4th of July party

Last night I went to the Dalton's house for a big party they were having. We had TONS of fun, especially doing fireworks!! They had probably at least $300 worth of fireworks, and David Bauer, Matt McLuaughlin, Tom Dilly, and I lit them off. Also there was a really fun man there from Nigeria who was more excited about the fireworks than the kids were because they don't do fireworks over there. He got to light some off as well :)


here is a video of some of the fireworks we did. This was kinda the grand finale. We had a LOT of these kind of things there :) I got a really cool fountain (that's it in the first picture) that changed colors, and made stars, and bangs and all kinds of stuff like that, it was the best fountain there :) other than that I only had a few of the cool kind of fireworks there, mostly I was just lighting theirs.

We had lots of good food, and after our firework show we watched the Rolla city firework display which was about a mile or so away from their house. I had a really good time, though I wish more people had been there, because a lot of my best friends were doing other things :(
Anyway, that's basically it, I didn't get many pictures of the fireworks because I was the one lighting a lot of them off..

Happy Independance Day! (aka explosives day for us guys...)

Happy Fourth of July!

Remember that even though we may not like some of the things that the government is doing, and even if we are not as "free" as we're supposed to be, we have more freedom in this country than pretty much any other nation in the world.

Also, remember those fighting for our country, and their families as they are celebrating this holiday thousands of miles away from each other.

"It is only because rough men stand willing to do violent deeds that people can sleep peacefully in their beds at night in America"

Something that really bugs me is when people become almost Anti-American just because they don't like what's going on in politics. Sure, the government is kinda screwed up sometimes, but that doesn't give you the right to hate the country you live in. As a military personnel, like nearly all service men and women, I hold my patriotism very dear, even with my very life. It's sad to see how many people sit down, hats on, and talk while the national anthem is playing. While you don't have to stand at rigid attention arms presented, and all that a soldier has to do, you should at least give the flag some respect, if only in remembrance of the thousands of lives spent to protect that flag and the freedom that it symbolizes.

Have a great Independence Day! Remember what this day is all about, and the lives of so many who have sacrificed themselves "to protect and defend the constitution and the United States against all intruders both foreign and domestic"

Family Picture day

This morning we all went to Ha-Ha Tonka State Park to get family pictures taken. I'd rather do it in the fall when everything is pretty, but I'd be gone then, so we wanted to get some pix before I leave ;)

I don't have any of those pix, but I practiced my portrait shooting skills on myself, along with natural objects ;)

Here are a few of the pictures I took. Hope you enjoy! you can skip over the ones of me ;) hehe

The "castle" ruins

So there was this guy there with a kinda cool oldies car, and he let my mom sit in it to get her picture taken :) I go there too late to get a pic with her in it, but John, the guy taking our pix did :)

Two little butterflies posing for me 

The spring that supplied running water via a water tower to the house, stables, servant's quarters etc..

Three cute little girls ;) yes I called you a cute little girl Kristin.. hehe

This waterfall was actually like 300 feet down below where I was standing. I just zoomed in on it.

A swallowtail on a flower

A beautiful little glade up near the old water tower

Eric cried a lot when we were trying to get his picture, but he was all happy for me :D

Ok, here is the first of a bunch of pictures I took of myself. I just pushed the button and ran REALLY fast to get in the picture.. lol ok, so I had 10 seconds, but.. anyway.. lol

The water tower

Part of the Castle/mansion ruins

More of the same

Plain old boring me again

And again...

This one is cool because you can't see me!! j/k

That weird guy who kept letting me take his picture..

There he is again!

The BIG window!! lol

I really like this picture of me. I always look better when I'm not looking at the camera for some reason.. lol

Mark's Graduation Party

Yesterday (saturday the 28th) was Mark Hickle's graduation party. There were a lot of people there that I had not seen for a long time :) I had Meagan Reifer take a bunch of pictures with my camera :) thanks Meg! you got quite a few good ones! 

Here are a few of them..

Ok, This is a really interesting game calle "Buck-buck" where basically you try ot get a whole bunch of guys piled on top of some other guys.. it sounds weird but actually it was quite fun. :)

My darling little sister :)

Me being weird as usual.. but at least I'm not ever boring.. lol

I'm not sure what I was laughing about.. 

Umm... feet... yeah... I'm not sure, but it looks like a Joy or Anna Nisbett, and one of the Nail girl's feet.. lol interesting picture.. haha

A morning walk on the farm..

This morning I decided to get up early and go on a walk before I went to work. I've been needing some prayer time, and I always pray best outside :) Something I've been noticing lately is that there are a lot of things that God is trying to work on in my life, but I get so caught up in my busy day-to-day life that I forget to listen to Him. I've been letting my friends down in ways I shouldn't, I've been ignoring little things about myself that I need to work on, and in some ways, I've acted like I was too busy for God. I'm sure all of you have been there, I know I do it all too much.. So anyways, this morning I decided to spend some time soaking up His wonderful creation at my favorite time of day- just before sunrise through about 30 minutes after sunrise. I brought along my camera so you can see some of what I saw :) For me photography forces me to slow down and pay attention to what I'm seeing as I'm looking for that perfect shot. However, my card reader is out in my van, so I'll put the pix up later. Sometimes just a short walk like that can do a lot for me! I was feeling all down about my life, but by the time I finished my walk I was happy again :)
Many of you have heard bits and pieces, or maybe even a lot of the things that I've been going through lately in my life, and one thing I REALLY have to work on is contentment. I have never been the most patient person in the world, in some ways it's been good, because I get things done quickly, but in others, I need to work on it. Particularly in the area of loneliness I feel every day of my life called being single. I see many of my friends in relationships, and start wishing soo badly that I could be there too, but again, I need to learn to let God use me right where He has me now instead of trying to be where He has other people. I find myself doing my utmost to put myself there, when really God is not ready for me to be in that season of life yet. I could use your prayers in this area in particular, because of all the discontentments in my life, this is by far the one I struggle with the most.

Another thing that really has been a problem with me lately is that if I'm feeling down I want my friends to feel the same way with me, so I'll say different things to make them be sad with me, without even realizing that that is what I'm doing. Spending time with God really helps me "learn to be content with where I am, and getting where I need to be" as Relient K puts it. Sometimes I feel like I am left out of the loop, because I don't do as much social interaction as some of my friends do, but then I have to remind myself that I always have God, and there is no better company than Him. Something that is really strange about me is that I often feel like people don't like me, or don't want to be around me. For one thing, I'm sure that's just an illusion, and besides that, I always could be spending that time with God, because He will never be too busy for me!! :)One of the local names for this flower is hobo pea. However, I'm not sure what it's actual common name is. Lovely flowers nonetheless.I'm not sure, but if I remember correctly these are Blue Vervain.. whatever they are, they sure were proclaiming their creator!Psalm 19:1 ..The heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft..

A Black-eyed Susan that posed for me ;)

I'v always liked daisies, even though they are not the most beautiful of flowers, they always seem to make me happy :)

I know, these aren't the best of pictures, but right now I'm dealing with a fairly cheap camera, and this was like the second time I've ever used that camera, so I'm not used to it yet.

I think something I would like to challenge you all to do is try to get up early at least once a week and go on a walk with God. Don't try to go sit on the couch with God, because you will most likely fall asleep. Besides, at least for me I feel a lot closer to God when I'm out in His creation. Maybe for those in the blogosphere, take a camera and take time to slow down and appreciate each little part of the beauty of nature, take a picture, thank God for those little things, and share it with the rest of us. I think that if everybody would do this, a lot of problems would be solved. Let me know your thoughts on the idea, I think it would be good, but who knows, maybe you won't ;)

Well, there you have it, "confessions of a teenage Christian" lol
God bless you in a special way today!! (or tonight depending on when you read it..)