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July 2010


The Things I Believe
July 30, 2010

As I finished up telling the story of the Israelites marching around the city of Jerhico seven times one of the five-year-olds in my class raised her hand (they were all very good about doing that) and burst out, "That's just AMAZING! There is NO WAY that's TRUE!"

I had to pause after that because, to be honest with everyone, that thought had never ever occurred to me in my whole life. The idea that a Bible story was not an absolute fact. It doesn't even compute in my head. Of all the books I've ever read, I know the Bible is complete and utter truth. There is no speculation, no fiction and no faulty research. The Bible is the absolute truth and I have no doubt about that in my mind.

So I was a bit floored and didn't know what to do when she shouted all of that. I had never heard that.

Of course, the five-year-old wasn't being malicious, she was just shocked that a group of people could walk around a city and knock the walls down. Of course, God had a lot to do with it (everything, really) but still, the idea is a bit hard to believe and I can understand a five-year-old having issues understanding the whole thing.

I don't know. Maybe I've just had the advantage of growing up in a church. I know a lot of people think that I'm just completely brainwashed, ignorant and naive but I'm not, I've simply been very, very blessed to have the background I do. Things could have been very, very different.

So don't take for granted the fact that you know what you know about the Bible. There are people all over the world that are looking for what you have right now and have absolutely no way to get it because they don't know what it is that they're missing. In fact, why don't you go tell someone about it this Saturday during visitation?

Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll be in Florida on Monday but I'll find a chance to update somewhere along the line. ^^


Things I've Learned this Week
July 29, 2010

lol. I've been teaching the 3-5 year olds in VBS all week. It's been quite the experience and I'll get more into it tomorrow. I just didn't want to forget the things I've learned. ^^

Ta!


Modern Conveniences
July 26, 2010

As of this writing we have not had electricity in our house for almost 24 hours. A severe storm blew through yesterday and wiped out enough trees in the area to cut off electricity to about 90,000 people in our area. The poor BGE people are scrambling to fix it. As much as I liked the adventure last night, it has now become much more of a drag than I expected it to be. Fortunately the church still has power so I'm here working and taking advantage of the air conditioning. Plus it is uber dark in my basement thanks to the general lack of windows so hanging out at home would just be a drag.

This week is VBS which means I'll pretty much be spending all day every day at church. Except for Wednesday and Thursday because I get off at three instead of six. My parents are going out of town so I get their car and I fully intend on doing something novel this weekend. Don't know what yet.

Very psyched about a new website I found: modcloth.com. Very cute stuff. Comes from the same idea as Etsy does but it's a bit different and mainly specialises in clothes. Expensive ones mostly. lol. But they're cute and fun to browse through.

So yeah, Florida next week, Utah the week after. Going to call about my Jeep today and try to get the insurance going if the car has been purchased. Other than that there really isn't a whole lot going on!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!


End of the Week
July 23, 2010

Better get this done while I have five minutes here. The next six weeks are going to be just insane. We just got off of missions conference (which was amazing, I love missions conference week) and next week is VBS. We schedule the VBS right after missions conference because that is the only time of the summer we can actually do it. After VBS I'm flying to Florida for a week for a teaching seminar (because I've never taught before and I'm about to do it full-time). After Florida is flying to Utah and driving back to Maryland in my Jeep (yay!). After the Jeep is in-service which is basically my week to get into my classroom and get everything done for the school year. Then comes the first week of school and immediately following that is a week of revival meetings with Dr. Behrens for which I am designing all of the advertising (fliers, postcards, etc...).

So yeah. Wheeee! This is your typical life in a church ministry. One thing after another after another, all piling up on each other. In all actuality I have to have the fliers for the revival meetings done by the end of next week but the week of revival meetings I'm going to be making things like homework passes, coupons and other such stuff that we like to give away.

We're decorating for VBS tonight which is going to be fun. It's a traditional thing, everyone who wants to gets together the Friday before VBS to help decorate the chapel. Last year we made it look like a big cave. This year we're basically just putting military stuff all over the place. We'll have a good time, eat pizza, drink coke, same ol', same ol'...

Normally I try to make Friday's post a bit more thought provoking but I think I did a pretty loud job of that on Monday. I was a bit tired that day, and frustrated because of some things that have happened recently. I don't apologize for the post but I do admit that it was a bit forceful. I don't think I offended anyone though, it wasn't aimed at anyone.

As always, thanks for reading! Keep us in your prayers here, we've got a lot ahead of us. Have a great weekend!!


Pastor's Daughters
July 19, 2010

Used to be a time when being a pastor's daughter actually meant something. Used to be that people would give the benefit of the doubt to people related to a pastor because they just naturally had to be 'good'. There used to be a stereotype of pastor's daughters, people who were guaranteed to be goody-two-shoes because they wouldn't do anything bad.

A quick shout-out here to the people who wrecked that reputation. I know it wasn't just one or two of you, realize it happened over a period of years, realize you don't really care, but I just want to let you know that I care. That it has affected me way more than it will ever affect you. You've basically eliminated my need for a testimony because people just naturally assume that a pastor's daughter is going to do the wrong thing. When on earth did this ideal get so convoluted? There was an incident recently where my sister was wearing a LONG JEAN SKIRT and someone took a picture of her while she was taking a step forward so that one leg was much more defined than the other. (To any normal person who might have taken a closer look at the photograph instead of passing judgement right away this is plainly obvious.) But no. What does one kindhearted individual do? Automatically assumes that my sister is wearing pants when she has never, ever, ever worn pants ever since my family got into the ministry and probably will go to her grave not wearing pants and EVERYONE KNOWS THAT. No. She's a pastor's daughter and it looks as if she's wearing pants so, ta-da, she must be and I simply must pass blame and bring it up to everyone.

What on earth?! Does anyone realize what kind of stuff we put up with? I never am alone with anyone other than a woman. Ever. And if I somehow end up in a room with a guy I make sure the door is open so that the whole world can see inside. I don't wear pants. I don't go to movies. I won't even park in the same parking lot as a bar or a liquor store because people are automatically going to assume the worst of me and drag my name all around through the mud. What is with all this hating on pastor's daughters? While everyone else goes around willy-nilly disregarding standards because they have that luxury, here I am, glared at every time I fail to toe the line.

I am sick, sick, sick of it. But you know what? I can't leave it. Everywhere I go I'll be the pastor's daughter and if I start doing things that say I disregard that position, I'm just making it even more worse for the other poor pastor's daughters bravely scattered throughout America.

Whatever. D.C. was fun today. Hot but fun. I think I'm tired of looking at the monuments and the Smithsonians though. Next time I go it'll be to see something new. Like the aquarium or the spy museum or something. I'm going to bed now. Really, really tired from walking all day.


Top Ten Under $10
July 16, 2010

I love lists. Lists make me feel organized and competent. Whenever I start a new project the first thing I do is make a list of all the things that need to be done. One by one I check them all off until I'm done. There isn't a whole lot more satisfying to me than being able to throw away a completed list.

Today I've compiled a list of my ten favorite products that cost under ten dollars. I like reading these sorts of lists because there is usually something on there that I haven't heard of or that I've been looking for. In fact, I found one of these items on another list and am now putting it on this list for you all to find. Yay!

Anyways, enough of the soliloquizing, on to the list!


1. O.P.I. Nail Polish - I get this stuff at the mall for exactly $8.11 at Trade Secret. It's probably one of the more expensive items on the list and I only actually have one of these bottles. Currently I'm wearing a nice lavender color on my toes that has already lasted three weeks. See, now, that's incredible. Especially since I never wear anything but sandals and flip-flops. The polish only lasts about a week and a half on my hands but that's because I play piano and nothing ever withstands that amount of stress. lol O.P.I. comes in hundreds of amazing colors but they are slightly expensive so I wouldn't go all crazy buying bottles of this stuff. XP


2. Diffuser - I found my diffuser for like, $5 at this tiny little hole-in-the-wall beauty place somewhere in Bowie. It fits right onto the end of my blow dryer (it bounces off if I don't make sure it's on before I use it) and does an excellent job of not turning my curls into a crazy, frizzy mess. I don't completely dry my hair with it, rather I just sort of work out most of the dampness. It's plastic so it's sturdy, cheap so I can replace it if I break it, and does a good job. I really like this thing. For those of you who don't know, a diffuser basically takes the force out of the dryer and blows heat on your hair instead of air.


3. Lip Balm from B. O. Bigelow - This stuff is usually found at Bath and Body Works but right now they're redesigning the packaging again. They used to have it in this really nice little tub that you could just throw into your purse (I have two of those floating around) but about two years ago they put it into a tube (which I don't like) and took it out of the tubs (bummer). It tastes like vanilla and usually costs what Bath and Body Works usually charges for its lip balms, an exorbitant $6 to $7.


4. Makeup Removing Wipes - I buy these from all over the place. My current ones are the CVS brand because they were on sale for about $4. They come in 25 to 30 in a pack (although I have seen 21 in a pack) so be a little bit more choosy when buying these. I always, always, always remove my makeup before I wash my face because even makeup removing soaps don't get all of the makeup off. If I don't have wipes I'll wash my face twice just to make sure it's all off. It is vital that you get your makeup off before you go to bed because makeup really clogs up the pores and doesn't give your skin a chance to breathe. Wipes run between $5-$7.


5. Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover from Neutrogena - In the spirit of getting makeup off, normal mascara and eyeliner can't usually be removed with wipes because it just plain hurts to rub that cloth across your eyes enough times to get it off. So I keep cotton balls and this stuff nearby. It works really well although it leaves a bit of moisture behind (but you're washing your face anyways) and lasts a good long while even if you're using it every day. It costs about $6 and I bought mine at Walmart.


6. Neosporin - Great stuff and you probably already have something similar in your bathroom or medicine closet. It's basically a anti-bacterial cream and I use it on zits that I've popped (usually deliberately). I can't help myself when I see a zit, I just pop it to get rid of it. Then, since I've created an open wound on my face, I wash my face and put a tiny, tiny bit of Neosporin on the zit. Just put a little bit because this stuff is a.) greasy and b.) like a little shield on your face and will prevent healthy skin from breathing. (Disclaimer: I don't recommend popping your zits. It's just something I do out of a lack of self-control. It hurts, badly, and will cause scaring.) The Neosporin usually has the spot cleared up in a day or two. It comes in two sizes, convenient and hulking big, and I would recommend the smaller of the two because this stuff lasts ages and does go bad in a few years. $4 - Walmart.


7. Steam Face Scrub from Clean and Clear - Found this stuff at Walmart a few years ago and loved it so much that when I couldn't find it again (they took it off the shelves for some reason) went and bought some off Amazon. It's a nice little face scrub that you do in the shower, the idea being that the steam of the shower will open up your pores and allow more dirt to come out. Then you rub it around to exfoliate and rinse it off. Only do it every other day or so and you don't use a whole lot because the stuff really spreads. $8 - Amazon.com and eBay.com.


8. Visine - Yay Visine! This stuff is wonderful for contacts wearers because, not only does it make your eyes whiter, but it makes the contacts feel better if you're having one of those days where they just keep scratching at your eyes. For people who don't wear contacts but need some sort of dry-eye relief every once in awhile, this stuff comes in a teeny-tiny bottle that goes anywhere. And since you only need a drop at a time it lasts just about forever. It costs about $5 at Walmart. I think. I bought mine so long ago that I can't even remember now.


9. Tiny Rubberbands - I'm fairly positive that there is a more technical name for those things but I don't know it. These are the little rubberbands that come in packages of about 400 and can be multi-colored or black and white or brown or whatever. My little bag has lasted me all through college and I have about half of the bag left. They're great for hairstyles and even hold all of my hair back (I'm using one right now actually). Plus they're just good to have around to organize things. I used them to wrap up all of the cables for my electronics (when you have an iPod, a cell phone, a camera, two laptops and an affinity for gadgets, you collect a lot of cables).


10. Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Shampoo and Conditioner - Shampoo and conditioner are just one of those things that everyone has their favorite brand of. I understand that. This is my brand. lol. About two years or so ago Herbal Essences came out with a line of shampoos and conditioners aimed at young adult women. They've got the prerequisite bright packaging and sassy titles that seem to draw my age group. It worked. lol. The big huge sizes cost only $5 at Walmart ($4 if they're on sale! Woo!) and last about two weeks for me. But that's because I shampoo my hair twice and use waaaaaayyyy more conditioner than is normal. That's just because my hair type requires a lot of hydration though. They've got types specific for curly hair, straight hair, wavy hair, treated hair, etc hair... Plus they've got a great line of other products as well, spray gel, leave-in conditioner and hair spray. So if you're looking to change your shampoo and conditioner or just want to spend less money, you might look into this stuff.


And there you have it! Someday I'm going to do a Top 10 Under $20 list which will have a whole lot more of my stuff. And this list doesn't even go into makeup, this is just the extra stuff. I have a TON of makeup (though, to be honest, not a whole lot of it cost under $10).

And, just so you all know, yes, I am fully aware that I seem to have a lot of pricey stuff. Every time I buy something (no matter what, I could be buying oranges and necessary items like lunch meat) I hear my dad's voice in my head saying, "Liz, that will not make you happy." So I know that material items don't make you happy, that having a lot of stuff and looking nice isn't what it's all about. I just enjoy it, I consider makeup my hobby. Believe me, if I didn't have all of this stuff I know I'd still be happy because I have what matters most, a relationship with my Creator and assurance of Salvation.

Have a great weekend everyone! Thanks for reading!


Image Issues...
July 14, 2010

I swear I wasn't going to write another post until Friday but a few things came up that I want to talk about. Mostly, I just like writing posts but I don't want to get too wordy y'know?

A few people have mentioned that they can't see the pictures from the shirts post. The only reason I can think of for this would be that you are using Internet Explorer as opposed to Firefox as your web browser. OtterFiles.com is best viewed in Firefox but I'm going to try to make sure that everyone can see the pictures. The thing is though that they're JPGs and Internet Explorer only doesn't support PNGs. So I'm not sure what the issue is but I'm looking into it. It could very well be something I wrote into the code awhile back and forgot about. Heh.

The other thing is that anyone who is looking for nice camisoles, I mean the ones that don't have that silly built-in bra and that re-size so they aren't too low, should go look at a Fashion Bug if you have one nearby. They are definitely my go-to place for comfortable, cheap camis. I bought four yesterday in all different colors, for about $8.00 a piece. They are the only place (except for this one time at a Kohls) that I have ever found good, not tight, camis. I mean, these things are so nice, they don't squeeze your figure so you can wear them underneath an open blouse, they re-size to be quite high and they've got really nice colors.

They also had a buy one get one half off sale going on with jewelry and of course I caved. I can't help myself when it comes to foreign-looking jewelry. I'll see if I can't post a picture.

Anyways, that's that. Thank you everyone who posted a comment about not being able to see the pictures. That's the sort of input I need in order to resolve problems. I realize the problem has not actually yet been resolved but I'm working on it. I promise. lol.


Wireless Internet!!!
July 12, 2010

I am officially updating OtterFiles.com, today, July 12, 2010, from the desk in my basement. How? Thanks to modern technology, I now have a portable wireless hot-spot. Literally. I can carry it around in my pocket, it is about the size of a cell phone only so much better.

The people at a place called Sierra Wireless have come up with Clear internet which specializes in portable wireless internet. I've known this day was coming for a long, long time. With how people use the internet these days, on-demand wireless was just around the corner. So now, until they just up and make the whole country a wireless hot-spot, we've got Clear. It costs about the same as a cell phone bill does and so since I'm not paying my cell phone bill (XD) I opted for wireless internet at home. Now I don't have to feel guilty updating OtterFiles at church and it allows me to be a whole lot more creative. (i.e. there will be a whole lot more stuff going on around here.)

If you haven't looked yet, check out the new logo!! I did that Saturday because I had time coming out of my ears. Admittedly it needs to be a tad bit bigger but I'll solve that next month when I draw a new otter. I like the infusion of color to the top of the page so I'm thinking about adding more touches of color and texture here and there. Tastefully and within reason of course. ^^

Been receiving a lot of good reviews about OtterFiles recently. From various sources. The advertising I've put out has paid off more or less and the regular readers are still coming back (thank you, thank you, thank you!!!). I've purchased some banner space over at a Baptist site but I haven't actually heard anything from them so we'll see what becomes of that. The Google Adwords have been paying off the best. Had several hits off the keyword 'modesty' which is good because that is really the goal here.

It's looking to be a great week! If you have any questions about anything going on here please feel free to drop me an email! Or post a question in the Shoutbox. Better yet, if you know me on Facebook, say hello! Lots of interesting stuff coming up in the next couple of weeks, missions conference, VBS, a trip to Florida and a road trip in a Jeep with Jen (RTIAJWJ)! I'm really getting psyched about how well OtterFiles is doing so keep coming back to see what happens next!

Have a great week! Chavo!!


Shirt Successes!
July 9, 2010

Yay!! I finally got the pictures of my shirts onto the computer, edited and uploaded to the server!! I've been looking forward to doing this since I bought them. I'm going to point out the parts that make them modest and explain why some of them are still modest although a lot of Independent Baptists are going to have issues with them.

Here we go! First off I found this really sweet jacket at the Gap. (Some people have told me that GAP stands for 'gay and proud', I've never heard actual evidence that backs this up.) It was originally priced at around $76 but it had been put on sale for $16.99 but since it was the 5th of July they were having a 30% off clearance sale and I got it for just under $13 which is absolutely amazing. I love this jacket and if it weren't so hot here right about now I'd have already worn it. I have a bright pink cami underneath it in the picture but I probably won't wear it that way in public as I prefer to be able to remove jackets if necessary. In the end I'll probably pair it with a nice t-shirt. I like what it does at the cuff and for some reason in this picture my elbow looks very small. (I don't have a tripod so I took all of these pictures while looking in a mirror. ^^

After the GAP I traveled on down to New York and Co. I've had a lot of successes there over the years, bought my first camis there actually. They seem to specialize in working girl attire by which I mean they don't do too much skanky stuff because that won't do in the office. While I was there I noticed some cute looking argyle sweaters but they weren't on sale and I didn't like them that much so I didn't price them or anything. They were having a massive sale and this green blouse and the black one I bought (same shirt, different colors)were on sale for $9.99 each. I've already worn the green one (I absolutely love the bright color) and I've got plans for the black one. The best thing about these shirts is that..okay, there are two things. A.) They button up extremely high. You can't see it in the picture but there is a button right underneath my chin. There are actually two buttons up there. I could look puritanical if I wanted. I don't want. But I could. And B.) They don't require undershirts. They are loose enough but still have a good cut so that they don't make you look formless but neither does your bra show through. The fabric isn't thick but it is opaque so nothing shows through. Believe me, with this 100+ degree weather we've been having, only having on one layer has been wonderful. The sleeves on these are long, past my tan line, and the length of the shirt itself is wonderful. My skirts are super huge on me and hang down low on my hips but these shirts don't even have to work hard to cover that up. They were definitely a great buy.

I also bought a white blouse while I was there. Same store, cute blouse. The thing about this one is that it has a zipper instead of buttons. I've never really been sure about that sort of thing, wasn't sure if I liked the sort of texture that a zipper would bring to a shirt but it works in this one in a sort of modern way. Would I wear it to church? Yeah, sure. And work. I mean, the shirt is modest, it just has this zipper on it. I'll show you. (In retrospect I shouldn't have left the pink cami on underneath. I shot all of these photos at the same time.) Obviously it needs an undershirt, preferably a white one. lol. It looks almost futuristic with the darts going up into an arrow like that and, the picture doesn't show it well enough, the zipper is really shiny. That all being said, I still really, really like the shirt. It's something that maybe someone can only get away with in my area (people from a more traditionalist location might have difficulties with it) because we're a lot more worried about appearance. Also, it takes a certain amount of personality to pull this one off so if you see something like this, think a couple of times before you actually purchase it. The picture truly does not do it justice. It looks very simple now that I'm looking at it on the screen but if you were to see it in real life you'd think much differently about it. In the end I only paid about $6 because it was on clearance.

The next shirt I picked up (same store) I grabbed because I really liked the collar. The color is much more yellow in real life (I've seriously got to find a better camera) but not too much more yellow. If it had a name it would probably be called 'diluted mustard'. I chose it because the only other options were black (which I have a ton of), brown (which I also have a ton of) and dark blue (which I don't like). If they'd had it in red I probably would have bought that but they didn't and I didn't have any other yellow clothes so I chose that one. The collar makes it nice because no necklace (or any other jewelry really) is required. You could add some bangle bracelets to it (in blue or orange, that'd be cool) but I just put in some diamond studs and straightened my hair. With a long black jean skirt I looked slightly like a bumble bee so I'll probably wear it with a shorter blue skirt next time. I don't really like yellow and blue combined though. Just not my thing. You might have noticed that you can see the tan lines on my arms. Yes, the sleeves are much shorter than anything else I own but it still isn't sleeveless. Some places I know have a sleeve length rule which if you do, alright, but we don't. Personally, I will not go around in sleeveless because it is way too easy to lift up your arms and show off your chest. On this shirt the sleeves are tight enough so that doesn't become a problem but it is something to think about when buying clothes. Are the arm holes big enough to become windows? This cost $9.99 as well.

I saved the best for last. This is my favorite shirt and subsequently the only one I paid full price for. It was a bit pricey but this shirt is just gorgeous and everything else had been extremely cheap so I didn't really mind. The collar is pretty much the reason I bought it. Plus it's black. I love black. Despite how it looks, the neckline does not go that low. In fact, it follows every rule anyone has ever invented about neckline lowness (except maybe the looking down and seeing skin rule). The fabric is opaque so I didn't have to wear an undershirt and it doesn't cling at all. It's this nice draping fabric that just sort of flows down. I love, love, love this shirt. Cute, modern and modest all at once. Even better? It's a size extra small. lol. I think NY & Co sizes their clothes huge because the rest of the shirts were also smalls.

So, moral of the story is - you can still go to the mall and find modest clothing for a very good price, you just have to know what you're looking for, i.e. high necklines, long lengths, non-clingy fabric. Holiday weekends are great times to go shopping because all of the stores have sales going on. And don't give up if you don't see something right away. Go though all of the racks in a store that might have potential. You never know what you'll find in the clearance area. Last of all, be sure to try it on. You might need to go a size bigger or smaller because not all stores size things according to the same rule. NY & Co makes me an extra small whereas Banana Republic makes me a medium to large.

In parting, I'm not as fat as the camera makes me look, I'm really not. I don't know why I look like a tank in those photos. They didn't look that bad on the other computer so I'm hoping that it's just these monitor settings. lol. Thanks everyone for reading! Leave a comment! Have a great weekend!


Hey! It's the tentative version for our VBS fliers this year. The theme is 'Soldiers for Christ' so I decided to do a remake of the Uncle Sam wants YOU! poster from World War One and Two. The image of Sam is in the public domain so we aren't breaking any laws here although everyone I showed it to thought I was. ^^ I need to add some texture to the background and change the red in YOU to be a bit more red. Oh, and it needs the church's phone number on it as well.


Anyone who wants to and is in the area is more than welcome to come out! We're going to have a great time!


Behind the Scenes #2
July 7, 2010

Gyuh. Life is hard and then you have to go off and save money. I was budgeting today and, thanks to the fact that I am young, single and making a decent amount of money, I literally have to save money in order to be able to pay off my taxes next April. And that's on top of the taxes they already thoughtfully take out of my bi-weekly paychecks. Plus car insurance is going to be a bear and I got approved for my car loan today (that's a :) and :( thing). But God is good and it's all worked out, I'm just going to have to be less free with my money and take on a whole lot more piano students.

I've permanently lost the cable to my camera it would appear. And, since I'm not recklessly spending any more money, I'm not buying a new one. I'll just borrow one of my sibling's cameras until the day comes that I can a.) buy one or b.) get one for Christmas/my birthday. Plus, there is a slight chance that I'll find it in the next couple of weeks. I was all excited about showing off my new clothes, too! Oh well. I still can, I'll just borrow Z's camera tonight.

Went to a meeting of the 32nd district Republican Club last night. That was..intimidating at first, boring at the end. The middle part was good though. (Kinda like Neapolitan ice cream, hahaha.) I'm halfway considering becoming a member, yeah. Mostly because listening to the hopefuls talk is like getting your ears massaged. They definitely know what to say in order to get you to like them. But, no, really, I had a good time. lol.

Definitely going to Utah in August. That'll be cool. Expensive (gaah!!) but cool. Maybe literally. I haven't been there (except for flying out of Salt Lake once about three years ago) for almost eight years. Aaaannnddd...tickets are looking to be around $200 bucks. Meh. We'll handle it. I really hate dealing with money. Very stressful. But maybe that's just part of being an adult. Dealing with stress.

lol!! I just looked at the directions for driving from Salt Lake City to Maryland and they informed me that it should only take about 1 day and 10 hours. Yes! lolol!!


Behind the Scenes
July 6, 2010

Excepting the fact that I finally managed to acquire building keys, today has been a pretty rough day. I can hardly manage to type anything, I haven't gotten a single thing done and my to-do list for missions conference is amazingly long with a deadline of next Monday. Pretty much the only good thing that has happened is that Photoshop works almost like a dream on the Mac except that you have to leave the CD in the drive if you want to save anything as a GIF, a necessity for me because I do so much web work. So yeah. Google, of all things, is messing up on me and my portable hard drive has suddenly decided to become read-only which pretty much makes it useless. I've also managed to destroy one of my dad's jump drives which he doesn't know about yet. Gyuh.

I must've used up my good feelings yesterday because I went shopping at the Annapolis Mall and made out like a bandit. Thanks to 4th of July sales, I got five new shirts, a jacket and a makeup brush. (lol. One makeup brush.) I took pictures and had every intention of listing it all out for you all but picked up the wrong cable for the camera, yet another thing that has gone wrong today. So that'll be up tomorrow if I can find the correct cable to upload the photos.

The ads I bought are sort of working. The Google adwords are at least, I've had four hits from one of them, not sure which keywords although the keyword 'modest' has had over 100 impressions which means at least 100 people have seen a link for OtterFiles in the last week or so. Pretty cool. My parents come back in today around eight or so and I think I am supposed to attend a meeting of the Republican party here in Maryland, somewhere in Severn. It starts at seven and I'm going to write an article on it for my mom because she won't be in town yet. If they give out political stickers I'll be happy. Otherwise I'm just writing the article and leaving. lol

Oh! Another good thing happened yesterday! I finally figured out how to curl my hair with a flat iron! Here I am, naturally curly, straightening my hair and re-curling it with a flat iron. Yes! It looks great, isn't as time-consuming as I thought it would be and relatively simple. I found a video on YouTube (no, not going to imbed a video, yuck) that explained it quite simply. So if I can do it, you can too. lol

So, not a great start to the week for me, look for another post tomorrow and leave a comment in the Shoutbox! Thanks everyone!!


Reality Check
July 2, 2010

I realize, of course, that this subject has been gone over time after time after time. There are countless arguments and countless counter-arguments and no one will ever agree on what should and should not be done. I am going to put forth my opinion today but mostly I simply want to explain why I, myself, personally, have decided not to wear pants.

Mostly it is because it is the way I was raised. I've been a pastor's daughter my whole entire life, there are only a few memories I have when I wasn't one back when I was like..two, and those memories only stem from pictures I've seen of myself at that age. (As well as never wearing pants, I've never been to a movie theater either. But that is a different post altogether.) Along with being a pastor's daughter came a certain amount of scrutiny (See the post from August 31, 2009) and a set of standards that my parents laid out for me at an early age. I accepted them, didn't see anything wrong with them, never fought against them, didn't care. No one cared, everyone I interacted with had the same standards. That was back in Utah. It was nice. So I never asked about the rules.

Then, in the summer of 2002, we moved out to Maryland where my dad took over as pastor of Odenton Baptist Church. The church has a large christian school which accepts students from all over the area. There are kids with several different beliefs and doctrines and, for the first time, I was confronted with people who didn't hold to the same standards I always had.

It was an eye-opener for me. I liked it. When we got here, the school allowed the girls to wear sweat pants for gym class (a policy my dad quickly overturned) and a lot of the women in the church wore pants to work but not to church. The pastoral staff all kept to the same standards, however, which was nice. There were no arguments or tense conversations.

It was around that time that people started asking me why I didn't wear pants. "What's wrong with pants?" "Why don't you wear pants?" That's when I realized that, despite holding strong convictions to the contrary of pants, I didn't know why I held those convictions. For awhile I just lamely answered, "because of that verse in Deuteronomy" or some such thing like that. Well, that didn't cut it for very long. So I actually looked up the verse in Deuteronomy 22:5, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God." "Yeah. Well, what about women's pants? They aren't men's clothes." No..no they aren't. But they're still pants. I waffled with that subject for awhile, wishing a lot of the time that God hadn't laid out the standard, or, better yet, wishing that my parents hadn't decided to uphold that particular one. I could deal with not listening to a lot of types of music, I could deal with no movie theaters but pants were something I was starting to have a really hard time with.

Finally, my eleventh grade year when people would ask me why I didn't wear pants I would simply tell them, "Because my parents don't want me to and I'm respecting their wants."

That worked well. People backed off after that. I heard various other arguments, "pants are harder to take off if you're being raped", "the New Testament doesn't say anything about not wearing pants". (In regards to the second argument, when did we stop listening to the Old Testament?)

But then I grew up. I grew up and realized that if I was going to do these things I had to have a reason for them. I knew they were right, I knew they were what I was supposed to do. But...why? Enter Isaiah 47:2-3! "Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man." Those verses clearly describe the fact that showing your thighs (the part of the leg above the knee) is considered to be nakedness (it also kills the idea of wearing a mini-skirt). Well, you say, pants cover the thighs no problem. Yes, they do, but they also show them very clearly as well. They basically define the area of your thighs, show them off in some cases. Now I do believe there are some pants where this isn't a problem. There are some very large cut pants that basically (and this is a funny way to put it) blur the area of your thighs. Make them seem like one large, un-separated blob if you will. I'm thinking of those polyester pants that older women wear that are basically large tubes of fabric, or ski pants for example (most of them, not all of them) because they're just so bulky that you have no form whatsoever. In some cases even karate pants because they're gigantic. (Cullotes also sort of fit into this category. They're separated but you can't really tell. Mostly they're just atrocious looking.) And yes, this verse indicates to me that, if you're wearing pants with a skirt over top of them there is no problem because your thighs can't be seen. As long as your thighs aren't out there for the world to examine, you're alright. There you go. So no, jeans will not work. Does it look like you have two distinct legs when you wear them? Yes. No good.

Now, I know what a lot of people are thinking. Later on in those verses it says, "I will not meet thee as a man." So is this verse really talking to women? Yes. It is. If you read Isaiah 47:1 you see that God is speaking to a woman. "Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for that shalt no more be called tender and delicate." God is trying to shame this woman. He is telling her that uncovering her thigh will shame her, that it's not something she wants to do and that, just because she does it God is not going to look at her like a man.

In I Timothy 2:9 the Bible says, "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;" Now, don't take this verse to mean that you can't wear your hair in a braid. It's not talking about that. What this verse is saying is that women should deliberately try to not draw attention to themselves or their figure which is exactly what pants do. "Well, wearing a long skirt out in public draws attention to you!" Yes, it does, and we'll get to that in a moment. The word 'modest' in the verse comes from the Greek word, katastolh (katastole) which means, simply, a long, flowing garment. Are pants flowing? Uh...no. Unless you wear really weird pants which, if you're wearing pants in the first place it's because you want to fit in with the world and the world does not wear flowing pants so you aren't wearing flowing pants. lol. Where were we? Right, modest means long and flowing. Pants are long but they don't flow, therefore they aren't modest. What is modest? What is long and flowing? Right! A skirt. Therefore the Bible clearly states that women should not wear pants. In a verse directed specifically to women.

Alright, now we are going to get into the nitty-gritty. The reason I really, really, really don't wear pants. And that reason is lust. Matthew 5:28 says, "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Meaning it's a done deal. He has already committed adultery. And he didn't undress her, he didn't sleep with her, but he definitely has committed adultery. All because he looked at a woman and lusted after her, something that happens every single minute of every single day thanks to the way women in our society dress. They dress in order to be lusted after!! And don't even try to tell me it isn't true. If it wasn't true then you wouldn't have a problem wearing modest clothing. Admit it. Now, I've been in situations where, even dressed in a really long jean skirt and the most modest blouse I have (with an undershirt on even) I still get oggled at. It was while I was living down in Mexico and it had a lot to with the fact that I am an American. The point is, in that case, I was not at fault. I was dressing exactly how I was supposed to be dressing and the two guys still made lewd comments as I walked past. Sometimes you can't get away from it, the world is scummy and dirty and vile. It's just the nature of the beast. But we, as women, must do our best not to encourage men to sin. Yeah, okay, so they shouldn't be looking. And maybe a lot of guys have managed to be able to turn their heads. But men are drawn by sight, by the physical appearance. And they just can't help themselves sometimes. And when we dress in tight, form-fitting, chest-baring clothes, we are falling into sin (adultery) right along with them. And, if you ask me, it's just gross to be stared at like a piece of meat while you walk down the street or a hallway. The worst bits are when men are sitting on the ground, eye level with your stomach. You know what they're looking at. It's bad enough in a jean skirt, imagine wearing tight pants? If you like that sort of feeling, then you are actively participating in sin and it's something you seriously need to think about.

I'm almost done. This has been a really long post but bear with me here. I mentioned earlier that I would explain why it's good that wearing jean skirts in public draws attention to you. First off, it doesn't draw attention in a bad way. People don't look at you and think that you're trying to attract men. Good. That is exactly how it's supposed to be. Secondly, people know what sort of people wear skirts, especially long jean skirts. I can't count the times that people have come up to me and asked me what I believe because of the fact that I am wearing a jean skirt. Instant opportunity to witness! I've had people ask me if I was Jewish (I'm not), had people ask me if I was saved, had people ask me if I am a missionary, had people ask if I go to church... All sorts of things! That's good! That's the sort of attention we want! I Corinthians 6:12 says, "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." Our number one reason for being here on planet Earth is to glorify God. And there is nothing more glorifying to God than a child of His who is willing to stand up to the rest of the world and admit it. He died for us. Gave His life, His blood, so that we could go to Heaven. Why can't we thank Him for that by showing the world what we believe?

Obviously I can go on and on about this topic. I'm going to stop here because I said I was just going to mention the reasons why I don't wear pants. So I'm just going to cap it off for you and let you go.
I, Liz Shafer, do not wear pants because:

And there you have it folks! Have a great weekend!


Questions? Comments? I'd love to hear them! Leave a comment in the Shoutbox or email me.


Guestbook
July 1, 2010

Happy July everyone! Hope you all have fun plans for the weekend. Here at the church we're going to have a barbeque after the morning service with everyone who wants to come. There'll be a pie baking contest (which I won't be participating in because buying a crust and a can of apple pie filling and putting them together at home suddenly doesn't count as 'making a pie') and we'll have hamburgers and hotdogs. It'll be fun. I love barbeques. After the evening service there were plans floating around for going over to my house and (because this is Maryland) eating crabs. But (because this is Maryland) crabs are very expensive so I don't know what we're going to eat. Shrimp maybe, but they're expensive as well.

I know guestbooks are a bit old-fashioned but...I still love them. I've finally got one working and the link is up on the menu bar on the left hand side. Don't use it as a comments space, that's what the shoutbox is for, but if you'd like to leave a short message, please feel free to do so. Keep in mind that I have to approve all messages that ultimately actually get posted so do yourself a favor and don't waste your time, keep it clean, thank you.

Photoshop still hasn't come in, I'm rather despondent because of that fact. I keep seeing the mailman come and telling myself that it hasn't come today but I still get my hopes up way too much. It's killing me, I tell you.

Have a great day everyone! We'll have the regularly scheduled Reality Check post tomorrow in Spanish and in English. It'll be a good one, I promise. ^^



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