Home from the Vision Forum 2009 Father Daughter Retreat!

***Note: This post has a vast quantity of pictures***



The first thing I want to say is I had such an inspiring weekend at the Father/Daughter retreat! If you have never been to one of these lovely events, I recommend that you sign up for next year's retreat as soon as possible.

My father and I had the privilege of hearing encouraging, convicting, dynamic and instructive messages from Mr. Doug Phillips, Mr. Scott Brown, Mr. Geoff Botkin, and Mr. Voddie Baucham. Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin also gave a wonderful talk on what their father taught them about boys, which was something I enjoyed listening to very much.

Now, for the pictures that some of my dear friends have been clamoring for. :)

An artistic shot that I somhow managed to take in the hotel room mirror...

The Lobby of the Mountain Creek Inn, where the conference was hosted and all the guests stayed. Our room was on the third floor of the back building, seperate from the rest of the hotel, and to get to it my father and I had to climb up no less than 72 stairs. (Yes, I counted them) :P Perhaps next year I will not plan on wearing shoes with high heels.

Unfortunately, due to the rain, the Father-Daughter Unity Games on the grand lawn were canceled, but my father and I took the opportunity of the extra free time to visit the Overlook Garden, which to our delight was nearly at peak bloom.

It was raining just a little bit, but with our warm jackets and umbrellas that my very wise mother suggested we bring with us, my father and I spent a very enjoyable hour and a half walking through the garden, taking pictures.

There's me!

I particularly like this shot of Daddy.

Me and my umbrella, by the gorgeous native azaleas. My favorites are the pink ones. :)

Well, we returned to the hotel with plenty of time to attend the picnic dinner, which was inside this year. :)

I met some dear blogger friends and a few new ones as well! Here I am with Hannah from Waiting-Rose, Breezy and Emily Rose, and Cassie! :)

We were served delicious coleslaw, potato salad, hamburgers, hotdogs, fried chicken, pulled pork, and all the fixins. :) I decided on the Fried Chicken.

Here's the main conference room, all spread with checkered tablecloths. This is where we heard the messages and teachings from the speakers. I took this shot from the front of the room, close to where our table was located. Some dear friends of ours saved us some excellent seats in the front row.

The next day we got up early, had a delicious breakfast at the plantation room restaurant, listened to some very good messages by Mr. Voddie Baucham and Mr. Scott Brown.

Then it was time for the Victorian High Tea! Here's our table:

Here are Daddy and I at the table... I'm taking this one with my left hand...

The food was delicious and much more plentiful than last year - something I was grateful for, as it meant Daddy and I didn't have to go get lunch somewhere afterwards! - When I got to the rainbow petit four I decided to take a picture. :D

Left to Right, a Raspberry tart, a lemon square, a strawberry/vanilla petit four, and a chocolate/rainbow petit four. As well as these we were also served several varieties of sandwiches, fruit, scones, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, and of course, jellies and cream to spread on our scones and biscuits. It was very good. :)

After the tea, I had such a wonderful time talking to the Botkin sisters and their mother in the hallway. My Dad also enjoyed speaking with some other fathers while I and several of my friends had some good conversations with the Botkin ladies. :)

Here are some of the delightful young ladies I was fellowshipping with... Breezy, Rebekah, and Emily Rose.

Then, as we were heading out the door to go spend our free time, we ran into Jasmine Baucham and she very graciously signed our copy of "What He Must Be", and even let me get my picture taken with her! :) It was awesome to finally meet you in person, Jasmine! :)

Daddy and I visited the Azalea Bowl, and unfortunately all the rain had muddied up the lake and the Azaleas weren't quite all blooming yet, but nonetheless, we found things to photograph. :)

Ferns ~

Cherry blossoms ~

And oh, was I thrilled with this Lady Banks Rose! It was beautiful....

...And tiny!

Here are some of the azaleas that were blooming.

Daddy purchased some stunning flies for his fly-rod down at the fishing center by the lake...
Then it was back to the Plantation Restaurant for a mouth-watering Italian Buffet. Mmm!

I was very impressed with the Dessert Buffet... especially the chocolate eclairs.
After a very encouraging and interesting talk by the Botkin sisters about how to behave around young men and a convicting, inspiring message from their father, Mr. Geoff Botkin, about how Hollywood is infiltrating our 'christian' society, we had some fun and games. :)

First 8 fathers serenaded their daughters a cappella, then there was a contest of how daughters could help their fathers 'get ready for work', by combing his hair, tying his tie, putting on his shoes, and the best part... 'shaving' him with shaving cream and a plastic knife.

Daddy and I got to bed late but stayed up talking about things like marriage, children, and... fishing. :)

And breakfast the next day only raised my opinion of the food they serve there at Callaway.

After church, A large group of young ladies and I had our picture taken in the patio... I'm the one in the back wearing blue. I'm actually right next to Mckenzie, (She's also in the back, on the left) a dear girl I met last year at the 2008 Father/Daughter retreat!

Sorry about the delay in posting, it took me a bit to adjust back into normal life! Thank you all for the encouraging and sweet comments you've left me! :)

Love and Blessings,

p.s.

In case some of you are wondering how well I'm doing on my diet, ;) I only gained 2 pounds over the weekend and I'm going to work that back off during the next couple of days. :) In my opinion, it was well worth it! :)

Chocolate Box and Peach Rose (A Crochet Post)

I am really loving my new crochet block patterns book. :) I'm trying some new, beautiful granny square patterns that I've never even heard of before!

This one, the "Peach Rose", I crocheted on the way to the Father/Daughter retreat... I actually have a little table in my room painted with matching flowers, so that's where I photographed it...

And I just finished this crochet block this morning. This pattern is named "The Chocolate Box". Doesn't it just look yummy?

Blessings!

New Blog Post Series... and I'm going away...

Well, I will be gone for the weekend at the Father/Daughter retreat... my dear Dad and I are leaving right after an early lunch, and I'll be back sometime around noon on Sunday. :) I'm very excited about it! :)

To give you all something to do while I'm away - so you won't miss me too much, lol - I would like your opinion on something.

I'm doing a new series on my blog called "Chirps from the Barnyard", as we have baby chicks arriving early sometime next week. I will be following their progress and growth on this blog with pictures and even videos of the cute little chickies! :)

I designed two "Post Headers", which is a picture that appears at the top of every "Chirps from the Barnyard" post, and for the life of me I can't decide which I like better! I'm sort of leaning towards the pink one, but I love the other one too. What do you think? Should I alternate between the two, or just do one of them?

Option 1.
Option 2.

I'll be designing a button soon that you can put on your sidebar to go with the post series!

Goodbye for now... see you when I get back! :)

The Open Book

My brother Steven has started a blog called "The Open Book". I love his blog title! He came up with that himself. :) I helped him design a header and he chose a background and it looks great! :D Please please please consider stopping by and leaving him a comment! :) I know he would be so thrilled. :)

Blogging is like a plague... it spreads from person to person. I got hooked, then roped my mom into blogging... and now Steven is continuing the trend! :D Wonder if I could convince my dad and my other brother mark to start blogs??? Hmmm.... *Wanders away, thinking deeply*

Blessings!

Currently I'm: Chipper!

Against The Flow - and What's On Julia's Desktop!

I have been awarded by Marissa and Madison! Thank you SO much, girls! :)

"This award goes to all of the people who are living a life for God and
going against the flow of what the world might tell them to do."

This award really meant a lot to me, because I so desire to be living for the Lord and going about my life the way he wants me to, not the way the world dictates us to.

Some bloggers I consider as fellow "Against The Flow" people are (in no certain order)

Jasmine

Ella

Breezy

Emily Rose

Rachel & Jessica

Mckenzie

Mia at Aspiring Homemaker

Laney

Amanda

Jocelyn

And most especially my dear mother, Gloria, who has raised me to care about what God thinks more than what the world around me thinks. Not an easy task, for sure!

These bloggers are thus awarded. :)

Unfortunately, while writing this post, I ran out of time! So if you are seeing this and your name is up there and you haven't gotten a comment from me, rest assured, I will comment as soon as possible letting you know! :D

And, for the next part of the post... Behold, the picture currently on our computer desktop!
I love this! I made it today on Scrapblog.com and thought it was just TOO CUTE! :D I love pink, I love flowers, I love flourishes, and I love to laugh. :) So this is perfect. :D It will definitely be on there for a while. :D (usually I change the computer desktop picture nearly every week!)

♥Love & Hugs!

Currently I feel: Grateful and Content.

Fun In The Sun

Today we went to a home-church group that we've been attending for a good while now, and I am so enjoying it!

After the service and a picnic lunch, my two brothers and I went and played "Mush Ball" (Softball except with very large ball) and then a rousing, energetic game of Ultimate Frisbee. We had such a great time! I really enjoyed being on the same team as my brothers. Unfortunately I left my camera at home so I don't have any pictures. If I did, you could see my blossoming sunburn. On the way home Steven - my youngest brother - asked me "Julia, why do you get so pink?" (lol - I wish I knew!) The boys don't burn as much as I do. :)

I also have a funny quote from the day... my dad caught a gigantic, enormous large-mouth bass (I wish I had a picture!!!!) at the lake near the host family's house, and it got held in the air for a while when it was shown to a large group of people down at the dock. Well, when it was gently swished in the water a bit and then let go, it suddenly flicked its tail and swam away.

An amazed youngster, who hadn't ever seen a fish released before, piped up and said "So what do they do, like ... die and come back to life???" (hee-hee!) I thought that was cute. :)

♥Love♥ and lots of ♥Hugs!♥

Right now I feel Amused by the Fish Quote, and slightly Tired from the events of the day! ;)

Fresh As A Daisy

Ta-Da!!

My lovely, sweet mom decided she wanted a new look on her blog for spring, so we put our heads together and she picked out a background and I designed a header to go with it. :) It was so much fun and the end result was, I think... wonderful! :D What do you think?

Please consider stopping by her blog and leaving her a comment if you like the new look. :)

Currently I am busily Working on a new "Water Lily" granny square (Yep, I'm definitely in a mad crocheting spree!) and feeling very Cheerful!

"Water Lily" Granny Square...

As you might be able to guess from my last post and this one, I have recently been crocheting - A lot. :) I tried a new pattern yesterday called the "Water Lily", and it has a (GASP!!) Three-Dimensional flower in the middle!

Observe:

I was SO excited when I finished this beautiful square... it was my first try learning anything from a 'pattern'. All my previous knowledge of crochet has come from first-person teaching. So I was so happy to discover that I could actually make something from a pattern, by myself! :)

Here's a better view of the flower in the center...

Since the pattern was called "Water Lily", I made the 'background' of the square out of a light vareigated blue, which gave it a nice ripply 'water' effect. :D

I am still waiting for my crochet pattern book to arrive in the mail ... I am really hoping that they're actually going to send it to me, not just take the money and leave it at that! :P

Anyway, I'm having such a delightful time crocheting these new granny square patterns. :)

Love & Hugs!

I'm feeling... very Creative! :D

'Willow' Granny Squares

My lovely friend Taylor- whose family met mine at the Botkin family/Christians at the Crossroads conference- pictured below with me (doesn't she look amazing in black and white?)......showed me how to crochet a new pattern of granny square called "Willow". I LOVE the pattern, it's fun to crochet and it looks gorgeous when you get it done!

Here are all the Willow squares I've made so far, displayed on top of the hope chest at the foot of my bed...

My original square was the pink one, and I branched out and made one in blue and green as well! I can't decide which design I like better. They're both pretty. :)
Taylor found the Willow pattern in this really neat book, which I have ordered and hope to get sometime next week.

I love to crochet, and granny squares are my absolute favorite thing to crochet, but all I knew how to do was the plain old original granny square, so I am SO excited about all these new patterns to try out! :)

I am feeling ... Creative and Excited!! :D

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Do you ever get 'lost' in all the things you have to do?

You should have seen my to-do-list today, it fills up an entire notebook page, and I had to categorize it to keep everything straight! My categories were "Housework", "Chores" (Which is different from 'housework') "Email", "Blog", (of course!) "Diet" and "Schoolwork". Sigh! I have so much to do.

But yet, I can keep a smile on my face, because the things under "Housework", are things that are helping my family and I am furthering my family's welfare by accomplishing them.

Oh yes, and "Chores" is good because without them the house would be a mess and there would be chaos and confusion everywhere.

"Schoolwork", when finished, can also bring a smile to my face because I know I have learned some new, important things and thereby am a smarter person. (LOL)

"Email" is wonderful, because it means I have some very dear friends to correspond with! It's a blessing that I have to write them all down so I can keep track of them all! Why am I complaining about that???

"Diet" is a great thing, because my body is profiting by it and I am feeling healthier and more fit because of the things underneath that section of my to-do list! Yay!

And then we come to my favorite section... "Blog"!! :D I love my blog(s)! They are a excellent means by which to meet other like-minded young ladies and also this blog, my "Journal", is my own little soapbox where I can share what I think to the world. My cooking blog is a sweet little place to have some fun sharing yummy recipes and handy tips. So what if I have to write a list of the things I plan to do so I can keep it all straight?

I should be rejoicing that I have all of these things to do, instead of feeling bogged down or weighed upon by all the different tasks I have yet to finish today! So, now that I have preached myself a little sermon, I am going to get up from this computer chair and go check off every item on my to-do list as I do it with a happy heart, realizing that I am a blessed girl to have those things to check off. :)

I found that amusing little 'post-it-note' on Miss Jocelyn's blog and she graciously said I could use it. :)



I am currently: Busy, and Working, But yet... I am Happy!! :)

The Post With All The Awards...

I have five awards that have stacked up on me! Oh my! :) I am honored, but this means a lot of work! :) Here goes...

Thanks Madison! Behold the Gold Star Blog Award...


I am awarding the Gold Star Blog award to Laney @ Got Freckles, Amber @ HorseyGirl, Zoe @ Horses R My Life, and Lauren Ann @ Beside Quiet Waters.

Thank You Madison! This one is beautiful! The "One Lovely Blog" award...

I am awarding the One Lovely Blog Award to Jenna @ My Strength and Song, Rachel & Jessica@ Young Homemakers, Mckenzie @ Pecan Pastures, Bethany @ Polished Cornerstone, Katherine @ Pure In Heart, Emily Rose @ Simply Vintagegirl, and Breezy @ A Bowl of Moss and Pebbles.

Thank you Rachel! "The Lovey Award"

I am awarding the Lovey Award to Joelle @ A Stroll Through Delirium, Mckenzie @ Pecan Pastures, Lydia @ A Ray of Optimism, and The Meiners @ The Meiners' Blog.

Thank you Rachel! I am deeply honored! "The Godly Blog Award"

I am awarding the Godly Blog Award to Jasmine @ Joyfully Home, Ella @ All Because of Grace, Kaysie @ Alabaster Box, Mia @ Aspiring Homemaker, Madison @ Madison's Musings, Amanda @ The Daily Planet, and Jocelyn @ A Pondering Heart.


Thank you Rachel! The "Excellence in Blogcasting" award...

I am awarding the Excellence in Blogcasting award to Breezy @ A bowl of Moss and Pebbles, Amanda @ The Daily Planet, Jocelyn @ A Pondering Heart, and Madison @ Madison's Musings.


I am very sorry about my lack of links, but if you look on my sidebar you will find the blogs and names named. (I couldn't do all the links! It would have taken forever!)

I also want to do something that Madison did on her blog, which I thought was so sweet. To my blogging friends, (You're my friend if I've left you a comment) if I neglected to award you with one of these awards and you think it's just so neat, consider yourself awarded by me. :)

Blessings!

~Miss Julia

I am feeling Very Rushed!!