march thankful things

Hey guys! Wow! I cannot believe March is over already. But Spring is here which means Summer (my favorite season!!!) is just around the corner!!! YAY!!!! :)
Here are my March Thankful Things!!



Cherry dump cake

Cooking dinner for my family



Making and eating homemade chocolate chip cookies

Listening to the birds sing

New books to read



Traveling in the van with my family

Getting to see my best friend Abigail and her family



Eating Klondike bars on Wednesday night after church

Jason teaching me some new things for photography



My tomato plants finally coming up

Having friends from church over for dinner

Playing games with friends



Going shopping with a few ladies from church

Getting a haircut



Doing my nieces hair

Writing


Getting a burger and mint shake for dinner with my family

Working in the garden with my family



Baby-sitting my nieces (Emma wanted to play hide and seek with me. I found her in the bathroom like this!!! She's so cute!!!)

Late night talks with my sisters

My Daddy and Mama! I love y'all so much!!! :)

 

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

What are you thankful for?

is God your spare tire?

Image Taken From Pinterest.

My Daddy preached a message a few weeks ago and he asked a question that I thought was really good. "Is God your spare tire?"

Every car has a spare tire in it, but most people don't  even know what their spare tire looks like. They only use it when its an emergency.

There are a lot of people who say, "I don't need God's help." But right when there is something bad that happens, they start praying and start becoming really spiritual.
These kind of people are using God like a spare tire. They only pull Him out when they need Him.
They use Him until things get better again, and then they push Him away until the next bad thing that happens.

God loves to fellowship with His children, so we should love to fellowship with Him too. We should trust in God and give Him our steering wheel.

guest post by Abigail

All images taken from Google images.

Abigail let me read this paper she wrote when our families went on a trip together in April 2016. When I read it, I thought it was so good that I just had to share it on my blog! :)
I got permission from the writer and here it is!

We Americans do not realize the price of freedom. Most of us don't appreciate the liberties we have. Rarely do we think of the thousands who have died to ensure my and your safety. We do not understand, nor do we even try to understand those who come home from wars and suffer from the terrors of war. To us, it is better to criticize than to understand. To tell them they are fighting for nothing. We criticize, mock, disrespect, and disregard them. We mock at those who have shed their blood in the most terrible of ways. Many are young, they have their whole life before them. Some even have a wife and children, and are waiting for the day to wrap their family in their arms.


Suddenly, their life comes to a brutal close. As his family mourns, never to have him back again, we tell them he fought for a country we consider trash. His buddies that saw him die, bravely fighting for your freedom, will never be the same.

Cant we Americans begin to appreciate those who daily lay their lives down? Can we begin to appreciate the price that comes with our freedom? Will we unite and stand with our military? To this, I give a hearty yes! We need to unite as Americans and tell our military we support them, we pray for them, and daily we appreciate the liberties that they have ensured for me and future generations. Let us become the Americans that will reverence those who fight for our country. They deserve more than we give them.

Thank you so much Abigail for sharing this with us!

Make sure to say hello to Abigail in the comments.

book review // the O'Malley series

My friend Abigail asked me to do an O'Malley series book review today. I didn't want to disappoint her, so here it is! :)
By the way, today is Abigail's 18th birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABIGAIL!!!! :) <3

The First O'Malley series book I ever read was The Guardian and I LOVED it from the beginning! The only O'Malley series book at our local library was The Negotiator, so I read that one next. I began searching thrift stores and book stores for the rest of the books and very slowly I collected them. So now I have the whole series sitting on my bookshelf! :)
(P.S. The Negotiator is not pictured because my sister is borrowing it)

There is a prequel to the series called Danger in the Shadows, but I haven't read it yet. I would like too soon though! :)

The O'Malley Series
by Dee Henderson

Summaries: (Taken from Good Reads)
Introducing the O’Malley's, an inspirational group of seven, all abandoned or orphaned as teens, who have made the choice to become a loyal and committed family. They have chosen their own surname, O’Malley, and have stood by each other through moments of joy and heartache.

#1 The Negotiator
Dave Richman is back from Danger in the Shadows. He’s about to meet Kate O’Malley, and his life will never be the same. She’s a hostage negotiator. He protects people. He’s about to find out that falling in love with a hostage negotiator is one thing, but keeping her safe is another!



#2 The Guardian
A federal judge has been murdered. There is only one witness, and an assassin wants her dead. U.S. Marshall Marcus O’Malley thought he knew the risks of the assignment . . . but he was wrong.



#3 The Truth Seeker
Women are turning up dead, and Lisa O’Malley has a habit of walking into crime scenes, curious. She’s a forensic pathologist, and mysteries are her domain. Lisa’s found the killer, and now she’s missing too.



#4 The Protector
Jack O’Malley is a fireman who is fearless when it comes to facing an inferno. But when an arsonist begins targeting his district, his shift, his friends, Jack faces the ultimate challenge: protecting the lady who saw the arsonist before she pays an even higher price.



#5 The Healer
Rachel O’Malley works disasters for a living. Her specialty? Helping children through trauma. When a school shooting rips through her community, she finds herself dealing with more than just grief among the children she is trying to help. One of them saw the shooting, and the gun is still missing.



#6 The Rescuer
Stephen O’Malley is a paramedic who has been rescuing people all his life. His friend Meghan is in trouble: Stolen jewels are turning up in interesting places, and she’s in the middle of it. Stephen is about to run into a night he will never forget—a kidnapping, a tornado, and a race to rescue Meghan.

I loved all six of these books.
My favorite books out of the series would definitely be The Negotiator and The Guardian! I love those two books!
My least favorite book in the series is The Truth Seeker. It was just a little slower than the others and the story line wasn't as good.

I love all of these books and definitely recommend them!!!

Have you ever heard of this series before?
Have you read any of these books?

recipe // cherry dump cake

This was a recipe we found on Pinterest. I made it last week and it was delicious!!! It's perfect for a quick dessert and is SUPER easy!

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix

2 (21 oz.) cans cherry pie filling

1 tsp. almond extract, divided use

1/2 cup (one stick) salted butter, melted

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Stir 1/2 tsp. almond extract into each can of pie filling and stir.

Pour both cans of cherry pie filling into prepared baking dish.

Sprinkle yellow cake mix evenly over cherry pie filling.

Slowly pour melted butter all over the top of the cake mix.

Do your best to drizzle it all over. It won’t cover all the cake mix.

Bake for about 50-60 minutes (until topping is golden brown)

Serve warm! (with ice cream :) )

I hope y'all enjoy!!!

my thoughts on modesty

 



About a month ago, I made a new page on the blog. It's called Modesty Inspiration. If you haven't looked at it yet, check it out here.
So I was thinking, since I made that new page, a lot of you might want to know my views on modesty. Today I will be sharing them with you.

I believe that men and women need to dress modestly. But today I'm just going to be talking about the women.

Dressing immodestly is expected in the world, but it is definitely not expected in the Christian lady. A godly woman needs to be modest. She needs to carry herself with grace and dignity and dress in a way so that people will look at her and know that she is a Christian; that she is different.
The Bible says:
"In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;"
- 1 Timothy 2:9.

We need to dress modest. We should never wear anything that is revealing or makes others look at us wrongly. Some might think that the Bible is saying that we should not wear make-up, or jewelry, or get our hair styled, but I believe that it is just telling us that our outward appearance should not be the thing that attracts others to us. It should be the inward. You can dress fashionably, stylish, and pretty and still be modest.

"The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God."
- Deuteronomy 22:5
I believe that that is telling us that women should not wear any kind of men's clothing or anything that looks like men's clothing. I know a lot of people who don't see it that way because they say that it was written in the old testament and only applies to old testament Jews. But do you see that word there? Abomination. When God calls something an abomination, it means he hates it. Why would God hate it then, but not hate it now?
"The woman shall not wear what pertaineth unto a man." What else is that supposed to mean?

We also need to dress modestly for the sake of our brother. All men struggle with lust. Lust is mental adultery and it is a wicked sin against God.
"For this is a heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. for it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase."
- Job 31:11-12
We don't want to cause them to stumble in their walk with the Lord

Modesty should be a concern for all Christian women. For the sake of the Gospel, your brother, and your testimony, you should wear clothing that says, "I'm a godly lady."
But modesty is as much an issue of the heart as it is the dress. It will do you no good to change the way you dress if God does not change your heart.

We need to be separate from the world.
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
- Romans 12:2

and

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
- 1 John 2:15
The Lord commands us not to be like the world, why would we want to dress like the world and be like the world?
We need to be different. We need to be different to be a good testimony to others.

What are your thoughts on modesty?

 

 

 

Isaiah 40:8

 

busy days

It's been crazy busy around here with house cleaning, school work, Mama's business (moving and repurposing furniture) and just life in general. The family has been battling with sickness a lot lately. We just cant seem to get rid of it. Kristen is sick now. Hopefully we'll all be better soon and won't get sick for a while :)



Jason gave me another photography lesson last week. He taught me about shutter speed. He gave me an assignment to take a picture of the stars over our lake. I tried it a few nights back because the stars were out really bright, but I guess I didn't have it set very well. Jason told me to raise my ISO and set my shutter speed to 25 secs. I'll have to try it again really soon and maybe this time it will turn out better.



I finally got myself a lens cap! I'm real happy about that! :) And Jason bought me an eye piece for my camera since my camera didn't come with it. I didn't even know there was supposed to be an eye piece when I bought it. Oh well. Thank you Jason for buying me one! (He's so sweet :) )



Daddy and I took Thomas to the vet this morning. He has lost a lot of weight and he can't walk right. The vet took some blood work to see if he had a virus. They said if he did they would have to put him down. Thankfully he didn't have a virus, but he has to stay overnight while they take some more tests. I pray that he'll get better and he'll be back home with us before too long.

f e b r u a r y // thankful things

Hey guys!  Today I'm going to share with y'all a few things I was thankful for in the month of February.


A spur of the moment photo shoot.(Kristen took the pictures. Thanks Kris!!)

Driving my Nana to the supermarket



Getting to meet Napoleon. He is the cutest! :)

Having Napoleon fall asleep in my arms after giving him a bath



Memorizing a piece of music on the piano. FINALLY!!!

Getting a phone call from my bestie, Abigail!!!


Jason teaching me some new things on the camera

Katy and I going to an Antique Mall for a scavenger hunt! We didn't win, but we still had a lot of fun!



Watching the airplanes fly over our house

Being able to go barefoot because of the beautiful weather!!



Ice cream

Feeling a lot better after being sick



The sky

Getting 11 blog followers!!



Playing memoir 44 with my brother, Ben

My grandparents bringing Ben and I back Burger King for lunch



My brother-in-law, Jason, giving me one of his lenses! He's so sweet!

 


In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

What are you are thankful for?