Natalya~Thanksgiving pic!

One of my favorite things to do is decorate. I just LOVE making beautiful things. So, this year I got to do all the decorations for Thanksgiving! Obviously, Thanksgiving isn't about the beautiful table, or the fantastic food. (And it was fantastic.) It's about remembering the first Thanksgiving, where the Pilgrims shared all they had with the people who had taught them how to have it, (AKA: The Native Americans) and praised God for all he had given them. I wanted to have a "harvest-y" theme for the table, and candles and what not, so here's the result!

Instead of doing place cards...which can lead to disturbances because the kiddies want to sit next to someone else...I decided to just put verses and a decorative leaf sticker on "place cards".

~Natalya

Esther ~Week 26~

Hello all! I had a really bad cold yesterday and so wasn't able to post! I am on the mend now thankfully! Here I am a posting a day late but I am doing it now!

I had a really good Thanksgiving with my family! I realized how much I love my family! I just thought a lot about how much they mean to me and how much I love them!  The Lord has truly shown his love to me through my family (immediate and extended)!

Here is a collage of some of the things we did this last Thanksgiving!

My Grandma taught my sister and I how to paint china! On a wall in her kitchen she has all the extended families' plates (with their picture and name painted on it) on the wall. It was quite fun to learn how to paint, though it was very tough!!!

Then in the next picture is my Mom's parents(my grandparents obviously) kissing! We gave them those salt and pepper shakers (they kiss each other, cute huh?)!!!

The next picture is my cousin Maryanne! She just got engaged to Nick! We are all very excited for them!

The last is a picture of the plates we all painted! We are giving them to some of our dear friends to put up on their wall!

 Love you all and hope this month before Christmas is a blessing to you all!

{Patricia}

Bonjour!

I took this photo at Disney World in line for the Everest ride.

I have a loooooooove of close-ups(:

Have a good day.

Au revoir,

Patricia

Theme for this week...

Something we are Thankful for!

Rebekah Joy ~ Week 5 (skipped 4)

Hi people!

I had a great week and a great Thanksgiving, and I'm hoping ya'll did too! I did go shopping today... (It's so ironic that Black Friday is RIGHT after Thanksgiving.) Tomorrow is my mother's birthday, then we have elk meat to process, and our family is leaving on a vacation to Florida not soon after. These next few weeks are so busy, and I'm SO excited for all of them! :) Here's the black&white picture we were supposed to post. It's my sister, Emily. I'm DEFINITELY thankful for her (even though we do have our moments). She's really good at improv cooking, so she's always the one that saves all my bland concoctions and turns them into gourmet food. Of course, she does a lot more than just that. She goes on runs with me, shares in my love for hunting and camping, and encourages me all the time. Yep, she's just that fantastic... Make sure you tell the people you're thankful for that you're thankful for them. It'll probably mean more to them than anything else!

Oh, and try to make a point of reading Psalm 104. It talks all about God's amazing creation, and it makes me so appreciative of every thing He creates!

Giving thanks even when it's not Thanksgiving,

Rebekah Joy

Natalya~Black and White theme

Black and white photos. Yay! :) :) I hope black and white effects photos count. ;)
Here's one a took a while ago of my cousin Eliana when she was little (she's gotten so big now!) I get to see her tomorrow for Thanksgiving (uh...along with the rest of her family) so I'm excited. :) She was wearing the cutest green flower sweater, so I couldn't resist leaving it green. :) Don't I have a beautiful cousin? ;) A sweet bonnie lassie she is.

This next one I took last fall of my friend Kali. She was 15 at the time I think. :)
Again. This is black and white effects, because I like color. ;)

HAPPY (slightly early) THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

What are you most thankful for? Leave a comment and let me know. See if you can think of something that's rater unusual to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my weak back and bad shoulder, because it makes me work hard to try to heal them. It gives me dedication and endurance. By my weakness I can show God to be strong. :)

~Natalya

Esther ~Week 25~

Let me remind you (us) to be thankful for all the Lord has blessed us with!  Hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving with your families!

Psalm 147:6-8 "The LORD lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground. Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God,  Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains."

Theme for this week...

Black and White Pictures!

Esther...

Hi everyone!

I am on a trip right now, so I will be posting tomorrow instead of today.  :)

Happy-early-Thanksgiving!

Natalya~Fire themed! (I lost count too...) ;)

Ah, fire... *sigh* I love flame :) It's so beautiful. It never looks the same way twice. I have lots of pictures from "days gone by" (I'm not really old enough to say that, but oh well...) and here are some of them. I like watching the "pictures in the fire". If you look closely at it you can see all kinds of things, especially if you look at the shape of the wood too. It's like finding pictures in the clouds, only better. :)

I have better pictures of flame (and the flaming sun, which I think counts!) on my laptop, but the computer I blog from is not my laptop so I can't post them here now...I'll try to upload them later. :)

Psa 18:28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

~Natalya

Esther ~Week 24~

Fire is really amazing!  I love burning candles in the fall and the winter. This design on the candle is actually a napkin we glued (using a special art mixture) to the candle.  It was our activity for our last Girls' Bible Study that we host twice a month.  We love being able to decorate the candles in fun ways.  : )

Matthew 5:14 says,
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden."

Theme for this week...

...is fireplace, candle, or fire in general.

Rebekah Joy ~ Week 3 - Animals

Hi ya'll!

So, I have loved animals my entire life (which isn't too hard - they don't really ever say any thing too offensive), so the next few pictures are pictures that have been taken in the past two years. God is so awesome, and I feel SO blessed to have the shared task in taking dominion over his amazing creatures!

We took this picture on a camping trip. That is a pretty amazing bull elk!

We've cycled through so many cats, I've lost count. I think this one was our second cat.

This year, I finally got enough money to buy a bee-oo-ti-ful Siberian Husky! *smiles* - Her name is Maya, and that's my little sister, Abi, getting a "death-by-licking."

In Christ,

Rebekah Joy

Elaine-Week 22-Chickens!!

My sister, Anna, got chickens about 8 months ago. It has been really exciting for us recently because they have started laying about 5 eggs every day! It was kind of funny, because they sort of all started laying at one time. In the picture above is three of the eight and they are outside their coop in the yard. They like eating the grass, eating the bugs and....

...sitting on my boots! :) It's really funny and pretty cute, but they always jump off when we get the camera out. This is the only picture we have!

~Psalm 104:24-25 "How many are your works, Lord. Out of wisdom you made them all, and the earth is filled with Your wonderful creatures.

Natalya~week 22~Costumes, Costumes!

Hello everyone!

Well...I'm back into the "phase" (which I'm never really out of, just more into sometimes) of making Movie Costume Replicas. These replicas can go from simple to elaborate, and I thought I'd share a few.

Boramir from Lord of the Rings. (made for my brother, Josh)
This is a good shot of the costume, even if my brother looks very "in character" here! ;) The costume consists of a red tunic with a small split in the bottom for leg movement. The short sleeves are detailed with a gold braid around the bottom, and I used gold fabric paint on the main part of the sleeve to draw on the pattern seen in the film. (it was embroidered in the real movie) The vest is black vinyl with small silver hooks for the closures. Josh wore his own brown shirt and blue jeans with it. Along with his own leather belt (which he wore over the vest)


Galadrial from "The Lord of the Rings" (as described in the BOOK!)
I made this one for a friend of mine. It had a full gold lamee (I don't think I spelled that right, it's pronounced La-may) under-dress with a tight under-sleeve, and a loser "trumpet" sleeve over that in the green lace. Then there's a white lace over-dress with a small lace rosette in the center of the neckline. It has a bit of a train too. She wore it for our Biblo/Fordo birthday party event with a golden hair Galadrial wig. She looked great. :) Unfortunately I have no photos from that even. ;)

Psa 45:13 The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.

I love wearing gold fabric! ;) (or any other kind of pretty fabric for that matter...satin...silk...velvet...lamee...you get the idea.) ;)

~Natalya

Esther ~Week 23~

I love this picture.  It's of my dog, Sparky, enjoying the wild blue yonder...from the safety of our car.  He loves car rides with the wind blowing through his whiskers.


I am thankful the Lord gave us animals to bless us through them.  I love cuddling with my puppy (even though he hasn't been a puppy in a long time!).

Rebekah Joy ~ Week 2 (Yes, I'm Late... Oops)

Hi every one,

I was going to post yesterday, but I completely forgot. Wow, oops. :) Well, here's my post that was technically for yesterday:

I love babies. The pictures are of my cousin, both taken this year. It's amazing how fast they grow, isn't it? It also makes you treasure them all the more, knowing that they are going to grow up to be men and women eventually.

Just a few days after he was born in London, England (yes, we got to go and visit him) in March

Me holding him at 6 months old in the United States (they came and visited us) in September

Psalm 8:2 says:
"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger."

~Rebekah Joy

Natalya~week 21~Learming

There are so many people we can learn from. Our Parents first and foremost. Speakers, books, films, friends, and yes, even siblings. ;)
This photos were taken (some by me, some by others) at the Sufficiency of Scripture conference December 2009. (so they're old, yes)
Anyone recognize these people? ;) From L-R: Me, Esther, and her sister Amy.

My dear friends! Kristen (left) and Susan. Kristen was born with one eye blind and the other eye partially blind, but it doesn't stop her from smiling all the time. :)

I managed to take a decently good photo of one of my favorite speakers there! Paul Washer of Heart Cry. This man's words (which are FIRMLY founded in Scripture) will change your life. It changed how I thought about a lot of things, including the cross. His massages made me cry, and want to dance. :) There was always total silence during his lectures, and cheers after them. One time after he had given a two hour lecture instead of a one hour lecture, he said "I do not apologize" because what he said NEEDED to be heard. I know I was a stronger Christian after hearing that lecture. I hope some of the others in the group were too. You can listen to and download (for FREE!) all the lectures from the Sufficiency of Scripture conference here. (Not only Paul Washer's talks, but also all the others!)

Also at the conference was Kevin Swanson, who happens to be one of my father (and everyone else in my family's) favorite speakers. Don't forget to check out his lectures too. :) His talk about education was especially insightful.

I guess this probably sounded kinda like a promotional post, and I guess in some ways it was...but there are SO MANY resources available to us to help us understand scripture, learning from what others have already learned.
My mom told me a story a few days ago about a man who wanted to work at a bank, and the bank owner said: "I have an open space, but you have to be able to make good decisions."
The person applying for the job replied: "How do you learn to do that?"
"By experience."
"And how to you get experience?"
"By making bad decisions."

And how do we get experience without making bad decisions? Learn from those who already made them for you. :)

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Let's learn righteousness now! You with me?

...::Patricia::...{Week ... }

I took this photo in Florida last July. I love pictures of beachy things!

They always remind me of my favorite times spent in FL. I am going back there tomorrow, and will be gone till the day after Thanksgiving.

So you probably won't hear from me in that time. But there is a slight chance I will be able to post once or twice. I hope so, but we'll just have to wait and see:)

Au revoir mon amie,

Patricia