Pictures/Slideshows!

Since we are finally at another campground which has free Wi-Fi (the last two or something didn't), I can finally post pictures! We try not to upload pictures using our Verizon Mi-Fi hotspot thingy, because it uses a ton of data (which means we can't watch YouTube videos either :( phooey), so that's why I had to wait until now.

But now means now, and so I proudly present you with two slideshows I created, with helpful input from my family, of course - one video is of our time traveling in the month of June, and the other of our time in the Grand Canyon! Enjoy!

Sorry about the weird thumbnail in that video^^ :P - YouTube is being annoying and won't let me pick my own thumbnail (it only gives you 3 choices, and it's taking a while to load the one that I want, so for now it's stuck on this one, cut halfway between two pictures of my dad and my brother in the pool)...the thumbnail on the video below, however, worked out great! I was happy about that. :D

These slideshows were a lot of fun to make! We went to the Grand Canyon three different times (which is why there are so many pictures): the first day we went in the late afternoon and stayed there for the sunset. We went back the next day and spent most of the day there, hiking around the rim and having fun. We rode on a bus for about a half an hour out to almost the furthest point of the rim, and had some very interesting conversations with some very interesting people while we were driving out there. ;) And the last time we went was the next morning, at roughly 5:00am. Yeah. I know. We all got up at about 4:30ish to go and watch the sunrise...and it was freezing!! It being so windy didn't help either. :P That's why we all have jackets tightly wrapped around us in one or two of the pictures towards the end of the slideshow.

Oh, and I'm entering this picture of the sunset in the Grand Canyon in KayleeBeth's photo challenge:

It was a hard pick, because there were a few others that I really liked as well...my brother and my dad liked another pic better than this one (you could see the Canyon better), but I loved the sun rays in this one, and I just had to use it. :) The sunset was absolutely gorgeous!

Annnnnd...that's all for now! We're heading today from, uh, somewhere in California (about an hour outside of LA) to Yosemite National Park! I can't wait! :) Hope everyone has had a wonderful week so far!

life

singing....

Remind Me Who I Am by Jason Gray

God Girl by Jamie Grace

Stay Close by Fireflight

enjoying.... {taking crummy pictures and not caring at all} ;)

dipping carrots in dad-made guacamole...mmmm....

watching the guys play ping-pong at sunset
(i spy...a flying round object!)

a new skirt and old toe-nail polish :) actually, this is the
first time i've had a skirt in....i can't remember :P
(btw...i love it)

the budding flowers out front....a lovely spring welcome

and...life. sorry, no picture for that. :) love and blessings.... <3


p.s. thanks, Brooke and Lindsey Madison, for following...love your names, btw ;)

songs, rambles, prayers, God...what else do you need?

listening to ~ White Flag, by Chris Tomlin, at Passion and Free, by Dara Maclean

Well, now I'm wishing I had another excuse for not posting.  'Cause I kinda need one right about now.  But before I launch into a long, rambling post...just beware, this is about to become a long, rambling post.  Now, moving on...I actually do have half of an excuse!

...which turns out to be worse than no excuse at all...

See, I was going to fast from being on the computer, as well as reading.  For the most part.  That was the idea, anyways...but that's all it was, an idea.  Not something I really prayed about.  Not something I decided based on what God told me, what His Spirit was nudging me to do.  It was something I just figured would work for me so that I could join our church in the 21-day fast we've been doing, leading up to Easter (and could also come in handy as an excuse for not posting on my poor blog).

I just figured it would work for me.

not God.  i wasn't thinking about what God wanted.  what He knew i needed.

maybe He did want me to fast those things.  but i didn't take the time to really ask Him.

So...I've been looking at it as if I've failed.  I didn't stick to my fast (key word - my), didn't listen to God, my relationship with God wasn't magically changed...so I failed. And since I loathe failure...and who doesn't?...I've been ignoring it.  I was more focused on performance, I guess, than God.  What I wanted to do, instead of my Father.  And when that perfection-obsession results in failure and turns to guilt, I do my best to ignore it.  Er, try to.

sorry - this blog post has apparently been seen as a convenient spot to use as my current journal entry. which is surprising, since i haven't made an entry in my journal since...*getting out my journal*...6/30/2011. at 11:14pm, to be precise. ha. it's 11:05pm right now. can't you see i totally have my priorities lined up? of course you wait until your eyelids are threatening to glue shut for the next 24 hours, even tho you need to get up the next morning at, like, 7:30am - of course you wait until then to spend time quietening your troubled heart, to start talking to God...to start listening to His Spirit. to His loving, gentle Spirit.

O my Lord Jesus, my God. how i love You. how amazing You are. how messed up i am, how sinful. but You know that...You've known that...but You still love me. You give me life, life given freely. You give me forgiveness. redemption. hope. joy. how i don't deserve You. to even know You, who You are. but You push through my doubt and feelings of unworthiness and everything in me that rebels against Your love and You say...I love you, my chosen one, my daughter. you're forgiven. come to Me, and I will give you rest. come to Me, and I will give you life. come to Me, my loved one, my precious little girl. you are truly loved. I'll hold you in My love, warm you in My arms. come to Me. I love you.

amen.


Love and blessings - have a wonderful weekend, all! <3

God

You know God is real?  Really, really real.  He’s personal.  And He’s powerful.

God never changes.  It kind of hit me a few days ago while listening to Misty Edwards sing a song about it – our God is the same Almighty God who can move mountains!  Literal mountains!  If He can do that, what do you think He can do with the mountains in your life?  And I don’t mean change your circumstances, although that would often be very nice, huh?  I mean change you.  Change me.  ’Cause, boy, do we need to be changed!!  How unlike God we are!  Yet Jesus still came to save us.

And you know what?  He can give us victory!!  He can give us the triumph over the things that hold us down, the fear, the shame, guilt, apathy, feelings of worthlessness, stress, worry, unbelief, loveless-ness - all of that, and more.  He can actually give us victory over those things!  We don't have to live in slavery!  We can be free!!!  He is the God over ALL things, the Creator, the King of kings and the Lord of lords!!

Wow.  I just revel in it all.  How much God loves us.  How much Jesus sacrificed for us.  How faithful God is.  How unchanging, unshakable, and powerful He is!!  He is God.  And that’s really just the way it is.  <3

happy birthday, Jesus

(Note: This is a post from my former blog - with Weebly - that I posted on here the day after, just to get started.  I'll update soon - lots of amazing things to share!!!)

So I was sitting outside earlier, reveling in the gorgeous weather that seemed like God’s wrapped-with-a-bow gift for Christmas, and had the sudden urge to sing.  That’s what often happens to me when I experience God’s creation, just the simple beauty of the warmth of the sun on my head and the slight breeze in the air, rustling the leaves and tugging at my hair.

And so I sang.  I think when God fills our hearts with His endless joy and love and grace, there’s just no way that we can keep from joyfully praising Him in our response to His Holy Spirit.

How blessed we are.  Jesus came to us to save us.  You.  Me.  To erase our sin.  Completely, no strings attached, asking nothing in return.  But how can we not give Him our lives?  God has given us His very own Son as a sacrifice for our disgusting sinfulness – if He has done even this, how immeasurable is His love?  What other greater thing can He do to show His love for us?  If there is, He will surely do it, pouring His love out on us like no other being can do, like no other love in the universe.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”  --Romans 8:32

How can we, in our right minds, resist His love?  Why would we?  He’s not pointing a finger at us, berating us for our wrongdoings – far from it!  We’re the ones who drown ourselves in guilt, believing the devil’s lie that God could never love or forgive us.  God has given us His all, His very Spirit!!  I stand in awe before His powerful love.  It surges over me, in me, through me, with power unimaginable.

Sometimes the little things in life help us to remember God’s love for us.  The small beauties, the wind whispering through the trees, the laughter with friends at church, the sun shining.

thank You, Jesus.  thank You for loving me.  thank You for forgiving my sin.  oh, how i don’t deserve it!  but Your love for me is greater than my unworthiness.  thank You, my Savior, for loving me so much that You literally gave Yourself away, nailed to wood in sin and shame.  thank You for rising again and saving me!  i give you my life…please take it and use it in wondrous ways, to Your glory and in Your Name.  thank you, Jesus.

happy birthday, Jesus.  thank You for Your gift to me.  my life is my gift to You in return.

i love You.  thank You for loving me.