Sunday, December 26, 2010

ATTENTION Everyone!

The name of the blog has been updated!
Our new name is Maria Shiphrah Dalton Publications.

Our address is now:

http://mariashiphrahdaltonpublications.blogspot.com/

I am not sure if this will affect followers in any way, but be sure to continue reading the blog!

Friday, December 24, 2010

A Special Christmas Treat

A sneak peak at Tiperet, the third book in the Tiphereth Trilogy, with an introduction to one of the main families!


The Tamam Family



"It was a crisp, clear autumn day when the Tamam family arrived. Ynyth and Gwynarae were the same, only a few years older. Mimnesko Eucharistia, whom Aramoth and Aramiel had never seen, was four years old and a very sweet little boy. Eirene was eight and looked very much as Theria had at that age, only Eirene was more playful and less serious than Theria had been at that age. The twins—Endikos and Hupakoe—were fine manly boys of eleven years, who looked as if they had been going through the same physical training Aramoth had at that age. But then they saw Eleutheria. Eleutheria was small and shorter than Aramiel, but very beautiful. Always mature for her age, she was now, though only sixteen, a woman. The dignity she had always been known for as a girl became her even better now, and it displayed itself in her quiet voice and in the way she carried herself. Her long, dark, wavy hair was twisted on the back of her head to accommodate traveling. Theria’s brown eyes were not only very beautiful, but expressed wisdom and discretion."

…The Tiphereth Trilogy, Tiperet, pg. 227

Enjoy your Christmas and remember to leave a comment on the previous post voting on your favorite cover picture!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Exciting Process of Publishing!

Reading once, reading twice, and still not read to the eagerly anticipating children!  Or anyone, for that matter.  Proofreading can take forever!  And yet, it is exciting to know that this is the last time I have to read it before I send it to the printer.
  
Please comment and let me know which of these pictures you like best for the cover!*

1.


2.


3.


4.

*WARNING:  Your comments may or may not be taken into consideration for the publishing of this book.  One or more of the pictures may or may not have ever been candidates for cover photos.  The Authoress reserves all rights to make a final decision based on her own wishes. :)

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Some more Graduation Pictures!



More Graduation Pictures!

My family and I

My friends and I!  Sadly not all my friends were able to attend, and we had a hard time finding everyone who did come for the picture, but these are most of my friends!

Still more pictures to come!  Many thanks to everyone who took pictures and emailed them to me!

My Graduation Speech!


Today was my highschool graduation! It went very well! I have posted my speech and some pictures. My speech went very well. I am usually nervous, but thanks to the prayers of my friends and family, I wasn't nervous hardly at all and I spoke clearly and slowly without looking petrified!





A picture of my lovely dress...


My table decorations...


And the food!




I didn't take any of the pictures, being busy graduating...
so I owe the photo credits to my Mom and my guests. 
More pictures coming later!


Here is my graduation speech!

Thank you all for coming, I am so glad you could all be here.
When I was learning the alphabet and learning to write the letters, I had a few select letters that I believed were completely unnecessary. I think they were w, x, y, and z. I didn't use those particular letters for anything important and so I thought they were unnecessary and didn't want to learn them. Of course now I know they are very important. In the last few sentences I used them fifteen times.
When I reached around fifth grade, I granted that those letters were necessary. But by then I had learned how to diagram complex sentences and I did not enjoy it. I didn't see any use in diagramming sentences and I did not want to do it. But I had to do it and I managed to get through diagramming.
When I got to algebra it was even worse. I held firmly to the belief that Math was entirely unnecessary. My Mom told me many times that Math was very important in life and she would remind me that I used math to sew and bake. So I granted that Math was not entirely unnecessary. Whatever Math I had learned in the past was useful, but whatever I hadn't learned yet was unnecessary and I had no use for it. The culmination point was one day when I opened my Algebra book and turned to my lesson for the day. I could not believe my eyes when I read the title. It said, "Imaginary Numbers". I had evidence right before me that Math was not useful. How can something imaginary be of any use whatsoever?
But through all that I learned to persevere through difficult situations. I did like my school. I always loved reading, history, and the sections of my English books that were about poetry and creative writing. Science was always fun as well, as some of you may remember was evidenced by the museum in our back yard. Although I had to persevere, and school was challenging, I am so thankful for God's provision and the way He worked things out along the way.
I will never stop learning. All of life is school. Not all of life is quadratic equations and imaginary numbers, but there will always be parts of life that we don't like. We just have to trust in God and persevere and He will grant us success. 


Success is relative. When you are standing on the sidewalk watching a car drive by, it looks like the car is moving, but if you're the one in the car, it appears as if the sidewalk is moving. It is the same thing with success. Success is measured by the goal. To some people, success would be having a big house and lots of money. To other people success would be earning a scholarship to medical school or being accepted to NASA. It all depends on who you are trying to please and who you are measuring yourself by.
When I was little, I was going to be a scientist when I grew up. To me a scientist was like being a doctor. It was a highly respected position that only really intelligent people could get into. I meant everyone to talk about how smart I was and to see for themselves how great homeschooling is.
Since then I have come to see what success truly is. I wanted to succeed in the world's eyes. I know now for certain that I would not have enjoyed being a scientist. One reason is that science is closely intertwined with math.
My main goal in life should not be to succeed in the eyes of other people. If I know that I have done what is right before God, then I will have succeeded in life. As long as I am obeying God and walking in His ways, I don't need to be a doctor or a scientist or an engineer. True success is only attained by doing well in God's eyes. I have come to see that it doesn't matter if I succeed in the world's eyes, but in God's eyes, and that is my vision for the future.