U.F.O.

Last Friday my family and I drove an hour away to the wonderful city (Which shall remain nameless) where Joanna and Sarah and Justus live. There we ran around like crazy on a large piece of land covered in grass, chasing with all our might a large plastic disc that flew through the air. Occasionally the disc would land in the hands of a participant and they would start its flight again. There were two sides to the battle of around 10 each...one side was victorious over the other in the end.

Can you guess what we were up to? We were playing ULTIMATE FRISBEE!! A game like soccer but with a frisbee instead. (My title, U.F.O, stands for Ultimate Frisbee Occasion) Wow, what a blast that was. We had so much fun! Starting at 7:00, we played until 9:00 pm. then went back to our gracious hosts' house for refreshments.
I brought a snack mix with the delightful name of "White Trash", of which I will shortly be posting a picture and a recipe.

After the snacks and much-appreciated water and lemonade, all the kids went outside and played "Ghost in the Graveyard" which is basically hide-and-seek-tag with a few frills for extra thrills. (you have to count 1:00, 2:00, and so on up to 'midnight') Justus nearly frightened me out of my wits by jumping out at me from behind a shadowy bush! :)

After having a wonderful time my family and I drove the hour drive back home and got there at about 11:00.

And I discovered that I had so much fun that I had forgotten to take any pictures for my blog! So you will have to just use your imagination. :)

And remember.....I love comments!!!

Julia

Thankful Thursday

For this Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for my friends Joanna, Justus and Sarah. I met Joanna, Sarah and their dad at the Vision Forum Father/Daughter retreat, and we discovered we lived close to each other! Last Saturday my family had their family over and we had a great time!

Here are Sarah and Joanna:

Here are all of our parents gathered around the table after enjoying grilled chicken:

AND....(drumroll please)....Here is the STRAWBERRY THINGY.

Strawberry Thingy is a delicious dessert made with Strawberries and jello, whipped topping and cream cheese, and crushed pretzels for the crust. It's absolutely scrumdiddlyumptious!! :) NOTE: TO FIND THE RECIPE, GO TO "THINKING ON THESE THINGS" LOCATED ON MY BLOG LIST. :)

And here is the chef, Miss Joanna, pictured with a square of her delectable creation:
Here you can see the layers of Strawberry thingy...
Joanna and I enjoying our Strawberry Thingy...(I am trying not to blink so I look rather odd)

Joanna, Sarah and I get along SO well, which is easy since they are so sweet and nice, and what is great is that our brothers love hanging out together too! Pictured here are (L to R) Steven, Justus and Mark standing in front of my bookcase.

I had such a wonderful time with Joanna and Sarah! I am very very thankful that I met them and their family!

Thankfully,

~Julia~

Word-filled Wednesday

I saw this on Laney's blog, Got Freckles, and I loved the idea! Thanks Laney!

My word for this Wednesday is Proverbs Chapter 3 verses 5-7.

: 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. 7 Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and turn from evil.

The word 'fear' in 'fear the Lord', according to Strong's Greek and Hebrew concordance, means reverence, and respect.

HE SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS. Do I always let him direct my paths? In ALL my ways? Hmm. Perhaps not? :) I could use some more diligence in this area. And in not being 'wise in mine own eyes'!

If you're curious what version of scripture I use, I always use a King James Version.

Julia

Blackberries, Part 2

Yes, that is what you think it is. JAM! After I had accumulated several containers of blackberries we made a batch of blackberry jam. Oh wow. If you think blackberries are yummy, you will melt over this jam. It is the last word in deliciousness.

This is the canner, the huge pot we boil the jars of jam in to make the sweet stuff 'jell'. (I couldn't load the pictures in the order I took them so just bear with me) :)
above you can see a picture of Mama picking up a boiling jar of water. The cookie monster was helping as well in the bottom right corner. (haha) :D
There's a better view of the jar and steam from boiling water.

after stirring up the blackberry juice liquid and boiling it in a pot of water we ladled it into jars that had been boiled in the canning pot.
Mama has a handy little funnel-thingy she uses to fill the jars with the sticky, sweet Jam.

Here are blackberries in the sink, being washed for jam preparation.

A handful of blackberries, oh so plump and juicy.
Here's a close-up, you can see how huge they are...that was one of the average ones. Some are bigger than that.
Here my brother Mark is using the food mill to strain out some of the blackberry seeds...you know, the ones that get stuck in your teeth....
Here's Mama stirring the jam mixture...

I just realized I didn't take a picture of the finished jam, with lids. We do put lids on! :) We also made blueberry jam, and a blueberry post looms in the near future...

I love canning! I have a lot of old-fashioned hobbies. Quilting, Crocheting, Canning, Sewing, and all sorts of things!

Let me know if you like one of these hobbies as well!

Julia

Thankful Thursday

I got this cute and sensible idea from Lydia from An Old Fashioned Girl and Brianna at Seeking His Face, two blogger friends I recently met. (Check out their blogs on my blog list, they're so neat!)

Today is Thursday, and I am thankful.....that I survived today! :) Just kidding - Shall I explain?

Today my family took care of five children at our house, three of which were under age 5, whose mother was having a baby in the hospital. (It's a boy!) They got here at 7:00 am and didn't leave till 5:30pm. It was rather draining on me...I'm not used to running around picking up toy cars so no one trips on them and breaks their ankle, wiping sticky fingers, changing diapers, and all sorts of fun stuff! :) Wait, actually I am, but only when babysitting and when it's not MY stuff I'm rescuing from the firm grasp of a determined two-year-old! And it doesn't usually last for more than 3 hours. :)

I'm also thankful for my wonderful family. I don't know what I would do without my godly, caring parents and two wonderful brothers. I love you guys!

I hope all the bloggers out there had a great thursday!

Julia

Happy Father's Day!

I am convinced that I have the best dad in the world. Now, I'm sorry about all you other people out there who don't have my daddy for a dad but I feel for you. :)

My father recently (Well - in April actually. Was it two months ago? Well it feels recent!) took me to a Father / Daughter retreat at Callaway Gardens - which I am still going to post about later - and I had a wonderful time! I was treated like a princess. My daddy held open the doors for me, he helpfully pulled out my chair in the fancy dining room, he escorted me all around the flower gardens and showed me the best angles to take pictures. (I loved this...one of my favorite things is filling up the 400-picture card on my camera with pretty pictures!)

But I'm getting off topic. My Dad cared so much about me that he was willing to spend a whole weekend with me... just him and I. It was a very special time and I hope we can do it again next year.

My dad is a very caring person. He loves us unconditionally, no matter what silly things we do. He is always gentle with my brothers and me, but doesn't hesitate to correct us where we are mistaken. (And believe me, sometimes we need it!) :)

My dad loves to fish. He's fly-fished ever since his boyhood and he's an expert at it. He loves photography - he's especially talented with capturing picturesque little scenes. He is very fond of our chickens...he designed and built our chicken coop all by himself, and it's so nice we joked we should make it into a guest house because it was too nice for a chicken coop! (Picture coming soon...)

Well, I have to go for now...but I just want to say I appreciate my father SO much, and I am so glad he's my dad.

Julia

An Interview With My Brothers

I decided to interview my two brothers so that my blog friends could get to know them a bit, since they don't have blogs of their own yet. In the above picture, Mark is on the left and Steven is on the right. (This picture was taken when it was lightly snowing last March)

Mark is 14 years old and Steven is 12. Since Mark is older I thought I'd start with him.

Me- "Mark, what is your favorite hobby?"
Mark- "Building with Legos."

Me- "Branching off that, what is your favorite Lego theme?"
Mark- "Oh, definitely Knights & Castle."

(Note: Mark has a fantastic lego fortress he's built for his Robin Hood/Forester guys - I'll have to take a picture of it so ya'll can see it)

Me- "So what is your favorite snack?"
Mark "Swiss rolls - Little Debbie swiss rolls."

Me- "And what is your least favorite food?"
Mark- "CHILI!" -with wide, horrified eyes. (I love chili!)

Me- "Who is your favorite singer?"
Mark- "Steve Fee - because I like his music."

Me- "What do you do when you're bored?
Mark- "Draw Pictures." (Mark is an amazing artist - he loves drawing lego scenes)

3 Things Mark Dislikes:

1. Lawn Gnomes
2. Splenda
3. People who say global warming is true.

3 Things Mark Really Likes:

1. Getting a new lego set
2. Swimming in the river
3. And when it rains.

Mark's Favorite Book = The Twin in the Tavern
Mark's Favorite Movie = National Treasure 1
Mark's Dream Career = Lego designer
Mark's Life Goal = To finish his Lego Indiana Jones Movie.

Mark is into Stop/Motion animation, he takes pictures of legos step-by-step and seams the photos together to make a movie. It's really cool!

Now for Steven ~

Me-"Steven, what is your favorite hobby?"
Steven- "Building Legos!"

Me-"And what is your favorite Lego theme?"
Steven- "Castle and Dwarves."

Me-"What is your favorite snack?"
Steven- "Cheese Popcorn!"

(Note: Steven is always eating popcorn in the evenings. He makes it himself in the microwave with a special popcorn kettle. The smell drives me crazy because I love popcorn and I can't eat it until I get my braces off, hopefully soon!)

Me- "And your least favorite food?"
Steven- "That weird stuff you make with cheese and potatoes-"
Me-"You mean my specialty potato salad?"
Steven- "Yeah!"- with wrinkled nose.

I will be posting the recipe for my specialty potato salad next time I make some and take a picture of it!

Me-"Who is your favorite singer?"
Steven- "Either Steven Curtis Chapman or Steve Fee."

Me-"What do you do when you're bored?"
Steven-"I crack my Indiana Jones whip."

3 Things Steven Dislikes:

1.Trolls.
2.String Bikinis. (Ugh, me too!)
3.When the temperature gets over 90 degrees.

3 Things Steven Really Likes:

1.French Fries
2.Snow
3.Hot chocolate on a cold morning.

Steven's Favorite Book = The Ultimate Lego Book
Steven's Favorite Movie = Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark
Steven's Dream Career = A Gourmet Chef
Steven's Life Goal = To watch a Georgia Bulldogs game from the stadium.

Well, now you know a little about my brothers! Let me know if you have brothers that like the same things that mine do.

Julia

Blackberries

The blackberries have arrived! They are delicious this year. Last year they were not as juicy or sweet, due I think to less rain last spring than we had this spring.
Here they are on the plant...you can see there are some not yet ripe.

I spent some time picking them this morning, which was a good idea because now, in the afternoon, it is very hot outside. What I noticed on our bushes was that there were some that were still red, and even some still pale green. They will eventually ripen into a delicious juicy black, and then will be picked and eaten fresh or made into jam.

We have several patches of blackberries scattered all over our hill. It's a difficult task to pick them because blackberry plants have very sharp thorns which snag clothing and skin. Ouch! Sometimes I wonder why they must grow those painful thorns.

Julia

So - Who's Reading?

Dear Readers,

I love comments! If you happen to come across my blog please drop me a note of your opinion of it...I'm trying to get an idea of how many visitors my blog is getting. Thank you so much,

:)

Julia

Review of Before You Meet Prince Charming

I recently attended a Father/Daughter retreat hosted by Vision Forum at Callaway Gardens. I'm going to post more on that later, but for now I wanted to write about a book I purchased at the booktable there.

Before You Meet Prince Charming, by Sarah Mally. The title caught my eye. "Before You Meet Prince Charming." Well, thought I, I haven't met Prince Charming yet...what do I need to know? I picked up the book and thumbed through it. This book looked very good. I got it and brought it home. I began to read it.

Let me stop my story a moment here and explain that I LOVE to read. Hours of my day are consumed by reading. And once I find a good book it's like it is super-glued to my hand...I can't put it down. I walk around doing usual tasks with one hand (Like eating, unloading the dishwasher, etc.) while reading, if I must. This was one of those books.

Right at the beginning, the Note from the Author sounded pleasantly in my ears. Part of it reads "Many of the books I have read [on the subject of purity] seem to be written specifically to reach young people who have already made mistakes. Since they are written for this audience, they include some details that I don't think are necessary for younger girls to be thinking about. Even though my desire is that this book would minister to girls of all ages and backgrounds, I have endeavored to keep it discreet and appropriate for younger girls as well." How thoughtful. I appreciate her discretion for my own reading, not just for younger girls. I am thankful that Sarah chose to write her book this way.

Lest you think this was a little-girl story, I must say the book was very informative and enjoyable to me, a 17-year-old young woman. Sarah covered all the important subjects and some I hadn't thought of. Each chapter spoke to my heart. Sarah intersperses scenes from the story of a princess living in a castle with helpful discussion on topics like guarding your heart, delighting in the Lord, relationships, dreams, 'crushes', waiting, God's plan, and many others.

If you're interested in more of what Sarah is involved in, here is the link to the website for her ministry, Bright Lights.

I highly recommend "Before You Meet Prince Charming".

Julia

Stained-Glass-Window Quilt

I am working on finishing a quilt that my Mom found at an Estate Sale. I believe the pattern is called "Stained-Glass-Window" and it's beautiful!

I still have to sew one of the corners on and a few squares of fabric where they were missing. But when the quilt is done the effort that went into it will be worth my time!

One of my goals for this summer is to learn how to sew well. I'm still a beginner and I want to get some experience in before Autumn rolls around again.

Julia

A Friend

A Friend is someone who...

Is there when you really need them.

Lets you cry on their shoulder.

Laughs with you, not at you.

Forgives if you mess up.

Never talks behind your back.

Has time to share fellowship with you.

Returns your e-mails.

Understands your little quirks and the ways you are unique.

Tells you when something is wrong.

Honors a promise.

Remembers your birthday.

Encourages and uplifts you on rainy days.

Does not take advantage of your generosity.

Loves you no matter what.

Tells you when you look especially pretty.

Appreciates you for who you are.

Apologizes when they make mistakes.

Prays when you ask them to.

Respects you.

Is happy for you when something good happens.

A Friend is...a Blessing from God.

Dear Lord, please help me to be a better friend.

Julia