This Year {Learning and Doing}

Hello and a very happy Spring to y'all!!!  It has been getting warmer here, and the sun is stronger and warmer than the chilly midwinter sunlight.  I love this season (even though it is impractically muddy!) of melting snow, new life, and warmer weather. 

Just a quick update on us (since I am so woefully behind in my blogging!):

This new year has been incredibly challenging and more blessed than I ever could have possibly imagined.  God is so good and so wise in everything that he does and I am so grateful to Him for all that He has done! 

There were several things on my mental "To-Learn-Someday" and "To-Do-Someday" lists that I have learned/accomplished in these first couple of months. 

I learned to dance early in February, and I cannot tell you how much FUN that was!  Even my brothers (skeptical in the extreme!) enjoyed it.  :) 

I ordered this online and have LOVED practicing my some of my favorite soundtracks.  :)

I am currently taking piano and voice lessons from some sweet friends here in Wisconsin.   A dear friend from church graciously and generously GAVE ME a piano!!!!!!  It was more than I had even thought to ask for or imagine.  God is so good!!!  I had prayed for a decent and cheap keyboard, and He provided me with a gorgeous instrument.  His ways are amazing!

Hockey!

 

Elijah, Jeremiah and I also learned to ski and play hockey this winter.  What a BLAST!!!  Skiing was, by far, one of the most thrilling experiences of my life!  I went down the bunny hill a couple of times and then graduated to a larger hill.  The whole way down I was praying, "Lord, PLEASE don't let me hit a tree, please don't let me hit a tree!"  It really showed me how utterly helpless I am!  It's just me, the hill, the trees, and my God keeping me safe. 

 

The whole group after a full day of epic skiing!

This lift was AWESOME!

Top of the World!

As far as reading this year, I determined to do better than last year, and I have surpassed last year's number already (that shows how few I actually read last year).  I read "The Journals of Jim Elliot" and am currently reading "Pilgrim's Progress", to name a couple of my favorites.  It has been amazing to read so many profitable and encouraging books!

This book is incredible!!

I have been blessed to have several dear friends visit briefly and the blessing to make new friends.  Friendship is such a sweet joy!
 
Y'all have a blessed week!  I am hoping to be posting more faithfully.  :)

He Who Promised is Faithful

My theme for this year. 

His promises are true and He will never fail.  He has always proven Himself faithful, and He will continue to do so!

Frosted Beauty // Thoughts on Christmas

We woke up Saturday morning to a world of frosted trees and breathtaking beauty!  As I walked through the snow with my camera in hand, I thought of Him forming each one of the spear-shaped crystals with His own loving hands.  It was so joyful to think of Him as Creator, and know that there is a reason and a beautiful purpose for everything around us.  It didn't "just happen", and it most certainly wasn't Jack Frost.  :)  Our Lord, who thinks upon us, also takes great joy in the glory of His creation.  As he prepared this beauty for us to see the next morning, He had our joy in mind as well.  

Frosted pinecones are so perfect! 

 

Mama has a thing for red berries so I took this picture for her.  :)

 

Right when I saw this lovely little bush covered in frost, I thought of the verse in Isaiah that says:

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

 

As we celebrate Christmas this week, let us remember the reason we celebrate.  He became a man - JUST THINK OF IT!  He humbled Himself and became like us, to be tempted in every area, just as we are, so He might sympathize with us (Heb 4:14-16).  He lived in this sinful world, and God, who despises sin, lived with sinful people every day.  Then He bore our sin, the wrath of His Father, the rejection of men, and the rejection of His Father.  He died, was buried, and then, after three days, He was raised in glory.  Our sins were scarlet, and He washed them white as snow.  He loves us that much.  Christmas isn't just about Jesus being born in a stable in Bethlehem, but it is the whole story of His life, the complete story of redemption.  What a joyful season of remembrance this is!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Y'ALL!  :)

Hunting Update

 

Just a quick hunting update:

I am super excited and grateful for all that God has blessed us with this hunting season.  This is beyond anything that I could have imagined!  God blessed the guys with six deer while they were gun hunting, and one roadkill on the way back home.  That is a lot of meat!!!  The guys have been hanging/skinning/butchering for the past couple of days and there is even more to do tomorrow.  Lots of jerky in the making!  :) 

Also, I am super excited to announce (y'all have my permission to think I'm crazy - my family certainly does!) that I will be making haggis with a deer stomach, heart, lungs, and liver that I kept from the deer that I gutted.  For years, I have wanted to make this traditional Scottish dish, and I am so looking forward to the night that we can have it for dinner!   

This is the roadkill deer that they picked up on the way home.  What a beauty!

As a side note, I hope to be posting here more often.  :)  Hope y'all had a blessed Thanksgiving, and are enjoying a lovely December!  Stay warm! :)

Amanda's Senior Photos

Several weeks ago - oh dear, it was more like a month ago - I was blessed, honored and privileged to take Amanda;s senior pictures. God blessed us with overcast, but still bright skies, and even a snowstorm one day!  Amanda was such a trooper – you would never know that temperatures were literally freezing for all of the photos.  :)  It was more of a joy than I could have possibly imagined, and our friendship was deepened so much through this visit.  This girl is absolutely amazing, a fabulous friend, a great daughter and big sister, fun loving, and full of joy.  She makes my life happy, and I love her so much.  I shot too many photos over the few days I was there, but here are my favorites.  Most of these images are very lightly edited, but I plan on doing more with them soon.

Mrs. Richter got this of the two of us.

Amanda with her horse, Hy-C.

Hy-C wasn't perfectly cooperative, so that made for a fun and interesting challenge.  We were grateful to have another friend (Hannah) help us out!

After Amanda kissed her, she pulled away and said, "Eww.  That didn't taste very nice." 

I had envisioned this photo for weeks and weeks, and was SOOO excited with the way it turned out!

My "best of the best", favorite shot from the whole week.  She was looking at her dad as he walked up, so this image was completely unplanned and un-posed.  Love, love! 

Just curious, do you like B&W or color, and why?

With this shot, I was trying to be “creative” and do something different.  I did not like it at all on the camera and actually considered deleting it, but I’m so glad that I didn’t! 

This one is just for laughs.  :)

God surprised us with a perfectly gorgeous snowstorm one morning.   It was perfect!

 

I took about 15 minutes of our precious and limited time to do her hair...and then it didn't work out anyways.  This is why I will never be a hair stylist, y'all.  :)

Amanda with her Aussie, Royal.

This shot was taken in a cemetery, but we loved the background.  :)

 

That's all for today, friends.  Have a blessed week.  May it be filled with Christ and His power. 

Flashback

Hello friends!
Thanks for bearing with my long neglect of this blog.  Life has been so full, plus I have not had much access to the Internet since we moved.  This is a post that I actually put together before we moved, and never wrote anything, so it has been sitting in the "draft" section, patiently waiting to be published.  All of these photos/events happened before we moved, so this has been a fun flashback for me to some very lovely, sweet, and memorable days with family and friends before we moved.

I have known these sweet girls for a l-o-n-g time and they have been such a huge blessing in my life.  I love them dearly.  I think that I have been blessed with more than my fair share of amazing friends.  I am so grateful!

Lovely AnaLise.  What a joy!

This thing was called "the blob".  It was hilarious to watch people launching each other high into the air. 

Is that kid not one of the cutest things you've ever seen!?!

Sisters.  :)

I had the loveliest Chic-fil-A and photography date with this lovely lady before we left for Wisconsin.  Go check out her beautiful work at http://www.hannaheliseblog.com/

The Armour kids on the way to Ultimate Frisbee.  Wow!  Those were some awesome days!

One of the most incredible skies at Bible study one evening.  God's power is displayed through a thunderstorm in such an awesome way!

Marji.  Funny girl. :)

This is one of our 5 kittens, Merry.  I liked to call her "Shmellow" (short for Marshmallow) because she was so fluffy.  :) 

Blowing bubbles for the cats to chase.  :)

Popular kid. :)

Gator ride with my favorite little gentlemen.  They are pretty good drivers. :)

The little guys were coloring pictures one night, so I decided to join them.  :)  I like my kilted Scotsman.  :) 

Next, I hope to be posting some of Amanda's senior photos.  

Have a blessed weekend, yall!  

Psalm 103