*July 4th*

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. My life has just gotten super exciting, well exciting to me!!! An amazing young man and I have started a courtship relationship! Yes, I am super excited, but don't plan on blogging every step of the way. Sorry to you all, please forgive me. I know it would be interesting, but I just really need to focus on this new chapter God has opened in my life right now. It truly is wonderful, and I feel so blessed!!! So blog posts will be few and far between, kinda like they are now. I may still post every once in a while though. Also, let me know if you have any questions about anything. I know we have already been asked different things, especially since we are doing what we believe to be biblical courtship, and that is much different from what most people do today.

So onto July 4th.... It was wonderful. I hope you all had a great one too! I am so thankful for the men and women who have sacrificed so we could be free! This truly is the greatest country on earth!
I went to spend time with a great guy! His church has a big bbq and plays some firce volleyball afterwards. So that was super fun, and of course I do have some pics. Yay!!!

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"We live in a country the greatest on earth where the flag stands for freedom and what it is worth. She stand in our harbor Miss Liberty calls, All have given some but some gave it all, so we could be blessed!"

More...

...AND.... the moment we've all been waiting for (not really)...... the remaining camp pictures I said I would post... finally!!! Today I made a collage on our church bulletin board with them all. It looks so cute!!!

I have been completely consumed this week with designing another website for the business I work for. It has been quite the experience, but I have learned a lot from it and have suprisingly enjoyed it; being able to be creative with it. Hopefully I will have it finished next week so we can launch it. By the way {COMMERCIAL}, our main website is having 15% off sitewide this weekend. If you need any skincare products come check it out www.greatskin.com . Well have a great week!

Silly children. They all have amazing personalitites which made it so much fun to travel with them!

Awww!

Thursday night they had a basketball game, the winning senior campers boys basketball team against the men that were counselors. It was really fun to watch, and the counselors even won. I did hear a lot of whining afterwards of them being sore though. = )

My mom and I, and some sweet girls we know.

Our boys we took from our chruch.

yumm... Taco Villa, but I still like Allsup's burritos better... I know, gross so I have been told.

A short clip of the basketball game. It was hard to get anything in the dark.

Cedar Hills 2012 Sneak Peek

Whew... I just got back from a long, but super fantastic, week at camp. We started out with a lot more kids from our chrurch saying they were going than actually went, but God had the ones go that He wanted. The messages preached by Bro. Johnson were such a blessing this year, and I know God did work in many hearts and lives, which that is the whole purpose! This year there were 280 campers from 14 different churches, which is the most they have had. It just keeps growing every year! I feel so blessed to have been able to go and help with the different activities and kids.
The first day I helped judge the singing competitions, there were some very talented teenagers there.. wow!!! Then I signed up boys for the basketball shootout and kept their points, and ended up with a not so nice sunburn (althoguh I did put on sunscreen, working in skincare I know better, it just wore off and I didn't have time to reapply, whoa that was a rabbit trail). I was also one of the judges of the songleading competitions, helped one of my friends with the Jr. girls volleyball games, and helped tally up all the points to find who placed what in the music competitions. Last year I only had one girl camper, and it was my first year going, actually just a few months after I had move here, so I didn't know people that well and wasn't asked to help with anything. This year I thought it would be like just watching our boys when they competed, playing the piano for them, and then my brother and I had to sing a special one night. But....... as soon as I got there, "Katherine, can you judge singing competitions in 20 minutes?" Then it just went from there. I love helping and serving though so it was really a blessing, and I am so glad I went!!! Sorry, I will stop ramblign on now here some pictures I will post some more throughout the week too. Have an amzing weekend ya'll!!!

One major highlight, is the arm wrestling competitions Tuesday and Wednesday nights. So fun watching!!! I love their faces in this picture, they are both looking intensely competitive!

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Stay tuned, more pictures coming soon to a blog near you!

Yay... Summer!!!

Is anyone else stoked that it is finally summer!!! I am... very!!! Even though I have been working enough to make anyone go insane! I am absolutely loving my job, well jobs actually.

Last week I got a new phone which is super exciting! I still had a dumb phone(non-smart phone) from high school, so this was a major upgrade. I absolutely am lovin everything about it, but I have gotten addicted to angry birds, yikes. So the phone I got is the HTC Rhyme, it is Android, so that has been fun too.

This is the stock picture of my super cute little phone. They only had it in this plum color, which wouldn't be my first choice. I put a really cute aqua case on it though so now it is fabulously cute!!!

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I am getting ready to take some kidsters to camp in a week, which will be very exciting. Last year we had a really amazing time, and it is soooo good for all the kids. This is one of the best camps I have been to, it is just run really great. I am really praying that God works this year in mighty ways with these kids! These are some pictures from last year. It was really a blessing to go since I had only been here for a few months. I really built good relationships with the kids and had a great time with them. We will also have some new ones coming this year (exciting!!!), so they will have to get used to our complete craziness too, I know will have a good time though.

I taught them how to play volleyball which turned out to be pretty funny!

Playin' basketball.

They won lots of awards especially in the sports section. Our kids are fierce!

...and they even won a trophy. They got 3rd place which was really great, being that we only had 2 kids competeing in that catagory. The others had a lot more kids competeing.

Fun Times!!!

Well that was a little boring, but I will post some fun things, after camp especially. Hope you all have Monday off and enjoy your long weekend. I know I definitely will!!!

"Leftovers"

Last Friday and Saturday I went to a ladies conference in Canyon, Texas. We had an amazing time there, and the lessons taught were such a blessing. They have been doing this retreat for 16 years so, the theme this year was leftovers. They used all the left over things from the very first one to last year. The messages taught by Mrs Martin, were on not giving God our left overs. So often that is what He gets; our leftover time, money, possessions, etc. She also said something that really was a neat quote I thought "There is nothing quite as bad as something that is not so bad." If we stand back and look at what we have done do we say "Oh, that's not so bad." When really we should be able to stand back and say "I think I have done this to bring honor and glory to God, this is my absolute best, I have given Him my best."

Like always, it is also a fun time to see people we don't get to see very often, and a wonderful time of just goofing around and having fun with other Christians.

I have a video of all the women singing. It was so beautiful, but my camera's recorder is horrible so sorry about that. I can't get it to upload right now so I will try another time. Hopefully it will be up soon.

 Of course, {PICTURES}!!!!

2 girls that sang a very beautiful special!

The 2 pastor's wives that hosted the retreat. One is from Plainview and the other is from Fritch.

New Job Update; Long Lost Blog

I am very sorry I have been waiting so long between posts. Hopefully I will be a little less busy and have more to post about this summer. I actually will have something to post this weekend, but I am getting ahead of myself. You shall have to wait and see!!!


I am absolutely loving my new job! I am learning a lot and still feel like I have so much more to learn, but I'm getting there and it's coming along good. For those of you who don't know I am working for a licensed esthetician and really enjoying it. Also, my facial she gave me was like heaven came down. Oh my goodness it was wonderful. I had some blemishes on my face, and between the facial and her putting me on a new skincare regimen, my skin is almost back to normal. The texture of it is so much better now, as well as just everything about it. So, I am now a believer in seeing an esthetician/ getting facials if you can.

I also wanted to share something from today that was an amazing blessing to me. So, my mom is a substitute teacher and she had to work today ( I really am going seomwhere with this). So, I came home for my lunch hour and my sweet, amazing, wonderful = ) dad made me mini pizzas for lunch. He went to the store and bought cheese, toppings, tomato paste, etc. Super duper sweet, I know, I have the greatest parents in the whole world, they are fabulous!

{finALLy}

This past week was amazingly amazing! I was in south Texas last week which was loads of fun, but I didn't take any pictures, sorry. This week was also wonderful. I feel like everything in my life is finally coming together. So here it goes.....

 I have been loving babysitting two sweeties, I mean it's easy, wake them up, get them ready for school, take them to school, sometimes pack lunches, dispel sibling rivalries, if they don't like the breakfast at school get them something together quick. This week I was offered a wonderful job though, and the best part, I didn't even apply for it. God completely provided it. I started talking to a woman in a store here, and we were just casually talking when I mentioned how hard it has been to find a job (substitute teaching hasn't been too regular, teachers just need to get sick more often I guess). So she told a wonderful business here that she had just met a "really sweet girl who is looking for a job" if they had one available. On Monday I got a call if I would be interested in working there, of course I said yes, so I had an interview on Tuesday. I tried not to get my hopes up though, as I have had interviews at businesses all over this town. Wednesday I got a call that I was hired. Wooohooo!!!!

So the super fun part..... it is a place the does facials and girlie things like that. Monday I get a complimentary facial. Never had one before, but super excited, well I've never had a job that gave me them before either, ya know H&R Block wasn't into those kinds of things (but they would do my taxes for free). Anyways, all this to say it is such an amazing feeling when you can see God working and answering prayers in your life. He is so good and His timing is always perfect! I am glad He is always working in my life even if I don't feel like He is.


Psalm 138:8
     "The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me; thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever:..."

{Picnic Ant Cupcakes}

Wow, I have certainly been quiet on here lately. Sorry about that. Today I made some super cute cupcakes, although I am really not completely happy with how they turned out, I thought I would post them anyways. I am getting ready for a fun filled week, and weekend, and I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend also. Don't you just love Saturdays!

They are supposed to be ants carrying watermelon slices on their backs.

"Kisses from Katie"

A few months ago I found a book entitled "Kisses from Katie", and knew right away I wanted to eventually get it. Well, I ordered it this week, finally. Although I haven't read it yet, I love this video about the girl that wrote the book that I found. My cousin is also a missionary in Uganda working with orphans and street children (totally not in any way related to Katie Davis' ministry there). This girl, Katie's story reminds me so much of her though, and I think that's why I love it so much. Also, I have wanted to work with orphans and children in Haiti since I was in high school. This girl Katie, and what my cousin Abby are doing, so follows the vision I have had for children in Haiti, and I just love following these types of ministries. I so admire their boldness and love for these marginalized children. I have seen vidoes of my cousin's boys here recently and they are absolutely so precious. God still loves and cares about each one of these children, and I love seeing people showing Christ's amazing love to them, and most importantly, reaching them with the gospel!

This is a youtube video of my cousin, Abby Kakeeto (she has gotten married since this video was made), which there are quite a few good ones so it was hard to choose one to put up here, hence I put up two. I just wanted to present her amazing ministry, and what God is doing through her in Uganda also. This video is from the beginning of 2010 so a lot has happened there since then. She has bought land and built another home, which she talks about them planning to do in the video.

Then this video is from someone who went there on a missions trip and did a video. I still thought it was interesting though, and it is a little more current (but still 2010).



Psalm 82:3 "Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy."


*Disclaimer: I truly admire these women, but I do not endorse all the music or everything in these ministries. I just wanted to present these so people might get a burden to reach others and think beyond themselves. Something so few people truly do.*

Getting Tired of Cake Truffles Yet???

If you have been following my blog for a long time you probably have noticed, I love making cake truffles. I think I have posted them on here twice already (hence the post title), but I had to do it yet again. I am starting to get more exotic with them, flavors and coatings. Everyone loves the chocolate ones of course, but this time I made strawberry dipped in white chocolate and then orange dipped in milk chocolate. They turned out so cute!!! They are just one of those things that the more you make them, the better you get at it. I have learned something new everytime I have done them, and they keep turning out cuter and cuter. I have been told numerous times that I need to open a bakery and sell them (and my other goodies), really, I would love to, but for now my sweet little kiddos can have them.

 Tomorrow, being the last Sunday of the month, is our potluck Sunday so they are part of our colorful, and absolutely delicious, dessert table.

Water Marbled Nails

I am really into painting my nails wild, those of you who know me can testify to that!
I am always trying to be creative and think up different things to do. So... when I saw something about water marbling I just couldn't resist! It is super fun and easy! I just thought I would share it with you all. I have already had a few people that thought I had them professionally done, or that they are decals or even fake nails. I absolutely love them!

Age of Discovery... wow

You know you're a nerd when...

you suddenly get a random, crazy idea to do something like...

try to spell your name on the periodic table of elements...

and it works...

so you get excited...

then worst of all,...

 you think it is completely like, the bomb.com, so you do a blog post about it!!!!

Here is what I'm made of:
K+At+H+Er+I+Ne

in english please:
#19 potassium+ #85 astatine+ #1 hydrogen+ #68 erbium+ #53 iodine+ #10 neon

Absolute Craziness!!!



Am I the only weirdo, or has someone else actually tried this before as well???

Winter Cookies

They aren't Christmas cookies because that is over so, they are winter cookies with attitude!!! I tried to give them all little unique personalities.

I took group pictures of them, then some pictures of my favorites.

Messy Marvin, with his dirty shirt.

Tropical tourist and his Hawaiian shirt.

my little mustache man with suspenders, bow tie and all.

 

the happy couple

 

Hope you enjoyed seeing them. My parents, me, and some others will certainly enjoy eating them!!!

Rose to Victory

My mighty Oregon Ducks did it, they won. Great game!!!!

Happy 2012!!!

I  can't belive we are at the start of a new year, again. Time goes by so fast!!! I love new anything, new shoes, new clothes... It is a chance to start over, to make things different, a clean slate so to say. I am looking forward to what God has in store for my life this new year. I hope that you all have a fantastic new year as well!!!

I will be spending this wonderful holiday today watching my beloved Oregon Ducks (*win*) in the Rose Bowl. Woohoo!!! I have my ducks shirt on, my nails painted green and yellow, I am all ready to see them beat the Wisconsin Badgers!!!