Celina, Its about time!!!

Right now I am sitting at our lake house finishing up our summer vacation. I am not quite as organized as Lydia so I did not keep a journal of everything that happened on our vacation but I will try to write about what we did. I also have other things that I will probably ramble on about because I haven't written for a while :)

Saturday- we spent the afternoon at our lake house(http://www.vrbo.com/349595) just hanging out and watching Direct Tv!! Fun fun I love Tv with more that two channels but it does get a little boring after a while. :) Then we swam a little bit off a dock that some of our kind neighbors let us barrow. And let me just say that is a fun place to swim!! There is mud covering the bottom instead of sand and it is thick and soft with almost no rocks

Sunday- We rented two Kayaks and brought our canoe we canoed around the lake for a while stopping to swim quite often. After our first stop we started hearing thunder so we quickly headed back to the dock and sat there in the pouring rain on a metal dock in the water :) that was a little scary, but hey I am still alive :). Sunday night my Grandma and her friend Jerry came and we hung out with them

Monday-In the morning me and Jonathan went to swim team then we just hung out with Grandma and Jerry we played some games and just had fun. In the evening we all played a game where one person leaves the room and the other people pick a person that they think the first person will know it can be a famous person like Elvis or just some family member. then they call the first person back in, and that person has to ask people yes or no questions to try and figure out what person the group is thinking of it is sooooooo fun! That night our cousins got there around 10 pm so right after that we went to bed

Tuesday- In the morning I had to go to swim team I was kind of mad about that. but I went :) Then I swam for a while with my cousins. Then we went tubing and found a cliff to jump off of. I also gave my younger cousin a makeover. Then she gave me one but I put my mascara on. While I was putting it on she could NOT stop laughing I guess that she has never seen people put mascara on :) and her laugh is as contagious as Olivia's!!!!!!

Wednesday- We didn't have to go to swim team! but we went tubing in the morning. We jumped off the cliff some more. Then we just hung out the rest of the day. They had to leave that night :(

Thursday- We went to Swim meet I was worn out so I was pretty slow. Then we got to go see the knew H baby her name is hazel. She is sooooooo sweet I LOVE newborns (I used to get freaked out by them but they are sooooo sweet!) She has a full head of blonde hair :) Mrs. Kristy said that she has always wanted to have a girl with blonde curly hair. My mom said that she almost cried when she saw her hair because my hair was the same when I was born.

Well I am using Preston's Computer and he wants me to get off so that is all for now

Blessing

I do beleive that every single young woman that posts on this blog has been blessed with the others. I know that every time some one tells me they will pray and I do love you and encouraging things like that, I feel just amazingly grateful to God. I also feel like that when I do post on here, it seems to be simply to ask for prayer. So again I will encourage you all t ask for prayer so I don't feel like the only one. :)

Prayer:
Doubt, doubt, and more doubt. The kind that just pops in your head and you KNOW it's just a lie form the devil but for some reason it has been bothering me. Pray that I will find the source.
Ears and Eyes for the King. I am praying this for you too but please Pray this for me.

I LoVe Ya!

Bekah

Questions

Hey girls! Here are some questions, read them and see if here are any you desire to anwser.

1. How do you feel about Ministry? (I am meaning missionary)
2.What do you think of when you think of the American Church?
3.How many times do you read the bible everyday, and when you do, do you ask God to speak to you and help you see His truth? Why or why not?
4.Would you agree with this saying and how does it make you feel: "A relationship with God is Self-denial not self affirmation"?
5.What is your favorite verse or passage?
6.What would the world most benefit from if "it" were destroyed and don't say "Sin"?
(Answer first, be specific, and then consider: This could have something to do with God's plan for you)
7. How would you discribe what God has done with your life and heart so far?
8.Do you beleive that God is in control of everything, even salvation?
9.Would you die so someone else could live even if you don't know how fruitful or long their life will be?
10.What is your ultimate desire? Does it have anything to do with God's Will?

Just some questions off the top of my head. ANYONE CAN ANWSER!
If there are six questions answered I will answer every one.

Grace- How To Keep Summer Fun

Summer! The very word sends tingles up many people's spines. They think of fresh produce, bright zippy colors, and late night freedom.

But do you ever get bored? Like so bored that you are just drooling for autumn? I know that I do. Occasionally I get so bored I just sit and dream about when school starts again.

So how do you keep from getting summer boredom? Work!

Wait a minute! It is summer? I am not supposed to have to work? Right?

Ahh, not really. Work is a healthy part of our lives. It is good for our hearts, wonderful for our bodies, and magnificent for our brains.

Now I know that most of you are still doing chores, some of you are on swimteam, so and so is working at the Y. But let me ask you, are you still bored?

I usually get into a reading phase early into the summer. Last year I reread the entire Anne of Green Gables series and read the Janette Oke "Love Come's Softly" series. I can't recommend it enough! Loads better than those movies.

But eventually reading gets old, even for me. And eventually you get sick of watching movies. Eventually you are tired of sleeping in late, tired of playing on the computer. And finally you say, "I wish it were autumn again". I have already started dreaming about starting high school. ;) Yeah, okay, so I am a little over the top.

Here's an idea or two for how to keep summer fun.

• Make yourself a schedule. It can be loose and free, but regularity is something that many of us thrive on. We don't like feeling like a ship without an anchor. We like to have some kind of regularity, and a simple schedule will help.
• Give yourself a challenge. Challenge yourself to learn a new skill, finish an old project that has been rotting in the drawer, or start a new one. Anything!
• Do some educational and mind stimulating reading. A good devotional, encouraging book, a book about geology, archaeology(drool), or cooking.
• Read a recipe book and decide to try some new recipes. Cooking is a basic skill everyone should have, and your mom might appreciate having you volunteer to make dinner one night.
• Write a story, book, play, whatever. Writing makes us use our imaginations!
• Make a new board game. My mother was up at 5:30 in the morning one time writing down ideas for new board games. You can use anything from pizza boxes to nuts and bolts.
• Relate with people. Getting wrapped up in our own little world can often make us grouchy and rude. We are relational beings, and summer is a wonderful time to bond.

So there you have it, the key to keeping summer fun!

Jessica~Lights, Curtains, ACTION! Pt. 2

Hey Gals!

Here are some pictures of my costume for the play to give you an idea!

A white flowing skirt and ruffled blouse with a pink

old style sash with a HUGE bow in the back!!

My director suggested I use this in my hair.

I agreed! I think it will give quite the elegant touch :)

Now I'm all ready for the performance!

Grace- Traditions

This is a post written by a lady in North Carolina. I love reading her blog, and this post was particularly touching. Please read!

http://beautyandbedlam.com/christian-family-traditions/

Jessica~Lights, Curtains, ACTION!

Hey Gals!

As I promised, I will be keeping up day-to-day with the Shakespeare Drama I am attending. Yesterday was the first day and whew, it was so fun! We first went around introducing ourselves in the huge room of the church we are using in town. Directors, Amy, Amanda and Joel instructed us into the basics of theater. We then did a few activities and fun drills to help with our lines. Including yelling out a line in frustration, or excitement or just plain stupidity. Then, while we mingled and met knew faces, the three directors left the room to cast our parts.

We were divided into three plays: A spoofed and goofy version of Romeo and Juliet, Pyramus and Thisbe, and Much Ado About Nothing. I was picked to be the fair maiden, Hero, in Much Ado About Nothing.
A quite charming adaption, funny characters and lots of very talented performers I've been able to meet, have made this experience very exciting!

Lydia, VACATION!

Hi girls!
I am back home sweet home and miss you all terribly! But none the less I had a great time on our vacation to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. I thought I would post this to tell you all about it. Hope I don't bore you all! ;)

June 5th- Departure to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We drove through Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Wyoming. An 11 hour trip. We sang, prayed, and had a worship time during our travel since it was Sunday. It was a long trip, but we made it to Holiday Inn. We spent the night there.

June 6th- Departure to Cody, Wyoming. A 6 hour trip. We made it fun by listening to "A Bride Goes West". An audio book that a good friend lent us. We really liked it. We had a 1 and a half hour delay in a small town because of an accident, but then we were off again. We made it to our town house in Cody which was lovely. It was two stories. On the first story was the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. On the second story was two bedrooms and another bathroom. It was really nice and we stayed there till Friday, June 10th. We got there around 4:30ish and ordered pizza to be delivered to us! A big treat (we always pick it up ourselves). After a delicious dinner we put on our cowboy boots and went to the Cody Nite Rodeo. It was really fun, but towards the end a HUGE wind came. It was the worst windstorm I have I ever felt. It was SO strong! It kept grinding dust in our faces and eyes. We left a tad early because of it and could hardly get back to the car. I will never forget that wind, It was like we were in a sandstorm! Any way we picked up some groceries from Wal-mart and then went to our house.

June 7th- We left for Yellowstone which was about an hour away from where we were staying. On our way to Yellowstone the scenery was breathtaking! It was a "postcard picture" everywhere you looked. Sometimes you would see snow capped mountains in the distance or sage covered plains or high, craggy, dry mountains. Anyway when we got to Yellowstone we got our pass and went through the gate. We saw bison really close to our car. We saw a coyote wandering around a heard of buffalo. The trick for seeing animals mostly was watching to see people pulled over. When you saw people on the side of the road you knew there was probably an animal they were looking at. That is how we saw a lovely mother moose with her baby! It was so cute to see the mother help her baby across a river. We saw Pronghorn Antelope too. Near the end we also saw bears three different times although very far away. We also saw Old Faithful erupt and lots of thermal pools and hot springs-though none of these were particularly interesting to me-I was there to see wildlife. One thing that cheered me up while on the trail of geysures was a friendly little chipmunk! He would come right up and pose for a picture. I really liked him a lot. We got back to Cody for a late dinner at a place called Irma's Hotel. Of course I got a plain Hamburger and french fries. We headed back to our home and went to sleep.

June 8th- When we woke up and were getting ready Faith looked out our bedroom window to see a... DEER standing in our fenced in back yard!!! She was calmly eating some leaves off a tree. She was very pretty and graceful and stayed for awhile. Then when we left for another day in Yellowstone we stopped for some more deer crossing the road. They were really cool! We saw quite a few in fields. Did I tell you about the weather in Yellowstone? It was like we changed seasons! We drove through snow twice! It was a nice break from the heat of Missouri. The weather was very cool the whole trip. We saw another bear this time much closer. It was really fun to see it up close. We also saw a buffalo calmly walking along the rode! He walked right passed our window! We saw some pretty mountain bluebirds and snow covered pines. On our way back to Cody we saw some Elk far away in a field. I got a wolf box that is really pretty. I was pretty disappointed we did not see any wolves in Yellowstone. That is what I most wanted to see.

June 9th- This day was a lovely relaxing day-at least for some of us. We went on a one hour trail ride! I rode a little mustang (I was really excited about that) named Dudley. He was brown/black. My dad rode a big horse called Harry-they were a perfect team. Faith rode a tan horse (we don't know his name). My mom, well she rode a horse called Arizona and they had some trouble. First the trail was not easy and my parents were beginners. It might help if I told you the trail was up a rocky mountain! Yes we had to climb up a s-t-e-e-p and very rocky mountain. It was also rather muddy. So our horses had to stumble up a rocky mountain. Well my mom's horse had a problem...he always wanted to eat! So my mom had trouble pulling his head up so he would not eat. So lets just say she did not have a good time at all. But I had a really fun time! My horse was a good little boy :). I liked him a lot. We did have a beautiful view! We watched The Cosby Show that night and had fun watching it the rest of the trip too.

June 10th- It was a quiet day with packing and stuff. We got ready to go to Keystone, South Dakota. We saw Devil's Tower and walked all the way around it. We got to our very small, but cozy cabin.

June 11th- We saw Mount Rushmore! Which was really fun! We also went and played mini golf. I did horribly and Faith kept getting holes in one! But to make the day happier we got ice cream! And I bet you can guess what I got! A mint chocolate chip cone. Yum was it good! We went back to our cabin and started packing back up for our trip home.

June 12th- We woke up bright and early-6:20 am. Ate breakfast, got dressed, and got in the car and headed for home! It was a 13 hour trip the longest stretch yet! We listened to some more audio books though and got through it alright. We got home at 10:00pm ish and we were all really tired. I took a shower and got my p.j.'s on and sunk into my own lovely bed and declared home was the best place in the world! I also had a long hugging reunion with Trip. I missed him a whole lot! And so I am writing on June 13th while Faith is working and I am really hungry so Good bye!


Hope you enjoyed this recounting of my vacation!

Lydia

P.S. I miss you all so much and I really want to see you!

Grace-Heartsofpurity is HERE

All right girlies, this is a call to all faithful bloggers! We built this blog to connect with one another and reach others. So it's time for posting.

Every few months one of us does this, "Get Posting" thing, so I guess I am just taking my turn. You have really neat things to say, I know because I talk to all of you a lot. So post away!

Oh and Jess, I am now making you the design person. Enjoy!

Grace- Slip 'n Slide!

Yesterday was my littlest brother's birthday, he is already 7! I just can't believe it!

Since it was hot out mom decided that some out door water play should be on the schedule. We do have a pool but it is not yet assembled, that in and of itself is a long story, so she decided to do a slip 'n slide.

We do not own a real one of these, but my creative mother decided to make one herself. Daddy bought a large roll of clear plastic and a tarp. Taking these we laid them out descending a hill that runs off of our back patio. Then we put a slide at the top, and turned on a the sprinkler to wet the surface.

It would have worked great! Except for the wind. So we weighted it down with backyard toys, and voila! Our own slip 'n slide.

I didn't really use it yesterday, I was too busy trying to wrangle with a kite. But the wind was crazy and after several crash landings this pilot just decided to stay on the ground. But today I used it, and boy is it fun!

It works even better if you add a little dish soap to the mixture, not only does it make everything slide better, but you also get your brothers to take a bath ;).

Yep, we live on a budget. Yep, we have a lot of homemade or used fun, but boy is life grand!