Friday, April 19, 2013

Sweet Sixteen

My sweet sixteen is coming up June 5th.  I am so excited, but I don't know what I want to do to celebrate.  So I wondered if you guys had any ideas.

If you've already had you sweet sixteen, what did you do?  Would you change anything? If you haven't had your sweet sixteen yet, do you have a theme in mind.  What is your best birthday memory?
Thank you for your thoughts, I can't wait to hear your ideas!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Blogiversary and 100th post

Actually this is my 102nd post.  Anyway It was my blogiversary on April 8th! And I didn't even notice! Two huge milestones and I didn't even notice... Sometimes I am surprised I have so many followers, because when it comes to keeping a schedule or remembering important dates I am a terrible blogger.

So, to all my followers thank you for following and thank you for an awesome first year in the bloggy world!
Ok, so normally for such a huge milestone I would do a giveaway or contest but since I am on vacation that'll have to wait (I will plan one for the future though).
So for my 100th post I am going to tell you my 4 random thoughts about 4 random things because...well I am to lazy to think of anything cool....aha just kidding...but seriously.

Best color: Blue. Because it makes me think of water. and...water is good because it helps you stay hydrated and without hydration you die....so really, blue represents the essence of life...but seriously blue is awesome.

via
Best drink: Chocolate Milk.  Its a combination of the one of the best things with a mediocre thing, chocolate(being the best) and milk(being mediocre). Which raises he question, what if you combined chocolate and blue which is another awesome thing. or just combine chocolate and water and just call if life chocolate. That would sell for like, Millions. People would be like "Whoa, gotta get me some of that life chocolate mmmmmmhm. yummy!" And then I would be a millionaire and move to New Zealand where there's no internet and you would never have to read my stupid ramblings again.

via
Best childhood Show: Blue's Clues. Like the old Blue's Clues with Steve not Joe.  And notice that Blue is the color blue which makes him awesome. And Steve wore a green shirt which is another cool color.

Most annoying thing in world: Pull or Push doors.  Why can't they be both, I always push on pull doors and pull on push doors. maybe its just me but I think all doors should be pull AND push doors.  Because people like me who can only handle one thing at a time can't walk and read the sign that says pull or push at the same time.  To help you better understand my thought process I have created a flowchart.


 Does anyone else have this problem?

Well if I had any followers, I probably scared them all off...HAHAHA...wow I am slaphappy I probably shouldn't be bloging... Ok all that rambling was just rambling I really am a completely sane person :) Part of the reason all the rambling was so crazy is because I drank an entire liter of pop and realized it was caffeinated, hiked six miles and made cookies, not necessarily in that order (I seriously did all that today, well actually I did them yesterday because this is a scheduled post so I am writing this on Saturday and you're probably reading it on Sunday)

Have a blessed Sunday and Thank you for Celebrating my first Blogiversary with me.




Thursday, April 11, 2013

Animal Dietary Habits

This is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time.  I was in tears at one point.
 
Comment and tell me which animal you thought was the funniest.
Hope you enjoyed!
-Laura

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Shadows, Ladybugs, and Cherryblossoms.

Well, we made it safely to West Virginia! It is so incredibly nice, yesterday it was 80 degrees!  When we left Ohio there was still snow on the ground, so it is definitely nice to have a break from the freezing weather.  How warm is it where you guys live? Do any of you still have snow?

Anyway, we are staying in a two story condo, which sounds big, but with ten people it can seem crowded sometimes. The best part is that we have a huge jacuzzi which is awesome!  A not so great part of vacationing in the mountains in spring is that all the bugs are starting to come out of their winter homes, especially the ladybugs.  There are ladybugs on like every window (on the inside), and by every door, fortunately they are looking for a way to get out not in.

Yesterday we went to Washington D.C. and it was amazing!  I don't really like big cities, but our nation's capitol is so incredible.   The cherry-blossoms were blooming and it was so gorgeous.  First, we went to the Air and Space museum, then Rebekah and I went to the American Indian Smithsonian Museum while the rest of my family went to Ford's theater (Where Abraham Lincoln was Assassinated). After that we went to the sculpture garden which was amazing because there was a huge pool in the middle with lots of fountians, and we put our feet in the water.  It felt so good because both mine and Rebekah's feet hurt so bad from walking all day.  Our last stop before grabbing dinner at the old post office's food court was the Natural History Museum. (I will post some of the pictures later)

Ok, so this is our third day here, Tuesday was our second day, and that was when we went to Washington D.C., and Monday was our first day.  On Monday we went swimming, drew with chalk, and as the sun went down we played with our shadows.  I was taking pictures for Rebekah and her Fashion blog and noticed how awesome the shadows were so I grabbed some of my siblings and caught some cool pics.  (the quality of the pics aren't really that good because they were taken with my sister's phone.) Anyway, here are some of the best ones:





The last two pictures are their superhero poses! I think my family would be an awesome superhero rescue team!


 Hope you enjoyed. Do you have a favorite picture?
-Laura

Friday, April 5, 2013

I'm a tadpole.

Let me explain, last night when I was saying goodnight to my mom she found a great article(@DesiringGod).  It was written by pastor John Piper (you may have heard of him) and I recommend that everyone read it.  It's pretty long, but very good, and if you read it all the way through my title will make sense :)

So without further ado:

Letter to an Incomplete, Insecure Teenager

 
via



"Four years ago a teenager in our church wrote to me for advice about life in general, and identity in particular. Here is what I wrote, with a big dose of autobiography for illustration.
Dear ________,
My experience of coming out of an introverted, insecure, guilty, lustful, self-absorbed adolescent life was more like the emergence of a frog from a tadpole than a butterfly from a larva.
Larvae disappear into their cocoons and privately experience some inexplicable transformation with no one watching (it is probably quite messy in there) and then the cocoon comes off and everyone says oooo, ahhh, beautiful. It did not happen like that for me.
Frogs are born teeny-weeny, fish-like, slimy, back-water-dwellers. They are not on display at Sea World. They might be in some ritzy hotel's swimming pool if the place has been abandoned for 20 years and there's only a foot of green water in the deep end.
But little by little, because they are holy frogs by predestination and by spiritual DNA (new birth), they swim around in the green water and start to look more and more like frogs.
First, little feet come out on their side. Weird. At this stage nobody asks them to give a testimony at an Athletes in Action banquet.
Then a couple more legs. Then a humped back. The fish in the pond have already pulled back: "Hmmm," they say, "this does not look like one of us any more." A half-developed frog fits nowhere.
But God is good. He has his plan and it is not to make this metamorphosis easy. Just certain. There are a thousand lessons to be learned in the process. Nothing is wasted. Life is not on hold waiting for the great coming-out. That's what larvae do in the cocoon. But frogs are public all the way though the foolishness of change.
I think the key for me was finding help in the Apostle Paul and C. S. Lewis and my father, all of whom seemed incredibly healthy, precisely because they were so absolutely amazed at everything but themselves.
They showed me that the highest mental health is not liking myself but being joyfully interested in everything but myself. They were the type of people who were so amazed that people had noses—not strange noses, just noses—that walking down any busy street was like a trip to the zoo. O yes, they themselves had noses, but they couldn’t see their own. And why would they want to? Look at all these noses they are free to look at! Amazing.
The capacity of these men for amazement was huge. I marveled and I prayed that I would stop wasting so much time and so much emotional energy thinking about myself. Yuk, I thought. What am I doing? Why should I care what people think about me. I am loved by God Almighty and he is making a bona fide high-hopping frog out of me.
The most important text on my emergent frogishness became 2 Corinthians 3:18 -
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
This was one of the greatest secrets I ever discovered: Beholding is becoming.
Introspection must give way to amazement at glory. When it does, becoming happens. If there is any key to maturity it is that. Behold your God in Jesus Christ. Then you will make progress from tadpole to frog. That was a great discovery.
Granted, (so I thought) I will never be able to speak in front of a group, since I am so nervous. And I may never be married, because I have too many pimples. Wheaton girls scare the bejeebies out of me. But God has me in his hand (Philippians 3:12) and he has a plan and it is good and there is a world, seen and unseen, out there to be known and to be amazed at—why would I ruin my life by thinking about myself so much?
Thank God for Paul and Lewis and my dad! It’s all so obvious now. Self is simply too small to satisfy the exploding longings of my heart. I wanted to taste and see something great and wonderful and beautiful and eternal.
It started with seeing nature and ended with seeing God. It started in literature, and ended in Romans and Psalms. It started with walks through the grass and woods and lagoons, and ended in walks through the high plains of theology. Not that nature and literature and grass and woods and lagoons disappeared, but they became more obviously copies and pointers.
The heavens are telling the glory of God. When you move from heavens to the glory of God, the heavens don’t cease to be glorious. But they are un-deified, when you discover what they are saying. They are pointing. “You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy” (Psalm 65:8).
What are the sunrise and sunset shouting about so happily? Their Maker! They are beckoning us to join them. But if I am grunting about the zit on my nose, I won’t even look out the window.
So my advice is: be patient with the way God has planned for you to become a very happy, belly-bumping frog. Don’t settle for being a tadpole or a weird half-frog. But don’t be surprised at the weirdness and slowness of the process either.
How did I become a preacher? How did I get married? God only knows. Incredible. So too will your emergence into what you will be at 34 be incredible. Just stay the course and look. Look, look. There is so much to see. The Bible is inexhaustible. Mainly look there. The other book of God, the unauthoritative one—nature—is also inexhaustible. Look. Look. Look. Beholding the glory of the Lord we are being changed.
I love you and believe God has great froggy things for you. Don’t worry about being only a high-hopping Christlike frog. Your joy comes from what you see.
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
There is another metamorphosis awaiting. It just gets better and better. God is infinite. So there will always be more of his glory for a finite mind to see. There will be no boredom in eternity.
Affectionately,
Pastor John"

Hope you enjoyed and have a great week!
-Laura

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

To Live is an Awfully Great Adventure...

I am homeshooled, and I take several online classes with an online christian school (the Potter's school) and last night was registration night for the school year 2013-2014.  Anyway, I was sitting next my mom, who was signing me (and my sister cat) up for our classes.  We were talking about school, and then mom started talking about the college class that I was going to be taking this year.  I know we had talked about it before but I forgot so it kinda suprised me when she said it, then she was like maybe you should more then one class this year. And also I am going to be taking the ACT test in the fall. Then in 2015 I'M GRADUATING!!!!!!!!!!!! THEN ITS OFF TO COLLEGE, AND THEN GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE.  AND BEFORE I KNOW IT I'LL BE 50 WITH A HEALTHCARE PLAN, A HUSBAND, CHILDREN, A GRANDCHILD, AND MAYBE A CAT (a big fuzzy white cat).
And as I was sitting next to mom thinking all this I turned to my mom and said,

Ok, I really didn't say that, but I was thinking it.  I just kinda scared myself because I think I'm growing up to fast! Because I really am graduating in 2015 and that's not to far away!

Speaking of Peter Pan, (I love Peter Pan) I would like to finish this post by ending with some of my favorite quotes because Neverland is place where you never have to grow up. (oh and btw the title of this post is also a quote from Peter Pan)





Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Happy Easter!

Hey everyone!  Hope you're having a great week!  And for those of you who are on spring break, I hope you are having fun.  My family is on spring break next week, because we are going on vacation in West Virginia. Is your family doing anything fun for spring break?  We are going to a mountian resort in the mountains,(ok I guess if its a mountain resort it's obvisouly in the mountains.) It's nothing fancy, but it's really nice for a family vacation, and hopefully it will be a little warmer down there.  Saturday and Sunday it was in the 50s, which is really warm for Ohio, but then on Monday the tempature dropped back down to the 30s BRRRRRR.  I love snow, but I am definitely ready for summer!
Even though it is still really cold up here in Ohio, it did warm up a bit for Easter.  This was our first Easter with the new kids and it went really well.  We went to church, then went home and took family pictures, which takes our family hours because one kid always has their tongue sticking out or their eyes crossed.  And when we thought we had enough pictures, mom looked at the pictures she noticed that the lamp directly behind dad was sticking up behind his head a made it look like he was wearing a crazy hat.  After that we had to take a second round of pictures.  Later in the day, my aunt, uncle, and cousin came over for Easter linner (our Easter meal isn't during the time of lunch or dinner just kinda in between so its linner).  Then we had our traditional egg hunt.  All  the kids go wait in another room while mom and dad hide the Easter eggs, this year since we have so many kids in our family we had a two part egg hunt.  The three little kids, and my little cousin looked for their eggs in the living room, once everyone had found six, the five oldest (except for rebekah who is to cool for to look for her easter eggs) went up to the attic (which doubles as a playroom) to find their eggs.  The rest of the day we played cards, ate dessert, and watched a movie.  Also, some of the kids went out and worked on their forts in the woods, (I was going to go out, but I was still in my dress and didn't feel like changing.)  Speaking of my dress, I just got it from JcPenny's and Love it!   Rebekah@FindingInspiration took a picture of it for me, what do you think?

What did your family do for Easter?  What some of your family traditions?
Have a great week!

XOXO, Laura

Monday, March 18, 2013

Happy Monday #5

YAY! Happy Monday is back!  Oh, and by the way Happy late St. Patrick's Day!

Love this Movie!

I do this ALL the time.

This would be the coolest treehouse ever.

I love the octopus one.

Aww Winnie the Pooh <3

Favorite character from the Hobbit. 


Love Iron man's outift.



I'm sorry guys I just don't like instagram at all.


O_o Is 16 to old to have a LotR party? :) these are so cool.



I cry everytime I see this movie.






LOVE these


Tardis cat tree! My sister needs this.


Love this show!

I wish my bathtub lit up! this would be so cool!
Hope you have a Happy Monday!
-Laura

Friday, March 15, 2013

I'm BACK!

 Sorry, for my unannounced bloggy break.  So, the kids have been home for over 5 months now and things are going so well.  (Just in case you haven't read my previous posts, we just adopted 3 kids [1 girl, and 2 boys] from Ukraine.)  Anyway, the kids are adjusting so well, it is such a blessing. I am so excited to be back posting, I have so many pictures to share!  Here are a few:

Oh, And Rebekah thanks everyone who wished her a happy birthday!  Just a heads up, I will be redesigning my blog soon, it still says autumn 2012 :P wow I am behind.
-Laura