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 Ahhhh, the lovely little details of life that make things so...not...boring.  And, I admit...this post does not have very many pictures. The reason? How does one take pictures when...shocked...but so completely NOT shocked that it's even more shocking? Does that makes sense? No? Oh well.

Anyways...I really am not sure how much everyone cares to know...but those of you who know...well...you know. 

Emily, Micah, Lydia and I  went with some friends from church to watch a movie and when we came out...our van had been decorated. ^_^ IT WAS SHINY!!!! Sorry...just had to say it. 

I imagine this post may make no sense to most people reading it...but I thought I would share a few pictures of our lovely van. 

So...smile and shine for Christ. :D
Over and out for now. 

I told you it was shiny!!!!!!

*sigh* so pretty.

This is AFTER the crepe paper, shiny strands and wand (and a couple other things) have been removed.

Epic...don't you think?

Beans? Huh? Heh...upon finding this...there was a chorus of..."What's with the beans?!" Most amusing.

Dad's reaction when we got home. I went to their room and said "Our van got decorated." And Mom jumped out of bed laughing saying..."That (insert guilty party's first and last name here)!!!".

Ah yes. The star shaped, red balloon. Mom said to get this picture for said guilty person. So...here you go, said guilty person. :P

Shoot for the stars (chasers!) Uhhh...again.

 Today Mom, Lydia, Abby, Naomi and I went back down to Fl to their mounted drill team practice. Dad and Micah went to the gun and knife show instead. :P It was another looong, but nice day. We got up bright and early (six can still be bright and early right?) and headed down. Mom drove the van with the trailer all the way there and back! 0.0 And, of course, she did great. I offered to drive, but for some crazy reason...she didn't let me. :/ :P Apparently the Star Chasers Mounted Drill Team has been looking for a singer to sing during their drills so that they can do the drills to the music...and so Mom told me to take my karaoke machine and some music and let miss Tammy (the drill master) hear me and...ummm...I guess I'm going to be doing thing singing now at their shows etc. I expected to go down, sing a "sample" song and then sit back and read or write all the rest of the day. But...ummm...that didn't really happen. :P I ended singing allllll day long. And I do mean all day. :P I sang every song for every drill practice. And I didn't lose my voice!!! :D Woot woot! :P
Anyways...I didn't get as many pictures as I thought I would since I ended up singing, but I got a token few and Lydia took some...then when we got home, Emily decided that she would grab my camera (no...not the new one yet...still isn't here. :( ) and fun around...so some of them are from her.
Anyhoo...oh yeah...I had a few blond moments today that I was gonna share...but...I...uhhh...can't remember them. And...that probably doesn't really help me at all by telling you that does it? Hmmm...ooookay...never mind. I won't tell you then. And if I do...don't tell anyone else. Okay?
Anyways...before I get tooootally crazy...wait...I already am...so...before I go nuts...wait...I'm that too...okay!
I'd better just end it now...Yeah...don't you think? I do. That's for sure. If I didn't think so it wouldn't be over now. Wait...it's not...I'm still typing. Okay...moving on...

SHOOO...Shmile and shine for Christ! :D
Over and out for now.

Naomi, Lydia and me with our sleepy eyes on right before we left.

Okay...this. was. beautiful! Miss Tammy does what is called "bridle-less". She doesn't use any reigns at any point, she controls the horse completely by her knees and does a really pretty, graceful "dance" on the horse.

This is the first time I sang today...Miss Tammy threw me right in and had me to "Only Hope" to her Bridle-less. She had been doing it before with this song and the original artist's recording...but I get to do it for her at the show when she does it! :D

Naomi got to ride twice today! :D Mom walked her around once and Ethan did it the next.

Naomi on Tinker and Ethan on...dirt

Lydia taking charge of the arena. :D

Miss Tammy trimmed Tinker's and Jeb's hooves after everyone else had left.

Talk about one cute ragamuffin! ^_^

And...we loaded up to head home.

Jeb...not his best shot, eh?

Jeb again...

This is called...a road.

Mom and Dad. (Dad's the pink one....okay...that doesn't sound right does it?)

"It's a cow farm! Of course it's gonna have cows outside!" (If you haven't seen Barnyard...you won't get it.)

We stopped at Jeffers on the way home.

And then we got home! Yes...really...home. At about 7:00.  0.0

And...then I made brownies.

See? It was really me making them...I didn't just say it. Oh...and yes...I did use a boxed brownie mix. But! Did you know that it's way easier to make brownies from scratch? Yeah...seriously...I had to keep looking back at the box to make sure I was getting things right...then I had to open those annoying packages and like...IDK...it just felt way more annoying and complicated than scratch. :P OH! And...on a kinda side note...but a very urgent one...Emily has taken another embarrassing video of me and...while I doubt she would be so inhumane...I must say that if she dares post it on her blog...well, I would like to clear my name of any damage that might come to her property in the near future. Of course I KNOW my dear, sweet Em'n'em would never, ever do it. (even though she did it before).

 

*sniff* I made that. Now Mommy will be proud of me.

Of Beauty and Grace

Why am I writing this post? Hmmm, I don’t really have a solid answer to that. Maybe because I feel like writing. Maybe because it’s on a subject that I have come to think about every day lately. Maybe just because I see how good God is and I have to talk about it. Or maybe for a whole long list of other reasons. That doesn’t really matter, I suppose.

This isn’t normally the kind of post I do on my blog. I don’t like to seem like I think I am in a position to instruct/teach anyone. So, really, this post is as more for me to write down something I’ve thought about lately. And have good reason to think about… Beauty.

Is that something you think about all the time? When you step outside and are met by a cool breeze and the warmth of the sun on your face while birds sing their melodies in the trees and blue sky, do you stop to think about how beautiful it all is?

Or on a clear night when the stars are shining like pinholes to Heaven, do you look up and marvel at their grandeur and overwhelming tranquility?

How about when you pass by a flower? Or even when a storm comes, bringing with it sheets of rain, peels of thunder and flashes of lightning? Ever stop to think how beautiful that can be?

Beauty is all around us, every day of our lives. Not just in the majesty of creation but in the gifts of grace given to us by our Lord, Christ Jesus.

Think about it. All the gifts in our life that are so, so beautiful and so present that we often forget to stop and take in their beauty. Music. Religious freedom. Food. The right to dream. Hope. And countless others.

Family and friends. Think about them. What do they mean to you? If you’re anything like me, family and close friends give you earthly reason to live. God uses them to give you hope, faith, belief etc. If you’re anything like me…there will never be anything more beautiful in your life than family and close friends. And yes…it is true that they are what can bring the most acute pain in this life, also. But it’s next to ugliness that beauty shows the most. It’s next to despair that hope shines brightest. It’s next to fear that belief and trust are most clear.

 

There is pain in this world, but it’s because of the pain that we know the beauty is real when it comes. And it’s by the grace of Christ that that beauty comes. We know that we all deserve far worse that we ever get on this earth and yet Christ, in His mercy, sees fit to give us beauty? It’s mindboggling! Why? Because He is good.

Beauty comes from grace. Beauty is grace. What does beauty/grace look like then? I don’t think there is one answer to that. It looks different to every person. Anything you value more than yourself…more than your own life, so long as it is wholesome and God honoring, is beautiful. What do you picture right now when you think of the beauty of grace in your life? What image comes to your mind? And now…how often do you stop to think about not just that thing, but how beautiful it is to you? What a symbol of grace it is? And it can be more than one thing, of course. But often, there is one, shining beacon of beauty and grace for people. How often do you stop, think and pray…thank God for that/them? When I get to thinking about that, I can’t stop thanking God. Because I have seen what non-beauty looks like. I’ve felt the knife of pain, despair…even darkness. But God, in His grace, has put beauty into my life like I never thought possible. Does that mean that life is now always fields of roses? Nope. But! It’s the beauty in every day life…in the life God has made and is making that I see grace overflowing.And it's because of that beauty that we can see what fields of roses look like every now and then. It's because of the grace of Christ in giving us this beauty that we have the will to continue, even through the hardest times.

It’s amazing how you can just close your eyes sometimes and see that beauty and grace there. It’s overwhelming to think how God works. How He can take a sin filled, dark, despairing life and turn it around into something more beautiful than a person could ever have imagined. Doesn’t it make you smile, just thinking about it? I’m smiling as I type. Doesn't it just make you happy? Overwhelmingly happy?

Sometimes we can get so caught up in the moment, so bogged down in a present issue that we miss the beauty that’s all around. How much better life would go sometimes if we would just stop, look around, find something beautiful. Think of something beautiful…think of that beacon of grace and beauty that you thought about a minute ago when I asked what came to your mind and dwell on that for just a minute. Life doesn’t look so bad after all, does it?

Above all of this beauty, the beauty and grace that shines the brightest is the beauty and grace of Christ Jesus, Himself. His sacrifice. His Love. His grace. His hope. His very Being is the essence of beauty and the definition of grace. We have hope because of Him. We have beautiful things because of Him. We have love for others and love for Him…we are loved by others because of Him. We have His love. How much more beauty do you need or even want than that?

So, as you can see…life is so beautiful in so many ways. The beauty of smiles and laughter that comes when talking to family or a friend. The beauty of smiles when all you have to do is think of something. The beauty of the fellowship of your closest circle of family/friends. The beauty of the stars, flowers, sky, ocean, animals, loved ones. The beauty of dreams. The beauty of dreams coming true. The beauty of love. The beauty of hope, faith, belief. The beauty of life.

Isn't is amazing to be able to say, "I am happy and at peace because of the grace of Christ and the beauty He has put in my life."? Isn't it humbling to think of the fact that we don't deserve any of it and yet...we can have it? Isn't it beautiful? 

This whole post/rant/rambling can be summed up in one simple sentence: God is good and life is beautiful. Now that’s some beauty worth fighting for and worth smiling about. Worth living for.

Here's a song that I love that sums up a lot of beauty and grace. Thought it was appropriate for this post and I might as well share it. :)

http://youtu.be/hbRBkiq_f2g

HAPPY 3rd OF JULY!!!!! (Uhhh...that doesn't sound right. Oh well, enjoy the pictures anyways!)

(First of all...aint that cheese kewel?! *points up* My Mom made that. :D )

Okay...so...I hadn't really planned on a blog post today...but turns out I got enough pictures of enough semi interesting things to do one. So why not?! :D

The main event of the day was harvesting our honey. Mr. Russ C. had dropped his cow off to visit with our bull the other day and came to pick her up today. He really knows his stuff, especially when it comes to bees, so he helped Dad get the honey in and ready for extraction! 

Been doing a little bit of prep for tomorrow...I think that holidays are only good when they give you an excuse to hang out with friends and family...(and maybe reflect a bit on the reason for the holiday.)

Anyhoo...not a ton to say....I'll let the pictures do the talking right now. 

Y'all be sure to smile and shine for Christ!

Over and out for now...
Anna

Dad and Mr. Russ and Mom

Da cow. Not sure what her name is.

They were stuffing everything they could find in there to make smoke. Even sent me to the house to get some fabric...'twas rather amusing.

ALIENS!!!!!!! Scream and run.

 

My beeeeautiful sista. Dawgon she's so cool. ^_^ (But don't tell her I said that.)

The brave men and my crazy sister...Emily was rather...brave and approached the bees pretty closely all for the sake of pictures! Talk about a devoted blogger. I sacrificed good pix for the sake of my safety. I know...shame on me. But...hopefully the new camera that I just ordered has a better zoom than my current one and I can get away with being safe. :P

Dad doing...something with the cooler. I am sure it was very kewel. Whatever it was...

Is it just me, or do I have the most beautiful dog on the planet? It's just me? No...it's not. He's the most beautiful. *nods*

Dad on left with his super cool brush and Mr. Russ doing...something. Hmmm...these guys are doing a lot of "something".

  

Two more hives. Happily undisturbed. (See that sky in the background? I got one word for you...HUMIDITY. Gotta love Bamy!)

Ooooh...this...do you know how many snakes could be in that overgrowth?! :D I kinda thought about wading through it and seeing if I could find any...like...rattle snakes. But *sigh* I decided not to. Prrrrobably not the best plan. Wait...I'll face a rattler but not bees? Hmmmmm...

I'm not sure what this is, but it was sitting all by itself. Have no idea where it came from. Looks to be a fruit of some kind. And it caught my eye, sitting in the dirt like it was. Kinda pretty colors.

I'm not saying anything. Except that this is another attempt to cure myself of my overly consuming arachnophobia. Anybody got any more tips? Sheeeeeesh...yuuuuck...ewww...aaaaah....okay...moving on...

 Okay, y'all...here's my little sister on the phone. She was on the thing for hours today! :P That's a very rare things...but I remember the pony express days when you would write a letter and hope the carrier wasn't shot dead on the trip! Okay...maybe I don't remember those days...but I do remember when letters were the only way I ever thought of keeping on touch with people. :P

Oh, yeah. Back to the honey. Here's Dad using that fancy knife that gets all hot to scrape the comb off of the frame, thus opening the comb and removing the caps so that the honey can be properly extracted.

Aint that cool?

I kinda think this picture is kewel. Don't you?

It's...SHINY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D (A close up of honey. And it's shiny!!!!!)

And here's the honeycomb bidding you all farewell! :D Guess I got kinda crazy in this post. Oh well...what can I say? That's me. :P I'm totally nuts...and I love it. Yep. Yep. Yep.