my life when I would tell my mother that I would do my math and then plunk myself down on the couch until supper. So I would tee myself; "God gave you your life so you can spread his glory and bring others his light, not so you get to rap yourself up in a video game with your friends all Saturday. But there is hope for you yet." these Ideas help me when I am bored:

* Try and keep your room clean (that one is hard for me)
* Ask your family about what you can do to help them.
* Start some kind of a project (sewing, writing, building)
* Go for a whole day with out watching tv, and spend the day outside.
* Memorize Bible verses (that is probably the best one yet)

You can do so much in your life if you only try, spend every moment as if it were your last. There are so many things that I want to do in my life and I am going to try and find time for them all. Please come back with your Productivity Challenge results!

A Love of Animals

I have some pets, and I would like to share some of their funny pictures with you.

As I was cleaning my room just the other day, I came across this video that I made for 4-H last year. I think it has all my pets on it except for our latest horse. So here is a peek into my daily life.

Check it Out... Do Hard Things!

On Mother's Day I got the Harris twins' book called Do Hard Things. I can't believe how well they present the topics in their book and illustrate their point. It really makes you think of how you could inprove in your daily life. (You should get their book!)

Well anyway, I am now trying to think of how I could do hard things for Jesus' name. Up until I got their book and read it, I had thought of myself as a pretty good example of the Rebelution. But as I think back to only about two days ago, I never really made my bed each morning because I didn't feel like doing it! What a lousy thing to think, basing my actions on how I feel. If the world was built on feeling alone, this would be a pretty bad place to be. I also would put off cleaning my rabbit's cage because I would convince myself that the cage was very heavy, and I had to carry it all the way to the woods! And how is it that I don't mind carrying my tuba to band and back when it weighs about 50 pounds? Hmm. I wonder.

We all try to settle for the easier stuff in life, and sometimes just get by in our daily basis because that is human nature, instead of striving to do our very best job in everything. I know there is something holding me from doing my hardest in everything, we could all do better if we just made an effort to do so.

Alex and Brett Harris' book Do Hard Things is the perfect match for what I have just wrote. What they have to say in it is breathtaking. You probably never would realize what they said is true in your own life until you read about it in the book. I strongly suggest that you read it some time soon. The picture above is of their book, Do Hard Things.

Hope to hear from you soon, and feel free to ask a question or leave a comment. I will be back soon with more posts.

Tuba Music for God

I'm back at posting on my blog again. I took a break from it while I was in the Minnesota Honor band with my tuba. And when I was in Honor band I got the idea to write a post on music for God. My brother says that whatever you do in your life, it was made to bring God glory. That is why he has a blog about Aerospace to the glory of God! I am so inspired by him that I want to try and do everything, not just play music, to the glory of God. It is so amazing that God would take our pitiful little words from our mouths and use them in such a way that can bring him glory!
I love to play my tuba and harmonize with the rest of the band, but lots of times my heart is not looking upward. I know that everybody has that problem because we are humans, and that is human nature, but that should not stop us from trying our hardest to lift our hearts in praise no matter what we do.
My goal for my tuba hobby is to not be a receiver of praise, for man's praise is nothing. But be the praiser to the one and only receiver. Do you have a hobby or passion that you are having a hard time giving God all the glory with? I have lots of hobbies that I still am taking the credit for.
Maybe some day I will join a professional band and be a missionary to the other musicians, because lots of the musicians in this world focus on the music and not God. Do you have a passion for music and God? I would love to hear you story too. Feel free to leave your own ideas on my blog, I would love to talk to you soon.

An interesting quote

This is a quote from a book called The Basket of Flowers. I just started reading this book and I am already really into it. It is an old book about a young girl and her father, who are both devoted christians. The quote is taken from the very first chapter which is more like an introduction really. Anyway, I found it quite interesting, and I hope you do too.
"Human nature is the same in all countries; on the one hand we find the human heart, sinful,producing a life apart from God which leads to total misery and sorrow; and on the other hand, the remedy for this despair, is the work of the Holy Spirit of God, producing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ which leads us to a life of purpose and peace. 'For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.' (Romans 10:13). The whole book is full of interest, and of the most valuable moral and biblical instruction; and we are persuaded that young people and old alike, will peruse it with pleasure, and reap from it many great advantages."
I hope you find that just as interesting as I do. the author of this book is named, Christoph Von Schmid. He wrote lots of Christ-centered books and novels. If you have any good God-centered books that you think others might enjoy, please tell me about them. I would love to hear about them.

Helping Elephants

Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to help the elephants in Africa from being killed for their ivory tusks. I have researched the ivory trade over the years and it is terrible to hear of all the elephants that are being killed illegally in Africa. People think that all elephants are very dangerous animals and need to be kept under complete control, but in reality they are very peaceful. If you keep your distance from them, they might not even take heed of your presence. There are people out there who are trying to help the elephants, like a woman named Cynthia Moss, who has been researching African elephants for a very long time, and follows certain herds around to watch their natural behavior. Also ther is an organization called The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which saves orphaned baby elephants and takes care of them until they are big enough to take care of themselves. I used to help foster some of these baby elephants with some friends of mine and I hope to find other ways to help out the elephants again sometime. Until then, I will try my hardest to keep you up dated!

Try creativity

Do you know why creativity is so great? Because it makes you think of new things and keeps your mind thinking, unlike watching a movie. When you watch a movie you are just consuming, not producing. Sometimes being creative is a challenge, which is good because if we always did easy things, we would never really go anywhere in life worth our while! Test what I am saying and try to do more than what other people expect of you and see what happens. You might just like it, or maybe it will take you more than one try to start seeing the effect.

So what are my hobbies?

Well, my main interest at this point in my life I would say is taking care of children at my church's nursery. I love to watch them gradually grow in understanding of God, and learn new things. I also like to dream about the future, and how I will raise my children. I want to inspire these youger children to be creative, and not as much to copy other people in their life. Being creative really stimulates the mind and makes you feel like you have accomplished something, which you have! you will end up a happier person if you are more productive, and that is what I want to see the children at the nursery doing.