So, we start off right away! I will post the link to submit your photo on Friday, January 4th and will close it out on Monday, January 7th by 9 am.
This week is:
From your back door ~
If you can see it from your back door, you can snap it!
Comment here and tell me if you are going to join us!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
52 Week Challenge ~
Well, it didn't take me long and I have all things worked out to host a photography challenge.
I'm not terribly picky, pretty lenient, but there are a few ground rules:
Please be people of integrity. If you didn't take the picture, please don't use it.
Feel free to invite your friends to join us, but please make sure they follow to join us.
Please be mindful of others ~ and keep them clean.
And finally, lets encourage each other!!
Now, this is how it's gonna work ~ I will put up a post every Friday ~ on that post I will have this:
And this is where you will post your links to your pictures. Make sure you don't link to an entire page of pictures just the one picture you are submitting for the week.
The link will be up until the following Monday when the next challenge begins.
Also, on that same post, I will also put up a reminder of the next weeks assignment.
To make this even more fun, there are a couple assignments throughout the 52 weeks that will have contests attached to them. They will be randomly placed, and the prize won't be extravagant, but it will be fun. The way the contests will work is that on the Beginning of the Challenge week, I will tell you that it is the contest and each person will be assigned a number as they post and I will have a number picker online choose the winner!
The theme's for each week are listed below ~
So, this will be fun!!! Who's gonna join me?!
Oh, yeah, if you want to join me ~ comment here and introduce yourself! Looking forward to it!
I'm not terribly picky, pretty lenient, but there are a few ground rules:
Please be people of integrity. If you didn't take the picture, please don't use it.
Feel free to invite your friends to join us, but please make sure they follow to join us.
Please be mindful of others ~ and keep them clean.
And finally, lets encourage each other!!
Now, this is how it's gonna work ~ I will put up a post every Friday ~ on that post I will have this:
And this is where you will post your links to your pictures. Make sure you don't link to an entire page of pictures just the one picture you are submitting for the week.
The link will be up until the following Monday when the next challenge begins.
Also, on that same post, I will also put up a reminder of the next weeks assignment.
To make this even more fun, there are a couple assignments throughout the 52 weeks that will have contests attached to them. They will be randomly placed, and the prize won't be extravagant, but it will be fun. The way the contests will work is that on the Beginning of the Challenge week, I will tell you that it is the contest and each person will be assigned a number as they post and I will have a number picker online choose the winner!
The theme's for each week are listed below ~
Week
1 (1/4)~ From your back door
Week
2 (1/11)~Something red
Week
3 (1/18) ~ From your kitchen
Week
4 (1/25)~ Whatever you want
Week
5 (2/1)~ Something Warm
Week
6 (2/8) ~ Something that keeps you warm
Week
7 (2/15)~ Love
Week
8 (2/22)~ Something pink
Week
9 (3/1)~ Something that warms your heart
Week
10 (3/8)~ Your child(ren)/pets or both
Week
11 (3/15)~ A desire of your heart
Week
12 (3/22)~ An unedited photo
Week
13 (3/29)~ Something Large
Week
14 (4/5)~ New Life
Week
15 (4/12) ~ Shadow
Week
16 (4/19)~ Something Green
Week
17 (4/26)~ Street Lights
Week
18 (5/3)~ Metallic
Week
19 (5/10)~ Action Shot
Week
20 (5/17)~ You couldn’t live without…
Week
21 (5/24)~ Short Exposure
Week
22 (5/31)~ Long Exposure
Week
23 (6/7)~ Something dirty (as in muddy)
Week
24 (6/14)~ Something clean
Week
25 (6/21)~ Sunflare
Week
26 (6/28)~ Something you want to get rid of
Week
27 (7/5)~ Celebration
Week
28 (7/12)~ Nature
Week
29 (7/19)~ Summertime activity
Week
30 (7/26)~ Something Cool
Week
31 (8/2)~ Close up
Week
32 (8/9)~ Favorite Color
Week
33 (8/16)~ Friends
Week
34 (8/23)~ Black and White
Week
35 (8/30)~ Patterns
Week
36 (9/6)~ Back to School
Week
37 (9/13)~ Weather
Week
38 (9/20)~ Faceless Self portrait
Week
39 (9/27)~ Morning rituals
Week
40 (10/4)~ Out and about
Week
41 (10/11)~ Something small
Week
42 (10/18)~ Landscape
Week
43 (10/25)~ Autumn
Week
44 (11/1)~ Far away
Week
45 (11/8)~ Nightly Rituals
Week
46 (11/15)~ Family Activity
Week
47 (11/22)~ Thanksgiving
Week
48 (11/29)~ Winter
Week
49 (12/6)~ Favorite thing(s)
Week
50 (12/13)~ Tis the Season
Week
51 (12/20) ~ Christmas
Week
52 (12/27) ~ Resolutions
So, this will be fun!!! Who's gonna join me?!
Oh, yeah, if you want to join me ~ comment here and introduce yourself! Looking forward to it!
Challenge
Hey! How was your first day of 2013? Mine was wonderfully fully of NOTHING! I had a laundry basket full of socks that I wanted to mate and put away into drawers today. And I got it done. I even threw some out. I was so excited. I'm pretty easily excited, apparently.
One thing I got for Christmas was a beautiful awesome new DSLR camera. Oh, I have enjoyed playing with it!!! But, I have been wanting to find a "challenge" to do and then a friend of mine on facebook mentioned it, so I do believe that I will be starting my own challenge. I'm going to steal some weekly theme ideas and smooshing them all together and making it my own. And my hope is to get others involved!!!! Now, just to figure out how to set up a way for others to post....
I will work on it and hope to have something up by tomorrow!
It will be fairly simple. But, I know I need a reason to purposefully take pictures! So, join me. We'll have fun!
One thing I got for Christmas was a beautiful awesome new DSLR camera. Oh, I have enjoyed playing with it!!! But, I have been wanting to find a "challenge" to do and then a friend of mine on facebook mentioned it, so I do believe that I will be starting my own challenge. I'm going to steal some weekly theme ideas and smooshing them all together and making it my own. And my hope is to get others involved!!!! Now, just to figure out how to set up a way for others to post....
I will work on it and hope to have something up by tomorrow!
It will be fairly simple. But, I know I need a reason to purposefully take pictures! So, join me. We'll have fun!
Happy New Year ~ 2013
Happy New Year!
Here is the blessing for the New Year from Numbers 6.24-26
May the Lord bless you
and keep you;May the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
May the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.
I am still working on trying to find my word for the year.
I do know that I am going to be starting several Bible studies
this year. I'm going to be doing the Ann Voskamp One Thousand Gifts
devotional study, Luke study, and my Friday Bible Study group
will be doing "When Wallflowers Dance" by Angela Thomas. And y'all,
when I watched the preview clip a few weeks ago, I was a blubbering mess.
I am super stoked about this one in particular. I love feeling God move me.
And, now, I will leave you with the perfect song for the beginning of a New Year.
Or a new page.
A clean slate.
Kari Jobe Find you on My Knees.
Wow. And this is my prayer for the year, that I will find Him on my knees!
Good night, and may you be inscribed and sealed for a fresh New Year!
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Resolutions
After Christmas, I always feel a little down. Then I take my Christmas decorations down (which I started to do today ~ tree is all done) and I start to get excited to look forward to the new year. I always feel.......joy and excitement as I think of leaving one year behind to get to another! And, I, like so many people, start the new year with the most wonderful intentions and usually Jan. 2nd comes around and I'm all "Resolutions?!?! What?!?!" Hahahaha ~ know what I mean?!
So, this year, I am tired of making the cliche, frivolous resolutions. I did pretty good with the last year, and I am planning on doing it again. I'm going to choose a word to work on. My word/phrase last year was "Know" and my goal was to get to know Him better. And, I can walk away from 2012 humbled by what I learned in my pursuit of getting to know God better.
Some of the things I walked through privately or even publicly brought me to a sweeter recognition of seeing the hand of God in my life. I started the year in a completely broken disheveled mess. And, I sought God. I sought to know His heart better this year, and I'm so pleased to know that I'm ending 2012 not so broken, still pretty disheveled but the chaos of it doesn't overwhelm me as much. I'm so glad that there came a point where I can see that when I worship ~ privately or corporately ~ that I can finally start to let Him be "the lifter of my head". That, now the tears that flow as I worship Him come from such an overwhelming feeling of having seen His hand move in my life and an overwhelming feeling of His grace. When I started the year, the tears would fall just simply because I was too broken to feel any of it. I was writhing in the agony of not knowing how to connect with Him. I was His, but somewhere along the line, I lost that "first love", I guess you could say. And, I missed Him. So, I determined that I would get to Know Him again. And I'm so glad I did.
I'm so grateful for His grace that He extends to me each and every day. I'm not perfect. I start Bible studies and get discouraged if I "get behind" so I just let it go. But, I'm determined to not let that stop me this year! I'm excited to be helping lead a Bible study on Friday mornings this winter and I am joining an online Bible study. I have started in the worship band at my church, so I only get to go to my Sunday school class every other Sunday, but I love it and can't wait to find out tomorrow what our next study will be!!
So, tomorrow, I start looking at school stuff and determining what all needs to be done this semester, try to get a workable schedule that we can stick to. Along with some sort of chore schedule that I would love to start, I'm just not that organized to do it, unless it's idiot proof and fail proof. Hahahaha ~ I would still find some way to fail with it, because I am just that talented! So, bring on the New Year. I'm ready for you, 2013!! Because I know He is there and He knows and I can trust Him.
So, this year, I am tired of making the cliche, frivolous resolutions. I did pretty good with the last year, and I am planning on doing it again. I'm going to choose a word to work on. My word/phrase last year was "Know" and my goal was to get to know Him better. And, I can walk away from 2012 humbled by what I learned in my pursuit of getting to know God better.
Some of the things I walked through privately or even publicly brought me to a sweeter recognition of seeing the hand of God in my life. I started the year in a completely broken disheveled mess. And, I sought God. I sought to know His heart better this year, and I'm so pleased to know that I'm ending 2012 not so broken, still pretty disheveled but the chaos of it doesn't overwhelm me as much. I'm so glad that there came a point where I can see that when I worship ~ privately or corporately ~ that I can finally start to let Him be "the lifter of my head". That, now the tears that flow as I worship Him come from such an overwhelming feeling of having seen His hand move in my life and an overwhelming feeling of His grace. When I started the year, the tears would fall just simply because I was too broken to feel any of it. I was writhing in the agony of not knowing how to connect with Him. I was His, but somewhere along the line, I lost that "first love", I guess you could say. And, I missed Him. So, I determined that I would get to Know Him again. And I'm so glad I did.
I'm so grateful for His grace that He extends to me each and every day. I'm not perfect. I start Bible studies and get discouraged if I "get behind" so I just let it go. But, I'm determined to not let that stop me this year! I'm excited to be helping lead a Bible study on Friday mornings this winter and I am joining an online Bible study. I have started in the worship band at my church, so I only get to go to my Sunday school class every other Sunday, but I love it and can't wait to find out tomorrow what our next study will be!!
So, tomorrow, I start looking at school stuff and determining what all needs to be done this semester, try to get a workable schedule that we can stick to. Along with some sort of chore schedule that I would love to start, I'm just not that organized to do it, unless it's idiot proof and fail proof. Hahahaha ~ I would still find some way to fail with it, because I am just that talented! So, bring on the New Year. I'm ready for you, 2013!! Because I know He is there and He knows and I can trust Him.
New Year
So, tonight as I sit here, playing with Christmas present that I just got today (a Nikon D3100 ~ what what?!). I'm playing with all sorts of different things on my camera, reading blog after blog about it, and playing with my photo editing software. And I don't know what is harder ~ the camera or the software.....
Anyways.......
My tree is still up. Probably going to start taking it down tomorrow. I'm so ready to get my living room back. And my bedroom too, for that matter. We had to move the huge oversized recliner to our room, which didn't have hardly any room to begin with. So, I'm really ready to just be done with the Christmas decor. Although, I will be sad because the lights are so pretty, but you know, I'm ready for it to be gone!
And, we are making plans for new years. We are going to some very dear friends' house and just going to have fun! I'm so looking forward to it! Yay! Jesse is off and we are going to have a fun night!
And I am looking forward to 2013. I will say 2012 did NOT end the way I thought it would in many aspects. But, I have made peace with that. God knows and He is here and moving and working, so I am learning to trust His heart. And 2013 is full of possible changes. Some, I'm just not sure about. I'm hoping that we can buy a house, but it also means we very much could be moving out of state, once again. I used to not mind it, the moving. But the older I get, the more I just want a place to call my own. The desire to have a "home" for my boys to finish growing up in. So, I'm ready to get to our forever home. I'm NOT looking forward to leaving the people we are growing to love and a church we love. But, I know that God knows and He is preparing people and places for us! And, maybe we won't have to go anywhere. That would be ideal.
And I'm dreading starting school back up again. Seriously! I'm not your normal homeschooler. I dread every single school day. But, that's life. Although, I do have to start cracking the whip and getting back into a schedule. Which, I think, helps with the dreading of the school day. I need to have the guys concentrate on some memorization this semester, so, I need to work on that too. It's just a challenge for me. And I don't like being challenged. Lol
So, those are just a couple thoughts on the upcoming new year! What are your plans? As long as mine include these 3 (and their dad) I'm good! Aren't they cute?!
Anyways.......
My tree is still up. Probably going to start taking it down tomorrow. I'm so ready to get my living room back. And my bedroom too, for that matter. We had to move the huge oversized recliner to our room, which didn't have hardly any room to begin with. So, I'm really ready to just be done with the Christmas decor. Although, I will be sad because the lights are so pretty, but you know, I'm ready for it to be gone!
And, we are making plans for new years. We are going to some very dear friends' house and just going to have fun! I'm so looking forward to it! Yay! Jesse is off and we are going to have a fun night!
And I am looking forward to 2013. I will say 2012 did NOT end the way I thought it would in many aspects. But, I have made peace with that. God knows and He is here and moving and working, so I am learning to trust His heart. And 2013 is full of possible changes. Some, I'm just not sure about. I'm hoping that we can buy a house, but it also means we very much could be moving out of state, once again. I used to not mind it, the moving. But the older I get, the more I just want a place to call my own. The desire to have a "home" for my boys to finish growing up in. So, I'm ready to get to our forever home. I'm NOT looking forward to leaving the people we are growing to love and a church we love. But, I know that God knows and He is preparing people and places for us! And, maybe we won't have to go anywhere. That would be ideal.
And I'm dreading starting school back up again. Seriously! I'm not your normal homeschooler. I dread every single school day. But, that's life. Although, I do have to start cracking the whip and getting back into a schedule. Which, I think, helps with the dreading of the school day. I need to have the guys concentrate on some memorization this semester, so, I need to work on that too. It's just a challenge for me. And I don't like being challenged. Lol
So, those are just a couple thoughts on the upcoming new year! What are your plans? As long as mine include these 3 (and their dad) I'm good! Aren't they cute?!
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Christmas
How was your Christmas? I don't think I have blogged since Thanksgiving. I have to be completely honest with you, I have such a mixed bag of emotions when it comes to Christmas. I have this complete love/hate relationship with it. I love the true meaning of it, grateful for what it means. But I absolutely loathe the "give me/I want" of it. And, that's even of me.
I have been blessed with a good childhood. It wasn't without it's pains and troubles. We weren't rich, but, in my memory, we never lacked. I recall stories of how poor we were, but I for one never fully "felt" it. And I gotta say, that on Christmas, it was magical. I still to this day have a deep seated love for Santa Claus ~ he always seemed to come through for me ;) . I recall, usually around July or August, I would look through every toy catalog I could get my hands on and I would make a list for "the Big Guy" that would go on for miles. And, I'm beginning to see that bit of me in my boys. I don't think that I quite "got" what it was supposed to be about. Please, don't think badly of my parents, they taught me what Christmas was all about. But even some of the most well grounded people I know don't quite get it. We know, but there's a huge difference between knowing it and getting it.
And I recall that while my mom would make Christmas merry in our house, I can remember that many years she always had "the blues" if not down right deep depression during this "most wonderful time of the year". And, I never understood it. But now as I am a mom with kids who call this "the most wonderful time of the year" I totally get it. I totally get how a mom gets the blues. I totally get how the making merry is for some of us a most burdensome drudgery. I get it. I feel it. I don't fully understand, but I'm seeing it and I get it. Because I feel it. And I have no shame in saying I loathe it. I want to feel the magic and be merry. But, I don't.
And I want to change that. I don't think it's a matter of spirituality. I think it is a matter of focus. I have been reading some blogs about this. And all through next year, I am going to be working on changing my focus for Christmas. And I'm going to work on changing the focus of my entire family about Christmas. I'm learning that it's okay to want things and it's okay to voice those desires, but when those desires change our focus, that is where we run into trouble. And so, I will be working on this.
So, in the spirit of what this season is all about here is one of my favorite Christmas songs of this season.
And if you are aching in your soul for a different kind of Christmas, for a glimpse of peace for your Christmas, may I suggest you visit this blog and read as much as you can. A Holy Experience ~ it is a place of peace. Ann Voskamp is a marvelous writer. And have your speakers on, for the music on this blog is so peaceful. When I feel myself reeling and fragile, I go and read my Bible, and listen. And then I read her words. Comfort and encouragement are there. And exactly what I needed this Christmas season! Hoping you can benefit too!
May your heart find peace and be blessed with a peaceful New Year!
I have been blessed with a good childhood. It wasn't without it's pains and troubles. We weren't rich, but, in my memory, we never lacked. I recall stories of how poor we were, but I for one never fully "felt" it. And I gotta say, that on Christmas, it was magical. I still to this day have a deep seated love for Santa Claus ~ he always seemed to come through for me ;) . I recall, usually around July or August, I would look through every toy catalog I could get my hands on and I would make a list for "the Big Guy" that would go on for miles. And, I'm beginning to see that bit of me in my boys. I don't think that I quite "got" what it was supposed to be about. Please, don't think badly of my parents, they taught me what Christmas was all about. But even some of the most well grounded people I know don't quite get it. We know, but there's a huge difference between knowing it and getting it.
And I recall that while my mom would make Christmas merry in our house, I can remember that many years she always had "the blues" if not down right deep depression during this "most wonderful time of the year". And, I never understood it. But now as I am a mom with kids who call this "the most wonderful time of the year" I totally get it. I totally get how a mom gets the blues. I totally get how the making merry is for some of us a most burdensome drudgery. I get it. I feel it. I don't fully understand, but I'm seeing it and I get it. Because I feel it. And I have no shame in saying I loathe it. I want to feel the magic and be merry. But, I don't.
And I want to change that. I don't think it's a matter of spirituality. I think it is a matter of focus. I have been reading some blogs about this. And all through next year, I am going to be working on changing my focus for Christmas. And I'm going to work on changing the focus of my entire family about Christmas. I'm learning that it's okay to want things and it's okay to voice those desires, but when those desires change our focus, that is where we run into trouble. And so, I will be working on this.
So, in the spirit of what this season is all about here is one of my favorite Christmas songs of this season.
And if you are aching in your soul for a different kind of Christmas, for a glimpse of peace for your Christmas, may I suggest you visit this blog and read as much as you can. A Holy Experience ~ it is a place of peace. Ann Voskamp is a marvelous writer. And have your speakers on, for the music on this blog is so peaceful. When I feel myself reeling and fragile, I go and read my Bible, and listen. And then I read her words. Comfort and encouragement are there. And exactly what I needed this Christmas season! Hoping you can benefit too!
May your heart find peace and be blessed with a peaceful New Year!
Monday, November 19, 2012
November 19
Today, I'm thankful.
I'm thankful that Thanksgiving is coming up. It is my most favorite holiday. I love the preparations for it. The baking, the shopping for the turkey, the decorating/planning my table. I just love it all. I think I love it most because I don't have to rush around making sure I spend an equally proportionate amount of money on the boys. Because I don't have to rush around trying to get everything wrapped, along with all the baking and cooking.
I just love Thanksgiving. It's a day for us to spend the day together eating and just enjoying the ones we love. And you know, I'm grateful because I get that most every day! We, as a family, make sure that we sit down at the dinner table for a meal together with the television off most nights. I get to spend my days ~ as maddening as it all seems ~ with my children. It's a rare day if we aren't together. But I'm grateful for Thanksgiving that we get to make traditions for our family!
I'm thankful that Thanksgiving is coming up. It is my most favorite holiday. I love the preparations for it. The baking, the shopping for the turkey, the decorating/planning my table. I just love it all. I think I love it most because I don't have to rush around making sure I spend an equally proportionate amount of money on the boys. Because I don't have to rush around trying to get everything wrapped, along with all the baking and cooking.
I just love Thanksgiving. It's a day for us to spend the day together eating and just enjoying the ones we love. And you know, I'm grateful because I get that most every day! We, as a family, make sure that we sit down at the dinner table for a meal together with the television off most nights. I get to spend my days ~ as maddening as it all seems ~ with my children. It's a rare day if we aren't together. But I'm grateful for Thanksgiving that we get to make traditions for our family!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
November 14
Tonight, I'm thankful for my family! And by that, I'm talking my parents and sister! Things haven't always been great between us ~ but what is family if you can't have your arguments and disagreements and such. But as long as after licking your wounds, you still love each other and rebuild your relationships again, then that is what family is all about.
And that was us. We had a rough couple years. We all hurt each others feelings. We all ruffled each others feathers, but we still love each other. And I'm so grateful for that. Things aren't always perfect. Life throws us curveballs, and we either learn to dodge and take cover or get hit square in the gut. And sometimes you duck and cover and still get hit in the gut. But once you catch your breath again, those relationships that took hits, you learn to re-evaluate, and rebuild.
And I'm so glad that we are no longer in the "still catching our breath, recovering" phase, but that we are rebuilding again!
I love my family. We don't get to see each other as much as we need to, and definitely don't get to spend as much time as we would like with each other, but I'm so glad we have fb chat, texting and phone conversations! It makes the 14 hour drive between us seem a little less severe. And I'm hoping someday soon, we'll be able to make a trip to visit. My parents were just here a couple weeks ago, and we miss them so much already! And my sister has a new fella and I haven't met him, so hoping to get to do that at some point in life ;)
So, for now, I just have to say that I love them, I miss them terribly and I love them dearly!!!!
And that was us. We had a rough couple years. We all hurt each others feelings. We all ruffled each others feathers, but we still love each other. And I'm so grateful for that. Things aren't always perfect. Life throws us curveballs, and we either learn to dodge and take cover or get hit square in the gut. And sometimes you duck and cover and still get hit in the gut. But once you catch your breath again, those relationships that took hits, you learn to re-evaluate, and rebuild.
And I'm so glad that we are no longer in the "still catching our breath, recovering" phase, but that we are rebuilding again!
I love my family. We don't get to see each other as much as we need to, and definitely don't get to spend as much time as we would like with each other, but I'm so glad we have fb chat, texting and phone conversations! It makes the 14 hour drive between us seem a little less severe. And I'm hoping someday soon, we'll be able to make a trip to visit. My parents were just here a couple weeks ago, and we miss them so much already! And my sister has a new fella and I haven't met him, so hoping to get to do that at some point in life ;)
So, for now, I just have to say that I love them, I miss them terribly and I love them dearly!!!!
Monday, November 12, 2012
November 12
Tonight, I am thankful for a calling. I can't really talk much about it now, but it isn't that I don't want to. I am just not sure I fully understand it myself, so i am still trying to piece things together and figure it all out. But, I have this sense of "something bigger" deep down inside of me. I have a few ideas ~ but don't quite know how to execute any of them or if any of them will pan out. But this I know, as one of my closest friend pointed out in a great article you can find here ~ maybe you and I were born, like Esther, for such a time as this.
I'm grateful God never lets go and can use us, no matter how weak or finicky we can be, HE will still use us if we make ourselves available for HIS use! And I am. Here am I, Lord, use me!
I'm grateful God never lets go and can use us, no matter how weak or finicky we can be, HE will still use us if we make ourselves available for HIS use! And I am. Here am I, Lord, use me!
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