My life as of late

I don't think that "I've been busy" is a valid excuse anymore, as I use it too often.
Life just seems to be getting crazier by the day, so I hope that you don't mind my scattered posts.

It's been awhile since I've done much on the internet, and a lot has happened since my last blog update. Here's a little glimpse into what has been going on in my life recently...

{The colors of Spring...}

I finished driver's ed at the end of April and I now have my intermediate driver's license! I've enjoyed having it, and my parents like having someone else that can run into town. Now I can run errands, drive kids to activities, or drive myself into town when I have something going on. With this new "freedom" also comes a lot of responsibility :)

- - -

This year I got a "summer job". Ok, not really...but sort of. I've really been wanting to get a Nikon D3100, so I'm going to do the local farmer's market to help save up for that. Several years ago our family had the opportunity to buy large (very, very large...) quantities of daylilies and iris, with the intent of eventually turning it into a family business. We ended up deciding that wasn't what God had for our family at this time, so now we have over 60 varieties of daylilies and a large field of iris (probably a couple hundred varieties) just sitting there. My parents told me that if I did all of the work this summer (weeding, digging, mulching, etc.) I could take them to farmer's market. So that is my summer job - iris and daylilies. I'll have to admit that I'd probably rather be working with animals, such as raising hogs on pasture, but since I have this opportunity I'm going to take it :)

{One of the many varieties of iris}

I ran my first 5k a couple weeks ago! Yes...I made it across the finish line, and did it with a fairly average time. I'm hoping to run several other 5k's this summer, though I need to start running on a more regular basis...

 - - -

Last week we had a Bright Lights Mother/Daughter tea to wrap up Set One, and also as our final meeting before the Summer. There was a small devotional, a time for mothers and daughters to spend one-on-one time, a variety of games, and, of course, tea and horderves. I've really enjoyed seeing how God has worked in and through Bright Lights over the past year, and look forward to see how He works in the future.

{Mothers and Daughters enjoying an evening of fellowship}

{Flowerpots filled with little goodies make wonderful prize baskets!}

 As usual, I've been doing quite a lot of photography, as I rarely leave the house without my camera. Here are my photos for the 52 Challenge...

{52 Challenge - Week 15}

{52 Challenge - Week 16}

{52 Challenge - Week 17}

{52 Challenge - Week 18}

 
That is a tiny glimpse into my life over the past weeks. I have several other post ideas, and I'll try to blog again as soon as my schedule permits. I'm not sure if it will be a few days or a few weeks...but I will be back.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know that this love surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of the all fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19

52 Photo Challenge (Weeks 9 - 10)

This photo is my first one for the unedited photo challenge.

{Week 10 of the 52 Challenge - Week 1 of the unedited photography challenge}

This one was not part of the unedited challenge, so it got some slight contrast.

{Week 9 of the 52 Challenge}

Keeping it Simple (A Photo Challenge)

{I forgot to mention this in my last post...so I guess I'll just do two posts today!}

Do you ever feel like photography isn't what it used to be? When there were film cameras, you took a picture to the best of your ability, and it was what it was. Don't get me wrong...I love playing around with photos on the computer and seeing how I can edit them, but there is always that feeling of accomplishment when you download pictures from your camera to find that some of them don't need editing! The color is right, the angle is perfect, and no cropping is needed.

So that is where this challenge begins. I'll admit, almost all of the photos that I've posted for the 52 photo challenge so far have been edited a little bit in one way or another. So I've decided that for the next 4 weeks, my photos for the 52 challenge will be unedited. No contrast. No color correction. No editing. And even...no cropping. I'm kind of freaking myself out because I have no idea how I'll do this, but (I think) I'll manage.

Keeping it Simple {A Photo Challenge}

I'm doing this challenge beginning March 6th and ending April 2nd. 

This may be rather "informal"...no link up, no button...just a simple photo challenge, but I'd still love to have you join me (and if you want to spread the word about it...)! You don't have to be doing the 52 Challenge to do this...I just chose to do it along with that challenge to encourage myself to get out and take some photos, while really focusing on the lighting, camera settings, and angles. And remember...no photo editing :)

Let me know if you have questions or want me to clarify something that I didn't explain well enough. I'd also love to know if you are planning on taking the challenge!

Catching up on the 52 Challenge

 A photographer's fear:

Downloading pictures off of the camera only to find that they didn't turn out as well as they had hoped.

Well...I sort of forgot about the 52 photo challenge, which means that I didn't get as good of photos as I would have liked. I'll try much harder over the rest of the year to actually make a point to go out and get some good photos...so please bear with me :)

Week 6 {52 Challenge}

Week 7 {52 Challenge}

Week 8 {52 Challenge}

Living a Life of Love

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

(1 Corinthians 13:4-8a)

Love isn't just a feeling. 

Love is a lifestyle.

As Christians we are called to "live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (Ephesians 5:2). Christ's life on earth was a wonderful example of love. He was a friend of sinners, helped those who everyone else looked down on, and then died a horrible death...all because of love. Unconditional love. Love that wasn't just a feeling, love that was a lifestyle.

 

If Christ loved us so much as to die for us, and we as Christians know and believe that, how can we not seek to live a life of love as He did? How can we not want to tell everyone about this amazing love we found? How can we not want it to be our lifestyle?

Week 5 {52 Photo Challenge}

Reflections and Icicles...52 Challenge Weeks 3-4

Today ended up being a restful day. We had no extra activities going on, and I was actually able to get school done as well as finish up a few other things that I had been needing to do. Doesn't it feel great when, at the end of the day, your "to-do" list has a nice row of check marks all the way down?

Ok, back on track. The reason I posted this was not to tell you how much I like having my to-do list complete (though it is great), it was to post my "52 Photo Challenge" photos for week 3 and 4.

 Week 3 - Reflections

I know that around Flash's eye is a little blurry, but the reflection is so cool!

Just a side note: I have the most wonderful horse ever. I'm sure that everyone who has a horse says the same about theirs, but really, Flash is the best!! She puts up with my photography hobby, and has such a sweet disposition...

 Week 4 - Icicles

So there you have it...my photography adventures from the past couple weeks. I'm hoping to stay on top of this from now on instead of posting them in groups like this. Also, I promise to start doing posts on subjects other than photography! I have some post ideas in mind...the hardest part is finding the time to sit down and get those ideas onto the computer screen.

52 Photo Challenge

I'm afraid that I'm a bit late in posting this...but I guess there isn't much I can do about that now, is there?

I really wanted to do some sort of photography challenge this year, but didn't feel like I could devote myself to a 365 photo challenge (one good picture...every day...for a whole year). Then I noticed that other girls had mentioned that they were doing a 52 photo challenge...one good photo every week for one year. That's a little more realistic for me!

Since this is posted a little late I'm going to post some pictures to get caught up. I will have to admit that the first week of the year I was sort of absent from my camera (I'm still trying to figure out how I survived...*grin*), so I decided to"make up" for it by posting a picture that I took just a few days later...

Week 1 (January 1 - January 8)

Week 2 (January 9 - January 15)

So, from now on I'll be posting my "photo of the week" at the end of each week. Hopefully it will challenge me to practice good composition on my photos as well as experiment with new techniques, subjects, lighting, and angles.

I'm up to the challenge...are you??