The Second Part of the Video

...We will post pictures from bowling soon! Yes, some fabulous pictures of the shoes too:) Check my web albums for prom pictures, like I said before, and be watching for more posts from Alena's stay. Maybe you'll get one from Caitlin as well if she decides to come out of her college cave :)

-Paige

Reviving Denim

Most of us have our favorite denim clothing item. By the time we are through with it, the over-all appearance of it is torn, worn, and loved. I had a pair of jeans like that. Take a look...


Notice the pre-shredded pockets, vintage fade, and torn hem at the bottom. I am not ashamed to say that I am a lover of this appearance. But over time, I didn't like wearing them anymore because of the look they gave me. Since I wasn't working on my punk rocker reputation, I decided to stash them in the closet. Mom wanted me to throw them away...but I just couldn't part with them. About a year later, I dug them out of the closet and put them on. Since they didn't look any better, I began brainstorming what I could do with them. Cutting off the torn knees was out of the option because of the fit of the jeans, as was making them into cropped pants or capris. So I set off on the journey of trying to make them into a skirt. Let me tell you something. I DON'T know how to sew! Try as I might, I know ONE stitch. This was a challenge for me. I got out the seam ripper and began painstakingly ripping out the inseam, cutting out the shredded knees, and saving the good denim from below the holes. After much walling in, stitching, and nearly going cross-eyed from cutting fabric to fit, I came out with this.



I must say that I was rather pleased with the result. In using the only easiest stitch there is, I kept that vintage look I love, but gained a more modest appearance. The fade is still there, as are the pockets. I even cut off the shredded seams on the bottom and am using them as a hair tie. I still had plenty of fabric after that, so I also have a matching cell phone case.



I really wanted to share this with you because I know that there is a group of girls out there who are STRUGGLING to find denim skirts that they like (does anyone carry anything besides a miniskirt anymore????). I also know that at least one of our readers has a pair of jeans in their closet that they don't wear anymore that perhaps could use a revival like mine. Ladies, if I can do it, YOU CAN TOO! Just do a little research, give some time, and you'll have an amazing new skirt! Really. If you want to know exactly how I did it, you can email me at maidenology@gmail.com with "Reviving Denim" in the subject, and I'll be happy to help you. In the meantime, I'll shopping at our best thrift store playing around with some new skirt ideas using old jeans. Have a blessed Saturday!

-Paige

PS: There's one more piece of denim that came from the jeans that I turned into something else. Can you spot what it is in the skirt picture? :)

Updates!!!

Ok, I'm going to give you a quick rundown of some new things on the blog. Here goes...

1. If you look in the section that used to say "Questions? Email us..." you will see that the text has changed. You can now submit your blog to be put on our blog roll. If we get enough requests, we will have a special section for our fellow "Maidenologists". So, if you would like your blog to be on our blog roll, just send us a quick email at maidenology@gmail.com with "blog roll" in the subject box.

2. A new poll! If you didn't see the trailer for "Fireproof", check it out right here to see what it is all about. Then you can vote on our latest poll!

3. Even though this is only half-way new, I'm going through our posts and labeling all of them for your convenience. As I go through old posts and get more new ones up, there will be more articles in each label, and maybe even more categories.

I'll probably be updating some pictures here and there as well. Just giving it an over-all easy to access appearance. If you have any suggestions, feel free to send them!

-Paige

A Black and White Apparel Event (with polkadots!)

Greetings fellow Maidenologists (and gentleman)! Here are some of the promised pictures. These are from the Alena's last night with us when we decided to dress in our black and white and go out to a nice restaurant together. Enjoy!

-Paige

Wisdom from the Dancefloor

After attending three social dancing events, (prom twice and homecoming once), I wanted to share with you some tidbits of dance floor knowledge that I have gathered. Since they may include stories, I'll be posting them one at a time. Hopefully these will help you to enhance your enjoyment while you are "breaking it down" (that's homeschool for conservatively dancing when you are trying to avoid any other slang usage)at your next dance.

1. Wear comfortable shoes. While this may seem like a given, I really encourage you to take your time in choosing your shoe. Especially and mostly if you are a girl. Illustration: I wore some three or four inch silver spiked heels to prom two nights ago. They were fairly simple, and mostly comfortable to dance in. But, like most of the girls, about halfway through the instructed dancing (way before free dance even thought about starting) I kicked off my heels on the side of the dance floor. We were in the middle of learning a line dance when all of a sudden the dance instructor decided to start giving a speech on being barefoot while dancing, and how unheard of it was in his day to even think about losing your shoes. I was on the front row with my partner, right in front of the instructor. You can imagine my shock when in the middle of his rant, he stopped, bent down, and picked up a pair of silver heels. My heels. At this moment, I shrunk about a foot to hid my bare feet, causing my partner to give me a double-take glance as I was motioning to him to keep quiet, making him snicker, which caused me to laugh even more. While this was going on, the instructor waved my shoes about and said "And this is even worse! Cinderella has left her slippers!" which caused even more laughter about the floor. The dance instructor never found out whose shoes they were (or at least he acted like he didn't know), and after about an hour, I (not Prince Charming) went and removed my shoes from that spot, long after the teacher had left. Apparently it is good etiquette to keep your shoes on your feet.

One more good thing that can come of this is that if you ladies do wear heels, keeping them on will allow you to look your guy in the eye (or at least get closer to it than you were before). This doesn't bother me too much (if it did, my shoes would have stayed on the whole time). But I know some of you don't like being smaller, so I thought I would throw it out there anyways.

Having said all of that, I hope that you will take extra time in choosing your next pair of shoes. In doing so, you will be able to follow dance floor protocol, keep confident on the floor, and hopefully avoid any Cinderella moments :)

-Paige



PS: The picture above is the Maidenology group before prom on Friday night. As soon as I have pictures from the dancing, I will put them in my web albums for viewing. Keep checking!

Journal Entry

It's so humid outside. I'm sitting here wishing I could open my window and remember that breeze that washed over me two weeks ago. It's funny how quickly things change in this season. But then again, I think it's just Arkansas spreading her arms and saying "welcome home". That's where I am.

If you can't tell, I'm feeling a little melancholy. I think I'm also a little contrary...because I have a feeling that as soon as something might start to happen, I would want to be back in my room listening to the organic acoustic sounds coming from my laptop, as I finish whatever work I have. Or maybe not. Because there is PLENTY going on right now. I won't rattle my schedule off to you. That can be another thing to share later :)

I started piano lessons again last week. For those of you who don't know, I stopped taking lessons for a bit because of issues with my fingers. But things are getting better, and I'm feeling so blessed and privileged to be able to make music again. God is so good. Everyday. I will be practicing my Senior Recital repertoire and working on a date in these coming weeks. Graduation is also coming up soon.

Speaking of graduation, I've been blessed to meet quite a few other homeschooling '08 graduates, and participate in some awesome activities with them. Perhaps I'll blog about those sometime soon. It's a wonderful reminder of how good it is to be around like-minded people. Since I have not addressed my absence of a few months, you can check out what all I was up to by clicking HERE. I will probably be updating that each time I have some worthy photos to show.

That's about all I have for now. Nothing terribly weighty, just some thoughts for you. Have a wonderful weekend!

-Paige

What it's worth...

When I put those extra periods at the end of a post, it usually means I am going to expand on something. The video below is one someone made with the song "Love is not a Fight" by Warren Barfield (that song you just had to hear after watching the "Fireproof" trailer). The lyrics are in the video. I encourage you to listen to it, and read them. This song is so amazing for me to listen to. When my thoughts begin to wander about aimlessly, I like to listen to it. Things like this remind me that the love I'm saving my first kiss for, and the love I'm trying to keep my heart for, is going to be a love that is literally worth fighting for. That's what I'm waiting for.



Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
-Song of Songs 8:4

Place me like a seal over your heart,like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.
-Song of Songs 8:6-7

-Paige

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to all of you! I hope you take some extra time to give thanks for the wonderful creation that we have to live in. It truly is amazing.

In Christ,

-Paige

Journal Entry

Have you ever read a scripture, and felt that it was really speaking to you...and then read a completely different scripture in a completely different book of the Bible, and a similar message spoke to you? Here, let me explain myself for you.

Tonight, Caitlin, Alena and I attended a friend's church. They have a service for college and high-school age people on Sunday evenings, so we decided to go. It was very low key. Taco buffet, acoustic worship, and then a devotional. The way they do their devotional is very neat. There is a schedule that they follow that takes them through the Bible in a year (I know most of you have heard of it). But after they read a part, they pick a scripture, and apply the S.O.A.P acronym. (Scripture, observation, application, prayer). We read the assigned scriptures (I know I wasn't doing it right, but it turned out for the better), and then journaled our "SOAP". The assigned scriptures were Matthew chapter 7, and Psalm 31. I'll let you look them up yourself, because if I put them here...people would probably just glance at this post and not read it because it was WAY too long for their attention span. So. I read both chapters. The Psalm first. I had read it before, but not really looked deeper into the meanings. It was Psalm layout where David is praising, asking for his enemies to be taken care of, and talking about everything he was going through. As I was reading this, I started comparing my "bad" situations to the ones the Psalmist was going through, and my problems began to feel very insignificant. Well, at the very end of the scripture, as my pride was slowly being crushed (I can't count how many times I've been broken), I read this. "Love the Lord, all His saints! The Lord preserves the faithful, but the proud He pays back in full." Psalm 31:23

A double hitter. It is so amazing how God does that sometimes. The scripture could have meant something completely different to someone else, but I think that was what I needed to hear. Every time I pray for humility, I get it. I'll have to tell you an amazing story sometime, but not now. Moving on...

When I read Matthew 7, the part where it talks about getting the plank out of your eye before you remove the speck from your brother's really hit me. So many times if I would just humble myself and examine my own spiritual life, helping other people would be so much easier. Doing things with a humble spirit is SO important. So that's what my little rant up there was about.

The rest of the night was filled with listening to other people's "soap", which included "Hoperade" (I quote the lovely girl at the Bible study), two amazingly applicable food analogies, and a few other deep thoughts. I love being in a dynamic and focused group. We played pictionary after that, and though the other team dominated, we still had lots of fun. Next time we'll try and roll less ones, and more sixes. Even a four would have worked...but I'm not complaining. There's always next time...

-Paige

And We're Back!

That's right...maidenology is back in the blogosphere. SO much has happened since our last real post! Caitlin graduated and had her senior recital (and did beautifully, if I may say so). If you were checking the family blog, you will know that we had a Father's Day concert with our church youth choir. That was indeed an experience that we will remember for a long time. We had our yearly piano competition. Grace took 2nd at the county level, and I went all the way to win state and carry on the recent family tradition. Caitlin took the title last year, and it was my turn this year. Perhaps Elizabeth will be next year =) We also had a few family reunions, which were most enjoyable. A few changes have happened. Some good, and some...well, some were not asked for. But for the most part, things remain joyful and blessed. For now, I will give you a brief update on what is going right now.

Caitlin is preparing for college, but I will let her be the one to tell you about that if she so chooses. We are both working at the same building. I as a gymnastics coach, and she as a front desk worker and a fill-in coach when she needs to be. I am currently spending more time at the piano than before (and on my guiter as well), which I really don't mind at all. There are more pieces to learn than ever, so I am kept quite busy. We are wrapping up the Summer with some last minute swimming, relaxing (when possible) and spending time with family and friends.

As for the future of the blog, Caitlin and I recently got our own laptops. They will mainly be used for schoolwork, but we do plan on keeping the posts fresh, and it will be much easier to do that being as we have easier computer access. There are plenty of things to write about, and I hope to find time to share them with you all. I hope that you are having a blessed Summer's end, just as we are!

In Christ,

Paige

Happy Independence Day!

Well...here we are. From left to right: Paige, Alena, and Caitlin. Happy Independence Day!

The first try...


Getting closer...argh



We had a few technical difficulties, as you can see



Losing all hopes of looking somewhat professional...


-Maidenology

PS: Caitlin doesn't like the camera ;)

Hope for Hannah

Hello everyone, I just wanted to encourage you all to visit our newest link in our website section, "Hope for Hannah". This is a website for a young friend of ours who was in a bad car accident. The website seeks to glorify God by meeting the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ. You will find all of the details on the website. Keep checking it, there should be updates soon. Another post should be coming quickly...but I am off to work right now. If you have anything that you would like to see us post on, feel free to tell us by contacting us at our blog email (see sidebar). Thank you for all of your patience!

In Christ,

Paige =)

Pictures of Alena

Here are some of the pictures that we have of Alena. Most of them are from when our homeschool group performed "Pride and Prejudice" with a script adapted by Alena herself. Practices were quite tiring, but in the end it was all worth it.

Here is a picture taken during one of our adult directors talks. Like Paige said, the practices were very intense and tiring, especially since Alena and I were the student directors. But in the end it was an amazing experience.

Here you have three of us on stage (with our scripts, it took awhile to get rid of them, being as some of the lines were over a paragraph long!). From left to right you have Alena as Elizabeth Bennet, Charne as Mrs. Bennet, and myself (Caitlin, with lots more hair:~) as Jane Bennet.

Here you have the lovely Alena trying on one of her costumes to see how it would work on stage. We were fortunate enough to find many dresses that actually looked like they came from that time period.

Here is another picture of Alena as Elizabeth Bennet. Doesn't she have one of the most "Lizzie" like looks on her face? One of the neat things about being in this play together was that Paige, Alena and I got to play sisters, as Paige was Mary Bennet. It brought us all very close together in a special way.

Happy Birthday Alena!

To our sister in Christ, loving friend, and fellow maiden and blogger, Alena. May she have a most wonderfuly blessed birthday with many more to come! We have been blessed to know her and her family for almost two years, and they are all such wonderful Godly people. Happy Birthday Alena! We love you!

Paige and Caitlin

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that all is well with you and that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas celebration. I'd like to share my Christmas story with you. Well, first off, I was supposed to be going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for Christmas. My family and I were going to stay in a beautiful condo with our cousins, and enjoy amusement parks and other fun things. But plans changed. My family stayed right here in boring Florida.(No offense to those of you who like Florida.) And our cousins stayed in the condo without us. At this point, I'm going "Lord, I hope there is a really, really good reason for this." In short, I wasn't very happy. Christmas Eve was a very stressful day, filled with cooking, no snow(after spending four and half years in Alaska, the no snow thing is really weird), no friends, and no family. Could it get any worse than this. Hmmm. Christmas morning, my dad was on the phone, and his face was very grave. It would appear that one of his people was in the hospital with severe tuberculosis and the guy's mom was in town. Guess who she spent Christmas breakfast with? Us! We've never had good friends, let alone strangers, over for Christmas. But when our surprise guest arrived, I realized what we were doing. My family was ministering to a needy soul on Christmas day. We were sharing the love of Christ with an unsaved individual. Of course, I began to feel guilty over my previous selfishness. Caught up in what I thought Christmas should have been, I had forgotten to dwell on the real meaning of Christmas: Giving and sharing what the Lord has blessed us with. Later on that day our guest and her daughter came back over for Christmas dinner, and we all had a wonderful time. And her son is getting better! The end.
Happy New Year,
Alena

We have arrived...again

...And this time, we brought someone along for the ride. Meet Caitlin, Paige, and Alena. You may already know Caitlin and Paige from their family blog, The Arkanbloggers (where they still post). Alena is our new addition, and a sort of sister to us. You can read more about each of us in our profile section.

This is what we are about: we are three maidens who are followers of Jesus Christ striving to bring glory to His name in everything we do. Some of our beliefs may differ (random theological things) but we all share the same foundation. This also makes for good discussion within the blog. This blog will be used for encouraging our brothers and sisters in Christ, and promoting goodly discourse between people.

Now that we have gotten past the hard part of our first post, we can work on the rest of it (details, profiles, etc). Please bear with us as we fix this site up. Thank you all!!!!


Caitlin, Paige, and Alena.