November Highlights

  November's over!! December begins, with all it's holiday-ness. :) Here are some November highlights.


HAPPENED IN NOVEMBER||

|| Took some star pictures that made me happy. :)

|| Packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child

|| Walked with cousins and siblings through fields (and cows ;P) to an Amish store. 

|| Stayed home by myself at night for the first time. It was nice. (Not saying I wasn't ever scared. ;P) 

|| Thanksgiving! You can hear about it in this post.

|| I drove downtown yesterday! Downtown can be more challenging because of the one way roads and all... and we sometime get lost. :P And there's those skinny ally-like roads too! I drove to a number of places, including the library, and...

|| Got The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson, and Love's Enduring Promise by Janette Oke. :) And I got Holiday Inn! Although my mom had to check it out, because our library only let's adults check out movies. I know, it's ridiculous. :P

|| I went shopping on Black Friday, later in the day. :) 

|| I had a delicious Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino, in cold weather! ;) And it was delicious. 

|| Decorated for Christmas! 

  

  I love how this looks with our "old" door! :) I had to tie something to the wreath and hang it on a hook on the door, because our wreath hanger won't work. ;) Our doors just won't close with those things on them- I had to find a different way to hang the wreath last year too. :P

READ IN NOVEMBER||

Sky's Bridal Train by Margo Hansen

Was very good! :D I should post my review on here sometime...

   The Christy Miller novella in this book, Departures, by Robin Jones Gunn

And now I'm reading The Golden Braid, by Melanie Dickerson. :)

   I also have been reading more of my sister's to-be-published book, Silver Rose! :) Fantastic story, guys. :)

THINGS MADE IN NOVEMBER|| 

|| What I mentioned in my November currently post

|| Christmas presents  

|| Fries and honey mustard (mostly by myself) ;)

POSTS OF NOVEMBER||

My Thanksgiving

Weekly Bible Reading

(yea, never got to doing this post this week...)

Flawed yet Treasured

Currently in November

The Beauty of Black and White

Crisp Air and a Few Verses

Apple Granola Breakfast Smoothie

Favorite Quotes Tag

November Stars

  Ten posts this month, counting this one that you're reading at the moment. :) I think I did three post on my photography site. 

LOOKING FORWARD TO IN DECEMBER||

   

|| Watching Holiday Inn for the first time, and as my first Christmas movie this Christmas season. ;)

|| Posting the pictures I took today. I took of  two kids and practiced multiple-child photography. Yes, this stuff can be challenging! :P But although I didn't feel super successfull during the picture-taking, I actually found a lot I like! Out of the 160 something I took! O.o Worth it. :)

|| The Christmas party I'm going to on Monday! :) :)

|| Christmas! And all the things that come with Christmas season. :D

|| New Years! SO CLOSE! I think it would be fun to have a New Years party, but that dream probably won't come to be. :P

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS DECEMBER? WHAT'S SOMETHING INTERESTING YOU DID IN NOVEMBER?

My Thanksgiving :)

   How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was enjoyable. :) The usual delicious foods... pies... cold, fall air. 

   Here's a few pictures showing my Thanksgiving.

    Everything packed in the vehicle. :)

    I went out and took some pictures of all the fall-ness. It isn't this pretty at MY house. ;) I took some of "my" little country boy, too- see them here.

  

   Sometime after lunch I went with my mom, aunts, and grandma on a walk. We went down a road full of Amish places. It's a good idea to take a long walk on Thanksgiving. ;)

   

   After the walk we had pie! :) I should've tried more different kinds- I only ate pumpkin pie and cheesecake (yea, someone kinda hacked the cheesecake :P) BUT I got to eat apple pie for breakfast Friday. ;)

   That's pretty much it. Besides hanging out, of course. :)

   The next day I went with my mom, aunts, and grandma shopping. We didn't get up early- just went around lunch. I had an enjoyable time, and even found a coffee drink I really like! ;D It was a peppermint mocha frappuccino. I had to figure out how that was all spelled- you can tell I'm not a coffee drinker. I like the flavor, but I don't like regular coffee, and I usually get sick of other coffee drinks after awhile. But this one was great! :) I know, it probably doesn't have much coffee in it, but it was the right amount for me. ;) Then when we went out to the vehicle, I was sipping a cold drink in the freezing air! ;P 

  Yesterday we decorated for Christmas! =D We usually take forever to finally do it (and we don't have very many decorations), but this time we got on it fast. :) There's a Christmas party with my homeschool group youth coming up, and I'm excited about that. :)

     Until we meet again... which should be soon, I'm sure. ;P

HOW DID YOUR THANKSGIVING GO? DO YOU HAVE ANY CHRISTMAS PARTIES COMING UP?

    

Bible Reading, Week 1

    OK, I'm here for the post on my Bible reading of the week. :) I think maybe I'll do it every Monday... Probably a good time since Sunday you already have church, and since Monday can be kind of a dull day. ;P So anyhow, here are a couple verses from what I read this week.

 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge 

me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I willgo and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.

Ruth 1:16

From six calamities He will rescue you;
in seven no harm will befall you.

In famine He will ransom you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword.

You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes.

You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.

Job 5:19-22

(sorry about the random change in fonts- my naughty blog insists it must be this way.)

  By the way, I also did an inspiration post today- view it here.

Farewell, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week!! =D

Flawed yet Treasured

     I think many people struggle with feelings of inferiority. Feeling less. 

    Ever thought "why would they like me?" I'm not that great. Seriously, what do they see?

    Have you looked in the mirror and found your reflection lacking? One day you can be happy with how you look, but the next you're discontent. Too thin, too heavy, too pale, too young-looking, and the list goes on. You go to church, liking your outfit, but the second you see the other "perfect" girls, you suddenly don't feel so great about yourself. Inferior, young.  

    Don't fit in. Shy, and socially awkward. Feeling different from the others. You don't relate, you feel inexperienced and young. You wonder if they all think of you as some little mouse- afraid of your own shadow, incapable, and childish. 

    You wonder if you should act a different way. More mature, more outgoing. Sometimes you're weird, and sometimes you do humiliating things.  

   Those feelings of inferiority. Less. 

   But you know what? NONE OF THAT EVEN MATERS. Who cares? You have someone who loves YOU for YOU! He  doesn't look at your faults and count you less. He looks at you with love and counts you His treasure! ;)

For You created my inmost being, 

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:13-14

   God designed you the way you are, and made you His own kind of beautiful! Don't listen to what the world says is best and most beautiful- that changes all the time! It isn't fact at all. 

   And those feeling of inferiority? Those are just lies. 'Cause we're all worth the same. Every human being is equal.

    It may not seem that you are anything great, but that is only because you are yourself- you look deeper, closer, at your flaws than anyone else does. Many times, others won't even notice the thing that you're insecure about. Sometimes the person you look at as beautiful and "perfect" may be looking at you in the same way! Often our insecurities are because what we wonder and think of ourselves.

    Of course, they aren't always. There are people who may look down on you. But even if they do, it really doesn't matter. You don't have to worry about what someone will think of your personality, or your appearance. Just forget it- let it go! We are all God's treasures, and it only matters how He sees us. So we can be confident in that. If you try to find worth and confidence in society, well, forget it! It is NOT worth trying to always have perfect make-up, hair, and clothes, and the perfect personality just to please people.   

   All your weirdness, blunders and blemishes really aren't worse than everyone else's. We're all messed up, but all priceless in God's eyes, just the same! :)

(by King and Country) Yep, this song again. ;)

    This is the "inspirational" post (or something a lot like it), that I said I'd post... re-post. ;) These things are more what I can relate to, so they may not be your struggles... but I hope you got something out of it! :)

DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD ABOUT THIS TOPIC?

Currently in November

   Time for my November currently post! Can you believe the month is half over already? 

CURRENT HAPPENINGS\\

\\WELLL, of course, the weather news comes first. :P Right now, it is warm outside. *rolls eyes* Maybe I better just stop mentioning the weather on my blog, 'cause it's a bit like a roller coaster. :P At least the nights have been cold. But all the leaves haven't even fallen off the trees! What's Christmas going to be like, I wonder? 

\\I've recently driven in town twice. :) Like, big town, with lots of cars... and I've gotten some night hours (even though they're more like dusk hours). ;) So yea, getting better at driving! :D

\\My family and a few other people packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child. :)

\\Red moons. Aren't those supposed to not be common? Yet I've seen so many! Last night there was one, so I went out to take pictures (even though my camera can hardly zoom :P) 

  

   I was using a slow shutter speed... and the window on our vehicle was wide open, so my sisters were climbed in there. When they were coming out I decided to take a shot of "the evidence". :P Yea, the camera was a little slow at capturing the evidence of the car break-in. Haha. :P

                                      

\\Really not much has happened recently...




CURRENTLY READING\\

Sky's Bridal Train by Margo Hansen

    I won a paperback of this book in a giveaway, and it's REALLY good! I read til midnight last night. ;) I suppose that's not my November record... I seems like I stayed up until 2 in the morning or something, re-reading my sister's not-yet-published book, Silver Rose. :D I read the first part, so now I need the second. I'll probably finish Sky's Bridal Train first, though. It's a fairly small book, so that won't be hard. ;) 

CURRENTLY MAKING\\

I've made a few things recently.

\\I crocheted a very small purse. ;) I had made up a crochet stitch (it's probably a real stitch) and all was going well- then it started getting narrow. :| Ugh. So I crocheted the sides together (just in a way I thought up, but may it's the right way? IDK) and made a purse out of it. :) I put it in one of the boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

\\I made a few doll things. I got an American Girl doll when I was 12, and still have it. It mostly sits on my shelf now, but I do like making clothes and dressing it occasionally. ;) So me and my little sister made doll skirts. :) Below is the one I made. I made a gathered skirt like that for my other little sister's barbie recently too. :) And I made a doll skirt for that little sister too. :D

   That kind of wacky "outfit" in the top right corner is my part-way finished attempt at making a medieval\pirate\warrior woman type outfit... something like that. :P I need to make leggings though, to replace those bloomer whatevers. :P So yea, my sewing stuff.

CURRENTLY LOOKING FORWARD TO\\

\\Thanksgiving! It's coming up very quick. :D Me and my little sister are going to make apple pies. :)

\\Christmas! :) Although it hasn't exactly felt like it's coming yet, so...

\\More driving! I've got to get it down so I can pass my test on the first try! I DO have like, six or so months before I can take the test, and around 55-ish hours left to drive... so I don't need to think about that yet. :P

\\the live-action Beauty and the Beast movie! I just saw the official trailer yesterday! :D I think it's coming out spring of next year? Oh, and there are a bunch more awesome-looking Christmas movies and all that I want to watch! See them here.

   

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS MONTH? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO?

The Beauty of Black and White

    Hey, I just did a post on my photography website about black and white photos. Click here to see the post!

    Black and white pictures are so cool! :D LOVE!

   By the way, I might do that inspirational post I mentioned after all, sometime. I had to re-write it, but I was told I should re-post it, so... ;) 
In fact, I had this idea last night, while I was lying in my bed (don't many ideas come at night? ;P). I thought that as an incentive to read my Bible ('cause I admit, I'm bad at it!), I should do a post each week with cool verses I came across, or an inspirational post related to what I read that week. :) Any of you need Bible-reading incentive as well? You can take my idea if you'd like. ;D

  OK, be sure to check out the black and white beauties! :D

Crisp Air and a Few Verses

    It finally got cold here. Well, for now anyway. The days where the house is too cold, and you have to huddle in a blanket while doing Bible. ;) And you go outside at night to be a kid (;P) and jump on the trampoline with your siblings, and your feet freeze. Of course, then you go out and lay on the road, with a sky full of stars. Maybe YOU don't do that, but I did... for a little while. It's a little scary to stay there too long when you're thinking about your siblings there, and you need to watch for cars. ;)  And then you do silly shadows on the road- nice clear shadows, because the moon is fairly bright. :) Yea, I'm just telling you a little about what I've done lately. :)

  Yesterday I went outside for a little while and took some pictures. Here are exactly three with a verse for each one. ;) I had published an inspirational post today... and then later when I thought about it, freaked out and erased it. :P Maybe you saw it, I don't know. I just can't do that kind of posts or something. Too scary. :P

This is kind of like the picture-book tree. :) I like it.

In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the

 mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His for

 He made it and His hands formed the dry land. 

Psalm 95:4-5

I love how this self-picture turned out. :) Thus I made it my new profile picture. :)

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, 

I know that full well.

Psalm 139:14

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 

so great is His love for those who fear Him.

 Psalm 103:11

   So how has November been for you all? Thanksgiving is coming! And, apparently, Christmas? *raises eyebrows* People are acting like they need to get Christmas shopping done and all... we never start celebrating THIS early! It does not feel like Christmas is coming yet. Maybe we wait to long to get into the spirit. ;P :)

  Yea, we went to Walmart today and me and two of my siblings purchased our things and went to wait for my mom in the little game and vending machine area. I wasted a $1.50 just on those games (or whatever they are) where you try to grab and item inside the machine. OK, maybe that doesn't sound like very much money, but it kind of is to me... at least when it's wasted. :P But really, those games, are addicting! I so get why people make money off them. You have to keep trying, because it's fun... and you want to get something. I "almost" got something twice. Jewelry, and sunglasses. But they fell off. :P 

   Oh, we had Pumpkin pie for the first time, I think, yesterday. :) And then this morning we got to have boiled eggs and pumpkin pie for breakfast. ;)

  I guess we'll see if this cold spell actually lasts. Just the other day it was really hot. I walked to an Amish store with my cousins and siblings the other day, and it was pretty hot. We were walking (or running) through fields and stuff, so of course that help, so of course exercise makes you hot too. But it wouldn't have been that hot if it was a normal, cold November. ;) The walk back was cooler, thankfully. :)

  Anyhow, I had better go now. Hope you enjoyed my little life update. :)

HAVE YOU EVER WASTED MONEY ON THOSE GAMES?

HAVE YOU LAID ON THE ROAD AT NIGHT BEFORE?

Apple Granola Breakfast Smoothie

   Here's a fall-ish ('cause of the apples) breakfast that I just made this up this morning! :) I decided to try a smoothie with apples, and thus there is this apple granola smoothie! ;)

APPLE GRANOLA BREAKFAST SMOOTHIE

1 cup chopped apples

1\4 cup oatmeal

1\4 cup slivered almonds

1 tsp cinnamon

1\3 cup greek yogurt

1 cup milk

1\2 tbsp + 1 tsp maple syrup

______________________________

   Combine everything in a blender. Enjoy for breakfast, or just a snack. 

    Since there's apples in here (and probably because of the nuts too) the texture isn't smooth. But for a breakfast granola smoothie, that's probably fits. ;)

   Is there anyone else whose November hasn't felt much like November? It's just NOT GETTING COLD! ;P I suppose it will eventually. :)

Favorite Quotes Tag

    I was recently tagged by Daminika for the Favorite Quotes Tag! :D Thanks for tagging me!

   I don't really know many quotes... I just scoured the internet for most of these. ;) And I have A LOT, by the way. One is from a song, but that still a quote, right? ;)

   Here they are!

   Picmonkey was being horribly irritating (aka, chopping off most of the picture when I tried to save it) so I just took a picture of it right from Picmonkey. :P Then I decided to make it black and white.

I like this song! Beautiful. :) If you've never heard it, you can check it out here.

  I'm going to tag:

 Shantelle @ A Writer's Heart

 Sam H. @ Books and Arrows

and anyone else who wants to do this! =D 



And here are the GUIDELINES, which I copy and pasted from Daminika's blog:

//Think of quotes that you love. They can be quotes by famous people, a movie, or even just a family member - or a Bible Verse. 
//You could put the quotes on backgrounds, but if you don't enjoy doing that then feel free to just put them in your post.
//Be sure that you say who said the quote -- or where in the Bible it is. 
// Post them! You could take the banner and post it with them if you'd like. 
// Tag as many friends as you like!

Hope you enjoyed! :)