A prayer request

Today, my dad and some of my brothers went to help move one of our church families into their new home. While everyone was helping this family one of their daughters fell out of a tree. She broke her wrist and hit her head. She must have had a concussion because she couldn't remember that she even fell. Please pray for this family in the midst of moving and helping their daughter. I can't give out any names so just know them as the C family. Thanks!

It's Memorial day!

Remember to remember ;) the troops and the families who have lost loved ones for the cause of freedom... Happy Memorial Day.

'God have mercy on America'.

*drum roll* We found a...

...PUPPY!!! I know, I know. We already have...

...Patsy. She's a hound mix that is 11 years old (sorry for the bad picture. This is the only one that we have of her on this computer.). We also have...

...Pepper. She is a 12 yr old Australian Cattle dog. AND Mama has to have a dog too, right? Soooo...

...we got this Lhasa Apso. His name is Dusty and he is only 1 yr old.

We used to have this poodle (Devin)... but he wasn't good with kids so he went bye-bye.

And here is the puppy that L4J found this morning. Isn't she cute?!

We don't know if we are going to keep her but it was pretty exciting to find her.

L4J thinks that she has Pit Bull in her. What do you think? Comment and tell me!! Stephen named her Samantha... Sam or Sammy for short.

So, yes, it was a pretty exciting day! I hope that your day was just as good (or better;)! Ta-ta...

A confession from this girl's heart

I've always had a problem with applying Philippians 4:8 ("Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.") to my life. More specifically, praying rather than thinking about not so pure things. I had thought that it was boring to pray and read the Bible. Now, I knew that this was not right... a Christian shouldn't think that. So I went to God about it and here is the conversation that ensued:

God: You are embarrassed to go out uncovered (without clothes on), right?

Me: Of course!

God: Then think about prayer and your Bible as clothes for your spiritual life. It is embarrassing as a Christian to go out into the world with out the covering of prayer and the knowledge of what I say.

Me: *silence* It's not boring now, Lord!

Our Camping trip

A few weeks ago my family and some of our church families went camping. Here are a few pictures that I managed to get. Our camera battery was dead most of the time.

This is Stephen and L4J. Don't ask me why Stephen decided to go hiking in swimming shorts. He looked super goofy but so did the rest of us!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. We had a good time!

Another Award ;D

Johanna at An old Fashioned Girl awarded me with the Homemaker in Training Award. I really like it, thanks Johanna!

Here are the rules:

• Award at least 4 other bloggers.
  

• Name a someone you really admire as a homemaker.
  

• Post a Scripture verse that inspires you in daily living (Please not Proverbs 31,be creative).

I award:

• Elisheva
• Kelsey
• Bess
• Grace
• Eden

And I'm going to have to 'copy' Johanna and say that the person who I really admire as a homemaker is my Mama. She is an excellent example of managing a home, loving her children in the Lord, protecting her children, and being a biblical wife.

And here are some verses:

Luke 9:23

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

And I think that's it! Next time I post I'm going to post about a camping trip that we took.

More awards

Bess awarded me with these beautiful awards!

I award:

• Johanna
  
• Jane

I love both of you girls' blogs!

With this one you have to answer 10 questions made up by the person who tagged you, then make up 10 more questions for the next person.

Bess' questions:

1. Have you ever swam in the sea? No. But my family did go to Florida where we stopped at a beach. It wasn't very pleasant though. It was very windy so the sand was whipping around and stinging our legs. Yuck :P!
2. What’s your fav book of the Bible? All of the New Testament books.
3. Do you have a favorite baby name for a boy &/or girl? Tell us! I don't have any favorite names but I do have a boy name that I really just don't like... Bartholomew. I don't know why I just don't like it.
4. Where’s your favorite place? Can be specific or general… The Davis Mountains! That was a lot of fun... except for maybe the javelin part, but that is whole story in itself!
5. When & why did you become a Christian? I became a Christian when I was 9 yrs old. My reason? I knew that there was no other way to get to heaven except through Jesus Christ and I certainly didn't want to go to hell!
6. Name a fav movie. Well, I don't really have a specific favorite.
7. What’s something in your closet/wardrobe you love? I have this maroon/pink blouse that I really like to wear. The color looks great and the shirt is comfy.
8. Tell us something interesting, wacky, or unusual about yourself. When I was younger I played outside a lot. However, whenever I got bitten by an ant I wouldn't go outside for the rest of the day.
9. Which is your fav: Psalms or Proverbs? I don't know. All of them are so good!
10. Have you ever dreamed of being a princess? I have dreamed a lot of stuff but I will have to say that I have never dreamed of being a princess. I didn't give much thought princess'. I was too concentrated on my rabbit named Marsh mellow :) :D.

And here are my questions:

1. Are you a dog lover?
2. What is one of the nuttiest things that you've ever done?
3. God is called many names in the Bible. Which is you favorite?
4. Are you a chocoholic?
5. If you could go sky-diving, would you?
6. Do you live on property?
7. What is your favorite sport?
8. How many friends do you have?
9. Have you ever played a joke on someone?
10. Do you know what number does pi equal (approximately ;)?

That was fun! Thanks Bess.

Making Paper

A while ago I made some homemade paper. Here's how to do it! First you need:

• A blender of some sort. I'm using a Vitamix.
  
• Elmer's glue. This helps hold the paper together
  
• Any old paper that you have. I'm using old coloring pages (we have lots of little kids)
  
• Food coloring... unless you just want an off-white piece of paper.
  
• And what I call a 'paper maker'. All this is is a wooden frame with Cross stitch fabric glued on the back. If you don't have a 'paper make' a piece of fabric that strains water well will do!

In the picture I have Pam. You actually don't need this.

Depending on how well your blender blends you may or may not have to tear the paper up.

This is where the glue comes in. Just squirt some glue in with the paper. This helps to hold the whole thing together. Also, add your food coloring and water. Don't worry about putting to much water in your mixture. The more water that you have, the easier it will be to spread out the pulp. However, if you put WaY to much water in there, it will take a longer time to dry.

After this let the blender take over!

Here is the result... weirdo pulp :P

Spread the 'weirdo pulp' over your fabric or into the paper maker. If your pulp won't spread add some more water. Also, if it doesn't work the first time, you can always stick it back in the blender, add more water and paper (if necessary) and give it a whizz. If you are just making a small piece of paper you may be able to use an iron and iron it dry. However, if you are making a large piece of paper an iron won't work. I tried and the paper ended up sticking to the bottom of the iron. Oh, if you are wondering what the Pam was for, I thought that if I greased the bottom of the iron before ironing the paper it might work a little better. It didn't. I got the same results as when I didn't use Pam. All that was accomplished was that the house smelled like I had been baking cookies :D :D ::).

And here is my finished product:

The bow is made out of gum wrapping paper as is the big 'E'. Then, I just put a little bit of contrast in the picture with the gold bow. Well, I hope that this works out for you (if you try it, of course ;)

Black berries *licks lips*

We didn't get to pick berries yesterday like I said, BuT we did get to pick them this evening. My family likes to go on walks in our neighborhood and if we take the 2 mile loop you will come to a pond. And along this pond is the dew berries. AND the dew berries this year are sooooo big and juicy and yummy and black and..... GREAT (we had lots of rain this year, you see ;)!! And besides getting all the wonderful berries, picking them is LOTS of fun too... OK actually the berries are on a steep bank and there is poison ivy in the bushes and there are little fuzzy caterpillars in the vines (actually, they aren't that bad. I only yell unless they touch me.) and the bushes have little prickles on them. Stephen went down the bank to get the berries down there and kinda slid in the pond (don't worry he can swim lol) so he came up with this goop (er mud actually) on him. And do you know what.... I don't care!!! I'm going to make pies and maybe jelly out of them and that makes all of the trouble worth it!! We have been picking those berries since we were 6-13 and we're still loving it. So I'm going to end this post with... I LOVE DEW BERRIES!!!!

picture credits... google

MORE awards!!! YAY!!

I got the 'Sweet Friend' award from Eden at Growing in Him. Thank you so much girl!! I answered the question in THIS POST. I will take this award a million more times because the more I get it the more friends I have ;D! I award:
Woo at More 2 This Life and
Zara at Christian Maidens Throughout the World

And this award came from Bess at Bess' Bag. Thank you Bess, gal! This one looks super cool >8.
And I have to award 7 other bloggers:
Eden
Mimi
Zara
L4J
Johanna
Jane and
Kelsey

My brother and I are going to go pick black berries (no NOT the electronic... the food LOL;) so I'll 'see' y'all later ;D

Pies and my favorite topic... random stuff ;D

Here is what I've been doing today... BAKING! I made a lemon meringue pie and an apple pie. Right now, pies are my thing ;). When they don't turn out I HaVe to make another and 'beat' the bad one. I've made two batches of apple pies and the one I made today was the best. I have pictures of my other ones... someday I'll post those. So here is the lemon meringue one...

...and the apple pie one. Oh, these aren't 'my' pies. I got all these pictures off of Google. They are close though ;)

But, every girl knows that after cooking comes the hardest part of all... cleaning up! I don't know about y'all, but I make a horrendous mess when I cook. I am getting better (maybe ::).

Yesterday, we did our regular shopping: Walmart (or HEB) and Costco. In Walmart, Mama and I split to get our stuff so that things would go a little faster. I also took Grace along. Well, Grace had her purse with her and wanted to put the purse in the cart. I told her to hold her purse. And, like a little kid, Grace asked, "Why???". My answer? "Someone might steal it." OK, I guess that wasn't exactly the truth, but it can happen. So, Grace, being a very imaginative little girl, says, "D_____ is going to come steal my purse (don't ask me where she gets her ideas! Not from me, honest *rolls eyes*)!!" We have two D____'s in our church so I asked, "Which one?" And in the cutest voice Grace replied, "The Brian one (Brian is D__'s brother)." LOL!!

To all of the Mom's out there... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! Mothers are such a blessing!

For Mother's Day we made a breakfast and then, this evening, we ate apple pie. The food was good the fellowship was encouraging... I hope y'all have as good (or better!! ;) of a Mother's Day as my family did. Until next time...

Some more awards!

I love awards! The first one was given to me by Eden at Heirs of Promise. Here are the rules:

• Post about the tag
• Award five bloggers who deserve this award
• Comment on their blog telling them they've been awarded
• Answer the questions along with you post

And now for the questions!

Apples, oranges, or bananas?

APPLES!!

How many siblings do you have?

Three brothers and six sisters (I love 'em all!!)

Do you live on a prairie, woodland, city, or other?

We live just outside of our city. We are not to too close to the city but just close enough!

Scissors or glue?

SCISSORS!

Is your room clean?

Yep!

Italy, Greece, Spain, France, or England?

Italy. I'm a pasta girl!

What denomination are you?

Not really any... we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Gum, Chocolate, or Jelly Beans?

CHOCOLATE!! Then gum.

What is your favorite book?

The Dragon's Curse (:o) by Frank Peretti. OK that sounds really bad! It's sort of an allegory and the dragon represents sin.

Favorite ice cream flavor?

Chocolate!!!!

If you had to eat one type of food for two weeks, what would that be?

For my brothers sake... PIZZA! (just in case you don't get it, Stephen goes around saying pizza all the time. Sort of like an substitution for cool ;)

What is your favorite Olympic sport?

Figure skating. Except I don't watch it that much. The outfits those people wear are appalling!

Describe yourself in three words.

Friendly but Shy and Funny (without even trying to be ::)

And I'm running out of time :-/ so if you want to do this tag/award it's yours!

This tag was given to me by Bess :). Thank you Bess girl!! And now for the rules:

• Award this to however many friends you want (they don't have have a blog or even be on blogger :)
• Say at least two nice things about those friends you awarded
• Link to your friends blogs if they have one

Hands down, L4J (she's my sister) I don't know what I'd do without you, girl! You make me laugh at myself and you give everyone around you a secure feeling. I love you!! This sweet award was given to me by Bess at Bess' Bag. Here's the instructions:

• Tag at least five 'sweet friends' on Blogger
• Answer the tag
• You may tag the person who gave you this award
• Don't forget to comment on this post (if you want to, of course;)

You are ______ in your family.

I am the third.

Do you have your own camera?

Yes, but it really isn't that good of a camera so when I do take pictures I usually use the family camera.

List three of you character qualities.

Creative, Kind (well... sometimes not so!), Bossy (*gawks* yepper! You didn't know that because you're not my brother or sister ;D)

What is you favorite thing to blog about?

Funny stories that have happened to me or one of my family members :).

How long have you had your blog?

Ummmm... I'm not sure :D

And to award five blogging friends (I'm going to award two;):

L4J at Living for Jesus

Kelsey at The Narrow Way