Enjoy!
Please comment and tell me your favorites!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Backyard Pictures
Here are some pictures I took in the backyard a while ago.
Enjoy!
Please comment and tell me your favorites!
Enjoy!
Please comment and tell me your favorites!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Investing Time in Those Younger then you
You would think that such a thing as Investing in those younger then you would be easy! But it tends to be out of peoples comfort zones. I know it can be for me. While I was looking at some old e-mails I stumbled upon one with this story:
A Vision for the Overlooked
Three years ago, David first walked through the door of a church in the middle of nowhere. His family had moved a lot with his dad's work. Like most teenagers, he was in a desperate, silent search for acceptance. Did anyone care that he existed? Why did Christians talk about love, but no one seemed to have time for him? The last four churches were just the same: everyone was polite, but no one took the time to get to know him.
It was at this church in the middle of nowhere that he met Rachel and Jeff, a very unusual brother and sister team. Rachel was 23 and Jeff was 18. A few months before, both had been convicted by how much time they spent with their circle of friends at church and how little time spent investing in the lives of younger children who could someday be leaders in the church and community. They felt they had overlooked and missed some great opportunities.
Together, they decided to push past their comfort zones. By the time 15-year old David's family came to their church, the brother and sister had developed a strategy. Jeff immediately greeted David with a smile and a handshake. While Jeff plied David with questions about his hobbies, Rachel introduced herself to Jeff's younger sister. Yeah, it was a little awkward at first to make conversation with the younger kids, but before long the friendships took root.
Over time, Rachel and Jeff made hundreds of little sacrifices to invest in the young people at their church:
• They noticed that most adults don't use children's names when they talk to them, so they made a point to always use their name when they greeted them in the hallway.
• They asked questions of their younger friends and actually listened to their answers!
• Jeff called or e-mailed his growing group of "little brothers" on their birthdays.
• Rachel bought a box of journals and gave one to each of her "adopted sisters" at Christmas.
• They reinforced the faith of David and his siblings with stories from their own lives on how God had actively protected, directed, and taught them.
• They prayed for their friends by name.
• They respected their parents and lived out what a Godly young person could look like.
• One spring, Jeff started David and a group of teenage guys memorizing Bible verses. When they finished, Jeff planned a bike trip with all of their dads to a nearby state park.
• Rachel and Jeff convinced their friends to do a Fourth of July program at a nursing home. They were all nervous to take this risk, but doing it together gave everyone courage to try something they had never done before.
• The next summer, Rachel and Jeff cleared three weeks of their lives to take a missions trip to Peru with David and his sister. David's heart was captured by the needs he saw in Peru, and now he wants to go back as a medical missionary.
David's family just moved across the country again. He's 18 now and preparing for pre-med. David's the same age now that Jeff was when he met him. David looks at people differently — and the world—because Jeff did. Instead of looking for friends, he's looking for opportunities to sacrificially invest in others.
Why did all of this happen? Because a brother and sister at a church in the middle of nowhere had vision to invest in "little kids." Together they believed in their hearts that "Whoever wants the next generation the most will win them."
- The author prays to be among the first
to turn this fiction into reality.
This is a great reminder of what is really means to invest in peoples lives; especially those younger then you. But what I see, and I'm very grateful for a sister who continually reminds me this, is that I cannot invest in younger girls lives until I've invested in my own younger siblings.
So as a challenge this week upcoming week I plan on doing something special and important every day with my two younger brothers. It may be as simple as playing cars with them or pushing them on the swings, but to them is means so much more!
I would encourage you to do the same. Not necessarily investing in younger sibling, some of you may not even have any, but I would encourage you to pick something to invest more of your time in for at least a week. It may be spending more time reading the Bible. Just take an extra 10 minutes to an hour and invest your time in something bigger then the computer, TV, or videos games. Remember Do Hard Things.
Blessings,
Note: I may post about my week a week or two after the selected time. :)
A Vision for the Overlooked
Three years ago, David first walked through the door of a church in the middle of nowhere. His family had moved a lot with his dad's work. Like most teenagers, he was in a desperate, silent search for acceptance. Did anyone care that he existed? Why did Christians talk about love, but no one seemed to have time for him? The last four churches were just the same: everyone was polite, but no one took the time to get to know him.
It was at this church in the middle of nowhere that he met Rachel and Jeff, a very unusual brother and sister team. Rachel was 23 and Jeff was 18. A few months before, both had been convicted by how much time they spent with their circle of friends at church and how little time spent investing in the lives of younger children who could someday be leaders in the church and community. They felt they had overlooked and missed some great opportunities.
Together, they decided to push past their comfort zones. By the time 15-year old David's family came to their church, the brother and sister had developed a strategy. Jeff immediately greeted David with a smile and a handshake. While Jeff plied David with questions about his hobbies, Rachel introduced herself to Jeff's younger sister. Yeah, it was a little awkward at first to make conversation with the younger kids, but before long the friendships took root.
Over time, Rachel and Jeff made hundreds of little sacrifices to invest in the young people at their church:
• They noticed that most adults don't use children's names when they talk to them, so they made a point to always use their name when they greeted them in the hallway.
• They asked questions of their younger friends and actually listened to their answers!
• Jeff called or e-mailed his growing group of "little brothers" on their birthdays.
• Rachel bought a box of journals and gave one to each of her "adopted sisters" at Christmas.
• They reinforced the faith of David and his siblings with stories from their own lives on how God had actively protected, directed, and taught them.
• They prayed for their friends by name.
• They respected their parents and lived out what a Godly young person could look like.
• One spring, Jeff started David and a group of teenage guys memorizing Bible verses. When they finished, Jeff planned a bike trip with all of their dads to a nearby state park.
• Rachel and Jeff convinced their friends to do a Fourth of July program at a nursing home. They were all nervous to take this risk, but doing it together gave everyone courage to try something they had never done before.
• The next summer, Rachel and Jeff cleared three weeks of their lives to take a missions trip to Peru with David and his sister. David's heart was captured by the needs he saw in Peru, and now he wants to go back as a medical missionary.
David's family just moved across the country again. He's 18 now and preparing for pre-med. David's the same age now that Jeff was when he met him. David looks at people differently — and the world—because Jeff did. Instead of looking for friends, he's looking for opportunities to sacrificially invest in others.
Why did all of this happen? Because a brother and sister at a church in the middle of nowhere had vision to invest in "little kids." Together they believed in their hearts that "Whoever wants the next generation the most will win them."
- The author prays to be among the first
to turn this fiction into reality.
This is a great reminder of what is really means to invest in peoples lives; especially those younger then you. But what I see, and I'm very grateful for a sister who continually reminds me this, is that I cannot invest in younger girls lives until I've invested in my own younger siblings.
So as a challenge this week upcoming week I plan on doing something special and important every day with my two younger brothers. It may be as simple as playing cars with them or pushing them on the swings, but to them is means so much more!
I would encourage you to do the same. Not necessarily investing in younger sibling, some of you may not even have any, but I would encourage you to pick something to invest more of your time in for at least a week. It may be spending more time reading the Bible. Just take an extra 10 minutes to an hour and invest your time in something bigger then the computer, TV, or videos games. Remember Do Hard Things.
Blessings,
Note: I may post about my week a week or two after the selected time. :)
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Summer Goals
Hey everyone,
I'd thought I'd share with you some of my summer goals this year. Lindsay, from Content in Christ, reminded me how important it is to pick something to try to achieve each summer. Though I had planned on writing something about my current summer schedule and some of my summer goals to post on 4-homeschoolers, due to lack of time right now we have decided to close 4-homeschoolers for the summer. During this time we hope to re-think the point of 4-homeschoolers, write more posts and maybe a few other surprises. Some of these things we'll be included in my Family summer schedule other will be done in my free time. We hope to get it back up this fall. So without further adieu here are 5 of my summer goals that I think are the most important right now.
♦ Work on diligence and patience
♦ Be able to run 30 minutes continuously.
♦ Continue getting up at 7:30
♦ Play through my current piano books, hopefully I will progress faster.
♦ Improve on singing as well as learning a few songs in 3 part harmony to sing with my older siblings Luke and Allison.
I would also enjoy sewing a dress at the end of the summer, but that is least of my priorities. I may not complete all of the listed above but I can try. And as for diligence and patience I won't every be perfect, but I can strive to improve in those areas. Other things of low priorities would be staying on top of writing letters, taking time to make cards, bake (bread in particular), and work of some post ideas.
I hope you all have a great week!
Blessings,
Note: Just as a note I'm going to be deleting some old post. Such as all my "Verse of the Week" posts and maybe some others.
I'd thought I'd share with you some of my summer goals this year. Lindsay, from Content in Christ, reminded me how important it is to pick something to try to achieve each summer. Though I had planned on writing something about my current summer schedule and some of my summer goals to post on 4-homeschoolers, due to lack of time right now we have decided to close 4-homeschoolers for the summer. During this time we hope to re-think the point of 4-homeschoolers, write more posts and maybe a few other surprises. Some of these things we'll be included in my Family summer schedule other will be done in my free time. We hope to get it back up this fall. So without further adieu here are 5 of my summer goals that I think are the most important right now.
♦ Work on diligence and patience
♦ Be able to run 30 minutes continuously.
♦ Continue getting up at 7:30
♦ Play through my current piano books, hopefully I will progress faster.
♦ Improve on singing as well as learning a few songs in 3 part harmony to sing with my older siblings Luke and Allison.
I hope you all have a great week!
Blessings,
Note: Just as a note I'm going to be deleting some old post. Such as all my "Verse of the Week" posts and maybe some others.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Fathers Day
Every Fathers Day and Mothers Day at church the children have a time where they are able to share something their Father/Mother has done in there lives and/or share what they like about their Father/Mother. Below is what I wrote and read to honor my Father today. I know the rhythm of the poem is not perfect, it was written on Saturday and I am not a poet. I hope you all had a special chance to really honor your Father today!
Today is a special day when I have the chance to really honor my father.
I wanted to focus on my dad many character quality's. After listing them I decided to combine them into a poem.
It has been a humongous blessing to have a dad who loves God with all his heart, soul, and mind. I named this poem A Fathers Love because I hope to express all the love I have received from the Father and how much I am truly grateful to God for him.
Today is a special day when I have the chance to really honor my father.
I wanted to focus on my dad many character quality's. After listing them I decided to combine them into a poem.
It has been a humongous blessing to have a dad who loves God with all his heart, soul, and mind. I named this poem A Fathers Love because I hope to express all the love I have received from the Father and how much I am truly grateful to God for him.
A Fathers Love
Written By Katie
My Father loves me very much for he shows me everyday,
as he prays for me and provides me with plenty of food, fabric and praise.
He patiently teaches me my square roots and right angles,
and gives me praise when I achieve the goal of a new purse style.
He diligently teaches me a Biblical way of thinking,
and shows me that God is not a once a week thing.
His laughers rings through the house as we sit down to play a game,
and he leads us in family worship every night as we read, sing, and pray.
His goal in life is this, that through him others may give glory to God,
And set an example for others to follow God.
He homeschools his children so they will not be touch by the things of this world,
for that would tear down our faith, but
he may now teach and nurture us about Gods holy ways.
He is very wise indeed for his vision is not small,
but extends great indeed, for generations to follow.
Every day he strives to gain his children hearts,
I would have to say he's gained mine more then once.
My fathers love is great and he deserves to be honored,
not just once a year but every day to follow.
There are men in the world who are great by far,
But my dads best for me 'Cause he was picked by God,
To protect me and keep me safe from the worlds evil taunts,
he has done so all his life and will continue on and on.
My daddy's love has shown me so much through the years,
it would take all day to express how much he really cares.
Written By Katie
My Father loves me very much for he shows me everyday,
as he prays for me and provides me with plenty of food, fabric and praise.
He patiently teaches me my square roots and right angles,
and gives me praise when I achieve the goal of a new purse style.
He diligently teaches me a Biblical way of thinking,
and shows me that God is not a once a week thing.
His laughers rings through the house as we sit down to play a game,
and he leads us in family worship every night as we read, sing, and pray.
His goal in life is this, that through him others may give glory to God,
And set an example for others to follow God.
He homeschools his children so they will not be touch by the things of this world,
for that would tear down our faith, but
he may now teach and nurture us about Gods holy ways.
He is very wise indeed for his vision is not small,
but extends great indeed, for generations to follow.
Every day he strives to gain his children hearts,
I would have to say he's gained mine more then once.
My fathers love is great and he deserves to be honored,
not just once a year but every day to follow.
There are men in the world who are great by far,
But my dads best for me 'Cause he was picked by God,
To protect me and keep me safe from the worlds evil taunts,
he has done so all his life and will continue on and on.
My daddy's love has shown me so much through the years,
it would take all day to express how much he really cares.
I love you Daddy!
P.s. Sorry to confuse you guys, but I accidentally posted a post named "Summer Goals" which I meant to schedule, and when I went back to fix it (it was late at night!) I accidentally rescheduled my Fathers Day post instead of my Summer Goals post. My Summer Goals post will be posted the 25! ~Katie
God Bless!
P.s. Sorry to confuse you guys, but I accidentally posted a post named "Summer Goals" which I meant to schedule, and when I went back to fix it (it was late at night!) I accidentally rescheduled my Fathers Day post instead of my Summer Goals post. My Summer Goals post will be posted the 25! ~Katie
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The Joy of Running...
Well I haven't quite gotten it yet, but I'm working on it! (well the joy of running that is) A mother from church, Mrs. Tigges, offered to teach an eight week running class to my family and Caleb's family. We gladly accepted. At 9 A.M. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we get together at a nearby park and walk, jog, and run. We started Monday and its been fun and a real blessing! I've learned how out of shape I am! Monday we started off slowly. We stretched then walked around a small loop for warm up, then walked for 2 minutes then jogged for 2 minutes. Even though it was for such a short period of time is was still hard. Wednesday we stretched then walked around a small loop for warm up, then walked for a minute, jogged for a minute, then ran for a minute. We repeated that process 3 times. Fortunately for her students, Mrs. Tigges is very kind and encourages us to stop and walk if we feel the need.
My goal this summer is, at the end of the eight weeks, to be able to run at least a mile, hopefully 30 minutes continuously running/jogging/walking. I am really looking forward to these next seven weeks. It is such a blessing to see how Mrs. Tigges finds joy in running and is taking the time to teach us!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Bluebonnets
Sometime while I was off my family took a trip to the Texas Bluebonnets. This was our first year to go. Here are some pictures I took of the occasion.
We also went to the Rose Emporium and Bluebell Creameries. I may write more about this trip another time as well as post a few pictures that I took at the Rose Emporium. (all floral pictures of course :) )
Comment and tell me what you think!
Blessings,
We also went to the Rose Emporium and Bluebell Creameries. I may write more about this trip another time as well as post a few pictures that I took at the Rose Emporium. (all floral pictures of course :) )
Comment and tell me what you think!
Blessings,
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
My Birthday
I had my 13 birthday in February. I was flooded with presents from both family and friends. Here’s a list:
gifts from friends: A fleece blanket and basket of material and sewing accessories, a scrapbooking kit, a purple and green photo album, a Willow Tree angel holding a puppy (it’s so precious!), a handmade bookmark with “Happy Birthday” embroidered on it.
Gifts from family: gift card to Hobby Lobby, a jewelry box and a Vision Forum book called “The Princess Adelina”. Each year our parents let us pick and activity or something fun to do on our birthday. I went shopping with Mom and my sister Allison. While we were out I got my ears pierced. After we came home and ate dinner the whole family sat down to watch the “Swiss Family Robinson” because we had recently read it in school.
That is the sum of my birthday.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Poll
Hey guys,
I'm mainly posting to tell those who use Google Reader that I posted a new poll on my sidebar so please come and vote!
I have quite a few post I'm working on that will be posted in time. But I am curios to know what kind of post you prefer.
Blessings,
I'm mainly posting to tell those who use Google Reader that I posted a new poll on my sidebar so please come and vote!
I have quite a few post I'm working on that will be posted in time. But I am curios to know what kind of post you prefer.
Blessings,
Friday, June 5, 2009
New Purse Style
Of course while I was off the computer I did quite a bit of sewing. Here is a new purse style I partially designed. At a garage sale I happily picked up the book Simple and Sensational Purses from Placemats! In this book they show 13 cute purses to make using placemats. One called the Michelle purse is similar to the purse shown below. But because I do not use placemats mine is slightly a better design. Below are pictures of a pink polka-dot purse for Callie and a red and yellow purse for myself. All the purses I make look slightly different. So I am always changing things around. Enjoy!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Well I'm back
I'm back from my 3 months without computer. Even though I had been off for 92 days I was hesitant to get back on June 1. It turned out to be a fun and a very enjoyable time! I was able to accomplish quite a lot.
I filled my time baking, sewing, piano, playing with my little brothers, reading, and a few other things. It was very nice not to have computer as a temptation at the very end of the school year. I could concentrate on finishing school instead of dying to check my e-mail. I felt free to do things like baking and investing in my little brothers when before I would get annoyed if they asked when I was on the computer. I was able to excel in piano and maturing new sewing skills.
Needless to say I was not completely off the computer. Often I would check a recipe or the library site. I've also played a few computer games with my brothers and typed a letter. I will try to have a variety of post about what I was able to accomplish over the past few months. I think one of the most important things was that I was able to really sit and think about my blog and how desperately it needs to be changed. So in the next few weeks I'll be on working on some changes or different kinds. Thanks to everyone who voted on my poll.
God Bless,
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