Photo Editing

I don't know about you, but my family has BOATLOADS of pictures, and most of them are rough looking, unedited little things that need to be clothed in more "umph"!  That is what I am working on right now and it is certainly a huge undertaking.  I just found out that Picnik, (my favorite photo editing website) is closing down on April 19, and that leaves me . . . in a jam without most of my pictures beautified!  I am 'up a creek!' (as we call it down here in the South :)  

So for all of you people who are looking for a free place to get good editing for your photos without downloading anything, head on over to Picnik before it is too late!  

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!  

~Hannah Girl

***Pssst...  I'll probably be checking in again soon; Ice Skating is coming our way so there will (hopefully) be some goo edited pictures :)  

Omelets, Airsofts & Mondays . . .

Weird title to a blog post, I know, but you'll get it after you read :)

Last night, the boys, dad and I were having a mini airsoft war and Ben was having a hard time keeping his BB'st together for some reason.  This morning as I was eating my omelet, I noticed that one of my green peppers looked rather round and hard.  Thankfully, I took a closer look at it before eating it.  Of course, it turned out to be one of my little bro's camo BB's. . .who would have guessed right?

I got a kick out of that and thought someone out there might too.  You've gotta love little brothers :)
Ok, that was totally random . . . Mondays on the other hand are quite normal and so I will spend the rest of my five minutes of writing time to talk about what I love about Mondays.
Mondays are probably my favorite day out of the week (other than the weekends of course).
I get to start the week afresh if the previous one was difficult; I LOVE organizing my school schedule for the week; planning out what big things I'm going to accomplish; eating at Grammy's house for supper; Getting my spelling and vocabulary out of the way for the rest of the week, and all of the other stuffs that Monday entails.
I am very grateful that God made Mondays!!!!!!!!
In Christ,
Hannah 

My True Identity . . .

Now when you read the title to this post, you might already be thinking that I am about to reveal to you that I am a secret agent, or that I live in the middle of a forest swamp in a submarine . . . . well . . . sorry to disappoint you on that score, but I've been thinking a lot lately about my true identity as a Christian.  Who am I, really?  When people see or talk to me, who do they think I am?  Am I just another one of those people who say, "Oh yes, of course I'm a Christian," but then leave God just as a side note in their lives?  

My biggest prayer for this year is that Christ would be my true and only identity!  I found this quote from John Piper that is super good and encouraging on true Christian identity.  Please read it, because it is sooo worth at least 5 minutes of your time :)

****

"There is a lot of discussion in our day of self-concept or self-identity. How do we view ourselves? It is an important question. And what I hope you read is that the specifically biblical angle on this question is that Christian selfhood is not defined in terms of who we are in and of ourselves. It's defined in terms of what God does to us and the relationship he creates with us and the destiny he appoints for us. In other words as a Christian you cannot talk about your identity without talking about the action of God on you, the relationship of God with you, and the purpose of God for you. The biblical understanding of human self-identity is radically God-centered.

Who am I? Who are you? You are a God-chosen one, a God-pitied one, a God-possessed one, a God-sanctified one. The very language of our identity in this text (1 Peter 2:9–10) necessitates that God be included as the one who acts. Our identity is not an end in itself, but for the sake of priestly service, which Peter defines as proclaiming the excellencies of the One who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

God made us who we are so that we might proclaim the excellency of his freedom in choosing us. The excellency of his grace in pitying us. The excellencies of his authority and power in possessing us. The excellencies of his worth and purity in making us holy.

In other words he has given us our identity in order that his identity might be proclaimed through us. God made us who we are so we could make known who he is. Our identity is for the sake of making known his identity. The meaning of our identity is that the excellency of God be seen in us.

Therefore being a Christian and making the greatness of God known are almost identical. We can do it in church services with preaching and singing and praying and reading. We can do it in our small groups as we tell each other what God has been for us, or what we need him to be for us. We can do it at work as we tell people what we love about God and why we think he is great. And we can do it in a thousand different ways of love that suit our situation and personality."

--Quote from John Piper

*****

A rainy day...

It was a quiet, rainy day. . . . .  Dad took Mom to a birthday bed and breakfast somewhere up in the mountains.  We got to stay at my grandparent's house.  :)  

*

I wake up.  Its 4:00, really?  

*

I roll out of bed at 7:30.  Bed was warm, but definitely time to get out of it.

*

Wake myself up with a shower and breakfast.  It tastes sooo good!

*

Got to scramble around to get Benjamin ready for church, not to mention myself.  

*

Get in the car and rush off to our house from our grandparent's home to put finishing touches on the home before the birthday people get back.  

* 

Head to church.  Grammy & Pa's church is soo beautiful!

*

Hear a sermon about the three wise men....very thought provoking.

*

Come home and get ready to spend the day up near sliding rock.  It is wonderfully perfectly dreary and cozy :)

*

My feet feel really weird after running across the swinging bridge on one of the forest trails.  

*

That nap on the way back from the sliding rock trip was much needed.  A snoozerama felt so nice.  

* 

Mom & Dad are back and it is super cool to hear about their time at the bed and breakfast.  Now that our parental guardians have returned, they have a boatload of goals for us kidlings . . . :)

*

Talk to ya later!

Out with the old and in with the new ... year! Happy 2012!!

It is a brand new, exciting year that I just can't wait to dive into!!!  It'v been thinking about doing a {somewhat} brief overview of the life I lived in 2011 and of all of the things that God taught me throughout the year....It has taken me forever to write it all out and post it so I hope that it turns out the way I want it to sound :)

Let me see, I started out the year of 2011 by toasting 12:00 am with a small glass of Welsh's sparkling grape juice (which is THE BEST), just like I did this year.  I'm pretty sure that I made some goals for the year, I just can't find them now :)

On February 23, I turned 15, and for my birthday, Mom and Dad took me up into Banner Elk NC to a sweet little condo to spend the weekend in ...                                                                            
{Picture from google}

In the spring, Dad took us girls to the Father Daughter Retreat for the first time, and Caelen and I traveled to  Pueblo, CO to visit our cousins and attend some of their graduations.  The Havers, Woods and Cookes are always super fun.





In the beginning of Summer, the annual Apologia picnic rolled around and although my teammate and I didn't win the Cornhole tournament, (we didn't even come close to winning for that matter) we still had a blast!  Virtually the next day after the picnic, it was off to Richmond VA for my very first Apologia Home school conference with mom, Savannah Anne, and her mom, Mrs. Rachel Carman.  It was such a successful trip, and I learned sooo much about manning the booths, working the cash register, and got so many awesome opportunities to talk to people and answer their questions.  I ended up working at one more conference in Atlanta Georgia by the end of the summer.

In August, our family visited Danville, VA (our old dwelling place .... and no, contrary to what some people might think, we do not  have heavy southern accents. :D  )  and had a grand reunion with some of our friends who we left behind when we moved back in 2006.

We also took our annual beach trip with Dad's family.  Unfortunately, hurricane Irene blew us out of our vacation a few days early which was kind of disappointing, but we still managed to have loads of fun while it lasted :)

Sometime this past Fall, we joined Burke Community Bible Church, and I can honestly say that I have grown spiritually in many different ways since we joined.  Our church has been a HUGE blessing to me and my fam over these past few months.  

Thanksgiving came, then flew right by, and December was thrown on us unexpectedly!  I enjoyed taking 'Cookies in a Jar' to all of the neighbors, watching our favorite old Christmas movies, baking holiday goodies, visiting the coffee shop, going to Grovepark Inn to look at gingerbread houses two days in a row :), then admiring the gigantic Christmas tree (that I sadly couldn't take pictures of) in the Biltmore house with tickets that my Granddaddy won!!!!!
Christmas day was a blast, but it flew by too fast!

To say the least, 2011 was an awesome year, brimful of things that I have never tried before and of old traditions that were just as exciting as when we first started them ... ok ....that sounded strangely eloquent.  :P

God has taught me (and is still working with me on it) to give everything to him; namely my disappointments.  ever since I can remember, disappointment = a slight meltdown.  In other words, dealing with disappointment of any kind was not a strong point for me.  This past year, the Lord has been patiently working through this with me, and I have been more at peace and able to be more joyful because of it.  Also, after a good (long) talk with my precious mother :D , I realized just how much I was  a 'people-pleaser' . . . . to the point where my desire to make sure that everyone was happy and satisfied almost ruled my life.  Being able to let the Lord handle everyone else's problems instead of me trying to fix everything, gave me a freedom that I hadn't felt in a VERY long time.

Looking back over all I've accomplished and at everything that the Lord has accomplished in me, makes me very thankful and excited about 2012.  Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

Psssst....Oh!  And by the way .... One of our family's biggest accomplishments was  . . . *dramatic pause* . . . the discovery of the best Mexican restaurant in the world!  'LA SALSAS'!!!!

. . . Of course I'm only joking, but hey!  It is the best ever!  ;)