natalie’s blog

July has been a change of pace, with not quite as many piano lessons and more time to work on other projects. Much of my focus has been on the book I am writing and on learning everything I can about the field of self-publishing, since that’s the route I plan to take. I’ve been reading and researching a lot and have gotten quite a bit of writing done as well. Both of these aspects - the writing and the business side - of self-publishing require a great deal of work and concentration and it’s been challenging to switch back and forth between them so that I don’t neglect one area and focus exclusively on the other! I’ll be announcing the title and topic of my book soon, so stay tuned…

If you haven’t yet heard about Inspiring an Entrepreneurial Vision - A Christian Family Training Seminar, then you are out of the loop! Caleb Hayden and his family are organizing the event and it looks like it will be a wonderful time of learning and fellowship with other entrepreneurial families. Wade Myers of New Venture Lab is the featured guest speaker and he will be joined by several other local entrepreneurs to inspire and equip attendees to successfully build their own businesses. Our family is planning to attend and we are really looking forward to it!

Our family just spent last week in Branson for the Defending Your Faith Christian Apologetics conference hosted by Answers In Genesis. The week was occupied with a visit by Nadine to celebrate her birthday, a picnic under the stars, a couple rounds of miniature golf, lounging in the sun by the pool, playing tennis, reading books and sitting through inspiring sessions at the conference.The three main speakers were Ken Ham, Doug Phillips and Voddie Baucham and every message was wonderful! Through this conference I was challenged, in part, to embark on a study of A Biblical Approach to Marketing. So far, it’s been fascinating and amazing to see what the Bible has to say about this area! Thankfully, Naomi has taken on the task of reporting about this trip in more detail, so you can view commentary and pictures on her blog.

Last Saturday, we finally held the much-anticipated Music Olympics festival that our local music teachers association has been planning for months. It was a great day of competition, fun and games that was an overwhelming success, thanks to visionary committee members, adventurous teachers, motivated students, committed parents and numerous corporate sponsors. I have lots of fun pictures from the Team Competitions, Ensemble Play-Offs and Game Carnival. Perhaps I can talk Naomi into doing a blog post for this too…

And with less than two weeks until the August 5 primary, we can’t escape a mention of the upcoming elections! I found out several weeks ago that I have an opponent in my race for Precinct Committeewoman, so I had to do a little more work than usual this year - sending out letters and setting up a website to help inform the voters in my precinct (btw, if anyone reading this is a CSS expert, perhaps you can help me figure out why the alignment for the main body text is distorted in Firefox 2, but fine in IE and FF3…). There are a lot of great candidates running this year, but I’ve been most actively involved in the campaigns for Pete DeGraaf and Don Myers. They are both wonderful, godly men and we are praying for their success! Remember to vote on August 5!

“Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.”

Psalm 119:27

This verse is my latest challenge and inspiration. I think Psalm 119 is my favorite chapter in the Bible - it is just beautiful. As I’ve been meditating on this verse, I’ve been impressed with the realization that when we understand God’s ways, we will have a perspective that allows us to see God working in the daily events that transpire. And when we see how God is working, we will be able and compelled to talk of them to everyone around us. As best as I can tell from studying the Hebrew roots and looking up cross-references, God’s precepts seems to be those commands and examples which instruct us, especially in the face of false ways and when others try to lead us astray. Contrasted with the word, intercept, it would be that which directs a course of action ahead of time, rather than that which alters its course partway.

God has given us precepts to help us know how to do things His way. Commands and biblical examples may both fulfill this purpose for us. So I have been inspired anew to dig deeply into God’s eternal Word, mining from it that which will help me chart the course of each day so that I may continually talk of His wondrous works!

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