Potato Soup Anyone

Tonight for dinner the little sisters and I made some fabulous potato soup. If I do say so myself. The littles were very helpful especially when it came to stirring constantly the soup, so it wouldn't burn on the bottom.

Here we are chopping onions, carrots and celery.

adding the chicken broth

Contemplating the recipe.

Hannah chopped some salad lettuce for us.

Abby chopped some cucumbers.

Soup Anyone? Mmmm...

Weekend Wanderings

Hiking is fun. hiking 11 miles on trails that are rated a 7 out of 10 in hardness is fun and exhausting. Rebeca and I made fun of our selves near the end saying "When we first started this hike we were running and skipping and talking and laughing... Now... We are just dying!" haha but no seriously, it was fun! We decided to be adventurous and go hiking. We went to Caesars Head National Park. Somehow we made it with out getting lost. (We didn't get lost till we got to the parking lot and then b/c of a lack of communication with each other we got lost... in the parking lot! Of all places...)haha Here are some pictures from our lovely, grueling hike.

After we hiked we drove 30 minutes to Brevard, NC where we found a dinky little gas station that we could change out of our hiking clothes into something cute. We went into the gas station but didn't see a bathroom so we asked the country boy behind the counter if they had a bathroom he pointed and we both walked into the 1 person bathroom together. Rebeca kept saying "Oh my gosh this is going to look so weird! They are going to think we are so weird!" I kept saying "Oh who cares what they think!" ( I just really didn't want either of us to have to stand out in that gas station alone!) It was kinda funny when a few minutes later we both emerged from the bathroom in totally different outfits than when we went in. We got in the car and drove to the cute little down town area of Brevard. We were both ravenous from our hike so we went into Mayberrys and had some heavenly Potato Soup!

After we left Brevard we drove an hour to see Bailey our sweet friend who attends Bob Jones University! I was soooo happy to see her! Bailey took us all over campus and showed us everything and told us all kinds of funny and interesting stories about college life.

Then we drove 2 hours home and immediatey went to bed at midnight. And that my friends was our weekend wanderings!

Praying For The Saints.

I had the privilege to go to Zambia, Africa this May on a mission trip with Overland Missions.

Before I went on the trip I had always known that missions go on and that God is working but it was never very tangible. It was all happening so far away. I was disconnected from the lives of those who served on the mission field. Now that I am back from the field I stay more connected with the organization I went with. Therefore I am now more connected with those on the field. And because I am more connected I see, as the Psalmist David said "The goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." I am so encouraged and blessed as I read the testimonies of those on the field about the break-throughs the healings and the greatest miracle of all, the salvation of many. Now that I am home people ask me where am I going next? Honestly I can not say that I feel led to go any where "next" right now. What I do feel lead to do right now, is pray. Now that I know the needs and have been made aware of what is going on. I have the privilege to be apart of that still through my prayers. 1 Timothy 2:1 "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men." The fact is that just as important as the workers of the harvest(Luke 2:10 "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.") are needed, James 5:16 "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." The Missionaries (The workers) out in the fields need strength and encouragement. They need provision and wisdom and straight out miracles. Ephesians 6:12 "They are not struggling against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." It is important to pray the blood of the lamb(Revelation 12:10-11) over spiritual darkness. That the devils plans may be thwarted. The saints need our prayers. I am so thankful that I had such an eye opening opportunity. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Psalm 150

Hay Bales

One of my favorite times of the year comes in the Fall. When the neighbors get on their tractor and cut the grass out in the cow pasture. Then they roll the grass in to hay bales. I love the way the hay bales look speckled across the green field.

(The extra bonus comes when they line the hay bales up and we go hay bale jumping while playing tag!) ;)

Day 12 - Someone You Miss

I miss our neighbors, the Bausums. They lived next to us for the first 15 years of my life.

The Bausum kids(who are not kids any more) baby sat us and played with us and took us on golf cart rides every day after we finished our school work. Sarah taught me ballet classes and one night when she babysat us I was scared and couldn't go to sleep so she told me God's angels were around the house with bazooka guns and that I didn't have to be afraid.(For some reason that has always stuck in my head.) Joy taught me a song so I would know all the continents. And when she wasn't on a mission trip we would go on walks and scrap book and make cards together. She introduced me to Overland Missions. (I just went on a mission trip with Overland this past May.) Rachel and Charity taught me how to do my make up and tweeze my eyebrows .(They were all like the big sisters I never had.) And Mrs. Patty taught me all kinds of things. She always tells me she loves me as one of her own. (I kinda hung out at their house a lot.) All of them have sown into my life spiritually. And I am forever thankful for that.

By 2010 some of the Bausums had been married and moved to different states. Sarah got married behind our house in our field.

It took me a while to warm up to Matthew(Sarah's husband) because I knew he was going to marry my Sarah and whisk her away to NC where I would never see her again. But we are cool now. We talked about it and now Matthew lets me crash at their house every once in a while so I can visit with Sarah.

By Summer 2010 Mr. Danny and Mrs. Patty Bausum moved from their home I had always known them in to a home in North Carolina. Sometimes I cry because I miss them. It took a lot of getting used to not having them a skip and a jump through the woods. But it's not so bad. North Carolina is not that far away. So I can just drive on up to see them when I am desperate for some Bausum quality time. In August 2010 Joy was on a mission trip when she fell ill and on August 18th she passed away. She was 27 years old. That was much harder to adjust to. Because you can't exactly drive to heaven when ever you miss some one really bad. Sometimes I think about how I will never see her again.I cry often. But then God always whispers to me "You do not grieve as one who has no hope." Joy was one of my best friends. (However I think a lot of people feel that she was their best friend because she was just that kind of person.) She always made me feel valued. Memories are a precious thing. I did a lot of things with Joy and I treasure those memories.

Joy always loved birthdays! For my sweet 16 birthday she along with her cousin, my BFF Mary, had a surprise party for me.

Her focus was Jesus. Her Passion was to reach people with the life changing message of Jesus Christ. Her life verse was James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." In her 27 years she made it to 26 countries with that message.

I miss the Bausums. I miss Joy. I look forward to the day when we will all be together rejoicing in heaven!

Day 11 - Something Unusual

Mrs. Tammie. I mean whats not unusual about a lady with lemon hair, who is a coupon aholic,and spends most of her time hanging out with teenagers!?( She doesn't really have lemon hair we just say that to make her mad!)

Yes Mrs. Tammie is unusual... But In the Best Way Ever! Not only because she goes to CVS with her coupons and comes back with tons of free make-up and shampoo and then lets me have what ever I like from her pile of treasures. And not just because it's my goal to make it to all 50 states and she has taken me to lot of states I have never been to before.

And notjust because she hangs out with a bunch of teenagers all the time taking them to do really fun things like Ice skating.

And zip lining

And 24 hours of Black Friday shopping

And tubing down a river.

But also because she prays for me. Encourages me. Motivates me to memorize scripture. She is always giving. Whether it's her time, or advice or furniture or cookies and pie or stuff she got couponing or sparkling things. She loves me and And I love her! And she gave birth to one of my best friends!!!

And these are some of the reasons why Mrs. Tammie is unusual... In The Best Way Ever!!!

Day 10 - The Weather

The Weather Currently Is Per-fect!!! Go watch this video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_v9MY_FMcw (You are going to have to copy and paste that link because I have not figured out how to make it fancy where you can just click on it and get there.) You can just start at 1:30 and watch it till 1:54 if you don't want to watch the whole thing. That's how you need to say Per-fect.

Health ( Disclaimer- I have nothing to prove I know anything about health. This is just tid-bits I have picked up from people, books and internet here and there.)

The more Alkaline your body is the healthier you are. The more acidic your body the more un-healthy you are. So the more Alkaline foods you eat the more alkaline your body will be. Here is a list of Alkaline foods. Eat these and live! And a list of Acidic foods. Eat them and slowly but surely destroy your body.

Day 9- Your Favorite Thing To Do Right Now

(Racks Brain) What have I been doing lately?! Well every time I get home from work or any where else I immediately open my computer, go to Pandora and put it on "Put Your Records On" Radio Which might be the best station EVER! It plays other artists like Ingrid Michaelson, Maroon 5, Colby Caillat, Jason Mraz,John Mayer, Plain White T's and Corrine Bailey Rae(Who actually sings Put Your Records On) Also I have been making jewelry a lot lately in preparation for some Christmas Laura Kaye Collection's jewelry shows. Speaking of which if you are interested in having a jewelry party just let me know! (There is free jewelry in it for you!) Here is a little sneak peek of a few things I have made.

Being spontaneous and doing fun things I have done a lot lately with my besties Rebeca and Mary.

Like Friday night we were at Mary's house and she said "Yall lets get dressed up and go downtown Columbia!" So we did... We thought we were all cool walking down town on a Friday night... till we found our selves giggling in the back corner of a yogurt shop. Then we were like "Oh yeah we are so cool and grown up siting here in the back corner eating our yogurt!" Whatever, we had fun! =D

Day 8 - 5 Things from your bucket list

I have a good many things on my bucket list. Here are 5 things that I have actually completed on my bucket list. 1. See an African Sunset.

2. See Victoria Falls.

3. Ride a motorcycle.

4.Run a Half Marathon.

And for number 5.I have not completed this one but I am working on it. I want to go to all 50 states I have made it to 18 and D.C. So little over a third of the way there!