A-Z: W

Lyssa's Log: WINTER JAM!!!!! I experienced my first Winter Jam on March 13, 2016 at the Tulsa BOK center! The bands were: We Are Messengers, New Song, Matthew West, Crowder, Lauren Daigle, Red, Sidewalk Prophets, Stars Go Dim, KB-Tedashii-Trip Lee and for King & Country. In my opinion, for King & Country was the best! Red shot fire, Matthew West shot confetti, Crowder played Cotton-eyed Joe and for King & Country was still the most amazing! I am still amazed by some of the little, yet so important things. Like: Joel Smallbone of for King & Country placed his hand on mine and called me love, his brother Luke walked right past me, Luke's line in every performance of It's Not Over Yet "I never knew Tulsa Oklahoma had so much swagger!". I just love these little moments that I will cherish for years. How many Winter Jams have you been to? Which was your favorite band/pairing in that year's line up? Speaking of Winter Jam, Who went to see the new Winter Jam movie? I can't wait! It's called This Is Winter Jam with special guests like Colton Dixon, Tony Nolan and more! I enjoyed the Winter Jam experience, and these bands made it so special, and going with my friends and family made it so much better. I'm sad to see A-Z come to an end, so lets make these last few letters count. Peace Out Y'all!

A-Z: R

Lyssa's Log: Reborn Joy. My name is Alyssa, turns out Alyssa is Hebrew! Alyssa means Reborn, and my Hebrew middle name is Teckya, Joy. So my Hebrew name is Reborn Joy or, Alyssa Tekya Bat Shoshanna. Bat means daughter, Shoshanna is my mother. That means, Reborn Joy, daughter of Shoshanna. A friend of my dad's lasered my name and my Hebrew name into a block of wood for a birthday gift. I also go by many other names: crazy, weird, odd, dork, dorkfish, Lys and once or twice, Puddentayne. Don't ask, just don't ask. I can't wait to see what other names I'll be given as I continue through life, but right now I'm too afraid to ask! Peace Out!

A-Z: Q

Lyssa's Log: Pietro Maximoff! Maybe you know him by a different name, Quicksilver? Pietro and his twin sister, Wanda were raised by Django and Marya Maximoff, a gypsy couple. As adolescents Pietro and his sister Wanda discovered that they had peculiar talents. When Django began to steal food to feed his starving family, enraged villagers attacked the gypsy camp. Using his phenomenal speed, Pietro fled from the camp with his sister. Over the next few years, Wanda and Pietro wandered central Europe, living off the land. One day, Wanda accidentally caused a house to burst into flames with her uncontrollable hex powers and the pair was chased by superstitious townspeople. Despite Pietro's attempt to defend her, the twins were soon overpowered and were rescued by Magneto. That's the Marvel comic version of it. However if you've seen Age Of Ultron, they explain their story a bit different. Pietro Maximoff was a genetically enhanced Sokovian citizen who was capable of moving and thinking at superhuman speeds. He was the older twin brother of Wanda Maximoff. Ultron, knowing that the Twins hated Stark, met with them in a Sokovian monastery where Pietro explained how their family was killed by Tony Stark's bombs. Ultron offered them a position by his side and they accepted.That is Pietro Maximoff, a.k.a Quicksilver. My S post will be about Wanda, who later earns the title "Scarlet Witch". Comment below about which Marvel character is your favorite and why. Don't forget to mention which movie they were in. Peace Out! 

A-Z: P

Lyssa's Log: Priceless. Priceless is my favorite song in the entire music industry ever! It was written by christian pop band, for King & Country. They are my favoritest band. The brothers in the band are Joel and Luke Smallbone. Priceless is about the worth of a woman,"Part of the DNA of for KING & COUNTRY is this idea of respect and honor in relationships and women being priceless," Joel said in a press release. "What we've both found in our beliefs as men is that people are made equal. No one is a commodity and everyone deserves to be loved and loved well." "The best legacy I can leave is if I am a good dad and good husband. If my family environment was out of whack, I don't know if I'd even be able to write songs anymore," said Luke. They have a necklace with an Australian one cent coin in it, declaring that women are priceless, and that men should treat them that way. They have a bracelet that says Respect and Honor on it. As Joel said "The respect and honor bracelets are a sign to men saying "Women are priceless, count me in, I wanna be a part of this movement, chivalry is not dead."".  The chorus of Priceless is simply this: I see you dressed in white, every wrong made right. I see a rose in bloom, at the sight of you, Oh so PRICELESS. Its a very moving and building song. I don't know about y'all, but this song definitely builds my self-esteem. The whole PRICELESS movement is amazing. The Smallbone brothers have a movie coming out soon entitled PRICELESS, the main character in the movie is Joel and Luke is the director. Moriah Peters' sister Bianca also stars in the movie. Here's the link to Priceless, I suggest taking a look at the necklace and bracelets. Priceless by for KING & COUNTRY (Lyrics) - YouTube Peace Out! 

A-Z: L

Lyssa's Log: Luke Smallbone! Yep, Joel's younger brother and second half of for King & Country. Luke is married to Courtney Helm and they have 2 sons, Jude James and Phoenix Alexander. Luke and Courtney got married on June 26th, 2010. Luke is 2 years younger than Joel and 9 years younger than their sister Rebecca St. James. Luke has an illness called ulcerative colitis, its the distant cousin of Crohn's disease. My mother has the same disease. Luke had to come off road and miss the tour because of it, he said he had just enough strength to make it from his bed to the living couch and that was it. He didn't have the strength to lift his child or hug his wife. He isn't fully in the clear but through the power of prayer, He is doing much better and touring again. He actually wrote a song about his sickness. He and Courtney sing it together. Its called Without You, because during his illness Courtney came to him and said "Luke, you can't leave me here, you just can't leave me." That hit him hard and he realized that he needed to write about it.  Luke has long curly hair, before we saw him and his brother at Winter Jam, we didn't know which was which so we called them Moppy hair (Luke) and Non-Moppy hair (Joel). As I said in my J post, Joel is now known as Half-Moppy hair. I love this band, their music is so inspirational and amazing. I suggest listening to their song Shoulders. Its a very powerful song, and many can relate to it. I post a link along with a link to Without You. Please check out this band, you'll be glad you did. Shoulders- For King & Country- Lyrics on Screen - YouTube  For King & Country - Without you feat. Courtney (Lyrics) - YouTube    Peace Out!

A-Z: H

Lyssa's Log: Happy birthday to my youngest brother Xander! He's turning 8 today! For his birthday, I've gotten him a teddy bear with stripes, we decided to name it Bearjamin, Bearjamin Backus. Benjamin Backus is the cello player from my favorite band, so we decided to name it Bearjamin. Its an adorable bear, can't wait to give it to him. Next week we will go camping in celebration of his birthday. Birthdays are fun, for mine, I got to teach a portion out of the Bible in front of my friends and family. My adorable friend Lilly just turned 5 and had a birthday party at the Tulsa zoo. My friend Brooklynn is having a rainbow unicorn party in a few weeks. I'm getting her a rainbow bear named Teddy-dashii. Tedashii is her favorite rapper, so I will name it Teddy-dashii. So, help me wish my adorable, weird and ever so slightly crazy brother a happy birthday. He will be super excited to get happy birthday wishes. And to everyone who is having a birthday, or you know someone with a birthday coming up, tell them Lyssa says to have a great one! Peace Out!

Goof!

Lyssa's Log: No doubt siblings can be goofballs! But we still love them. They can be pretty loud at times and some times they can be really sweet. But they're are those times they just act like Complete goofballs! Same thing with friends but we love are friends and siblings. sometimes we can get along yet some times we can't. Have you ever had a moment where you and your friend/sibling are sitting down being bored and your friend/sibling starts doing something Totally Bonkers? Well if you know what that's like that's my life but I wouldn't trade my life, friends or family for anything! Now that you know what my life is like tell me about yours in the comments. Peace Out!