Help?!?!?

So....I got my own laptop for Christmas! Yes, I was shocked. But, now I need to come up with my own email address, and I am totally at a loss.

Can someone help me? Please, please, if you have any ideas, comment and share them with me.

I am looking for something obviously God-centered. I'd love to get something "cowgirl" or "country girl" in there, and I would love to come up with something I can use for my photography at a later date. If I like it enough, I will probably also change my blog address to it.

Any suggestions???????

Super cool photo!!!!

"Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Merry CHRISTmas!!!

The birth of Christ brought God to man;
the cross of Christ brings man to God.

"For unto you is born this day...a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord!"

Merry, merry Christmas everyone!!!! Christmas is totally, hands down my favorite time of the year. It seems like every year, God reveals a new aspect of the wonderful story to me, and I am just overwhelmed. I know it sounds cliche, but think of the story like you've never heard it before. The God who created the whole world sends his Son to earth, born in a barn, with one purpose...to be brutally murdered to save people like His murderers. Amazing!!!!

And of course, all the wonderful things surrounding Christmas are so much fun. This year, our family has done very little in the way of presents, but we have gone all out on events surrounding Christmas.

Here are a few pictures from some of the fun things we have done.

Light parades!!! We got rained out of the big light parade, but did one out in Buckeye with some friends. It was a blast!

Anna, Faith and Nadia. It was freezing cold!!!

Me with Beamer and Brennan. I may not have made it through this parade alive
if Brennan hadn't come along to help control my crazy stallion!!!

David and Mr. H.....need I say more?!?!?

We enjoyed a visit from our grandparents and aunt.

My Aunt Lisa (yes, that's who I'm named for), Anna, and Jessie

 We had a beautiful baby born in November, but her little legs get cold, so we put socks on her :)

And.....I have done quite a few photoshoots (formal and spur-of-the-moment) for families from church. I have had a total blast!!!

We also had a beautiful Christmas concert in our front yard a few weeks ago with about 25 people participating!! Lots of the little kids played, and then we got a few songs together with a group. It was a fantastic afternoon of worshipping the Lord through music. I have lots of video, but don't have time to post right now.

And then, we just got home from a great evening of caroling with our church! We, along with the R's, took all the horses and lighted carts and Matt brought his violin. We had a wonderful time.

I hope you all have an incredibly blessed Christmas!!! We have such a huge reason to be grateful and celebrate!!!!!!!!!

Baby horse!!!

Missy finally had her baby on Monday morning around 9:15. It was a difficult birth, but baby ended up being fine. The mom is a first-timer, and is having some problems allowing the baby to nurse. We would really love if you would pray that the mare would just accept the baby and let it eat! I think it has to do with mom being in pain, but this means that we have to hold the mare every half hour for baby to eat...through the night, too :)

Some pictures.......finally!

It's raining!!!! YAY!!!!! I almost forgot what it was like :) And, the winter grass in our front yard is LOVING the rain. I had to go take some pictures...I love our house ♥

The view we get to enjoy from our front porch!

And here is the mare that is going to have the baby soon. I was really praying she would have it last night so I could go to church today, but apparently God had other plans.

This is how she normally looks when she's not pregnant. She is a National Champion halter mare.

And here she was the other day!!! She is even bigger now...poor thing!

Here are some pictures of things that we have done recently. I need to be better at updating :)

This was after capturing Josiah on his birthday and taking him to McDonalds for ice cream. So much fun :)

Me holding Laney at a different friend's birthday party. I think this is a super neat picture!

 These next pictures are all taken at a piano competition I had a few weeks ago. Since I am 18, this was my last year, and I was really excited because I made the top 8 in the Senior division! God is so good!!! So, these pictures are from the honors recital the next day.

Beautiful Anna!!!

Me - relieved that I am done :)

Jessie ☺♥

The INCREDIBLE 9 foot Steinway that I got to perform on!!!

Me with the other kids who made top 8. Me, and the girl right in front of me and the boy right next to me are all graduating this year, so they called us out and congratulated us. It was very neat!!

 So........the next pictures will hopefully be of this foal!! I can't wait.

Enjoy your Sunday! We have SO MUCH to be grateful for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11:11 on 11/11/11

Well, we have all been sitting around this evening desperately hoping that Missy would have her foal on 11:11 on 11/11/11. She disappointed us. No baby, and it's 11:30. However, she is laying down, and has been kicking her belly and biting her sides violently. Maybe she will still go within the next 1/2 hour and make 11/11/11. I think that's the coolest date.

We haven't been up to much lately because of constantly mare-staring. Getting lots of school done and just kind of hanging close to home.

There are about 35 guys out in our Living Room right now doing the church's men's meeting. I thought it would be hilarious if she had the baby during the meeting. I can see the video...we pan up from the birth and the whole stall is surrounded by men and boys. Oh well....she didn't agree with my idea.

The R family has been living at our house for the past week waiting for the baby with us and helping us watch Missy. I can't wait to meet this baby....

Baby horse is coming!!!!!!

Lew Sterrett is out in Buckeye this evening and I am, sadly, at home waiting for a baby horse to come. The mare is Missy and she is pregnant by the stud that we lost, so the foal is really special. We are expecting this baby any time!!!!!

We have been reading a book called Heaven by Randy Alcorn. It is really good and gets one very excited about one's eternal home!!!

More later.....off to the barn :-)

Catch up :)

Our crowded breakfast table at camp ;-)

Me having an "ah-ha" moment with David and the tripod



Adorable Ainsley!!!!!



Mr. C and his ever-present coffee!!!



The boys were sword fighting, and when I told them each to give me a "dramatic pose," this is what I got. I think they did great!!!

Brennan

g

David




Alex









I love this picture......








She fell dead asleep on my lap during singing on Friday night. She slept the whole time we were in the cafeteria, and then I carried her back to their cabin and put her in her bed......and she never woke up! So cute!





A very intense game of "Set."




The whole group!!! I love our church so much, and I am so grateful for all the people there. God has blessed us tremendously!!!!!



If you want to see all my Family Camp pictures, I am slowly uploading them all to Photobucket. They are not all up yet, but they are at www.photobucket.com/familycamp11



After we got home, we started working with horses, and got all excited about our herd. So, we made hoodies with our farm name embroidered on them! They turned out beautifully. I used a picture of my mare, Justine, driving and silhouetted it for the shirt. They are so cool........



This is the picture of Justine that the silhouette came from.



We have a show coming up that we are working horses for. I am really excited.

Everything is basically going on as normal here. We are loving the break in the weather, and have been doing tons of outside things. School and piano are going well. I have a piano competition coming up that I am working for. Playing Mozart's Sonata in cm, K457 & a piece called Etincelles by Moszkowski. Both are very fun pieces. Next on my list to learn is Chopin's Revolutionary Etude!!!!! Can't wait!!!! I have always wanted to learn that piece.

We got to see Courageous. What an incredible movie!!! We had a wonderful time going with some friends. The movie is hilariously funny, heartwrenchingly sad, and has an encouraging, Christ-honoring message so seldom seen on the TV screen. 5 out of 5 from me!!!!!

I got to do one of the most amazing things in my life last week. I got to see a human baby born! The wonderful H family was blessed with a new baby girl, and I was so blessed to get to witness her birth. What a miracle! When she finally came, I just got this overwhelming urge to cry...it was so incredible. I will post pictures of her later. They named her Charity and she is a doll. I will never forget that experience.

God has blessed me and my family so tremendously! I am so grateful to Him!!!!

For the King and His Kingdom!!
Lisa

Correction

For those of you who were wondering if I lost my mind on my 18th birthday....don't worry! I did not post that. My charming younger sister hacked into my blogger account and made me look like a lunatic :-) I hardly "did whatever I want to" and acted that ridiculous. Love you too, sis.........

I did get my driver's license! Yay! But, I haven't used it hardly at all yet. Only to drive over to the R's and trim their horse's feet.

Family camp was so amazing last weekend. God is so good!!! He is so involved in the little things of our lives that it continues to amaze me. This past weekend, He kept bringing the right people and right words to me at the right times. The family who was the guest speaker was such a blessing. They were an encouragement and a challenge to me. I have a zillion pictures that I may get some up at some point.

On Friday night, us, and the R's, and possibly another young man from church are going to see......wait for it..........COURAGEOUS!!!! I am unbelievably excited. Having David always talking about how awesome it is hasn't helped my patience any.

I will try to post a little more frequently than I have been :-)

To the KING be the glory!!!
Lisa

It's my b-day ♥

♫ It's my birthday, I can do what I want to ♫.....

♫ This is my birthday song...it doesn't last too long :( ♫

!!!!!18!!!!! Can't believe it! !!! Love being 18

The Sequel

Here is the result of the torture devices........... :)

(read below post to understand the meaning of torture devices)

funny ;-)

Right now, I finally have a little down time...a rare thing here. Worked outside from 6-11:30 outside building stalls with Jessie. When we came in, the thermometer read 111 degrees. YUCK....

Anyways, now, Mom is doing a rain dance, and, since I am actually sitting still, Anna attacked my head with the curlers. She got these new torture devices (I mean hair curlers) at Walgreens called Link & Curls the other day and decided to try them on me before she does herself :-) not really...she is preparing to do herself right now.

So, I am sitting here playing on the Touchpad while getting my head yanked around...um..hair curled ;-)

Mom says she's not really doing a rain dance...that's too pagan. She has compromised and is doing a rain waltz.

The Dance

One of the saddest things in my life happened on July 11. Our little Steam Roller died from colic. It was absolutely terrible to experience, and has been very rough to recover from. But, God is good and "His mercies are new every morning." He has most certainly been the One who has brought us through this time. At first, I couldn't even talk about it or think about it without crying...but it is getting easier.

This is a video that my mom made as a memorial to Roller. He was such a special stallion. Let me offer a little disclaimer: If Garth Brooks would sing that our lives were "better left in God's hands" instead of "better left to chance," the song would be slightly more correct :)

Worldview study

The post below is an essay we had to write for our Worldview study that we are doing with David R. I really, really, really enjoyed this essay and wanted to share it with you all. The topic was "The Uniqueness of Jesus," and it was a great study to pull everything together for it. Next essay...not so excited for. It has to do with the Aeneid sayind that Ceaser Augustus was a god's son versus the Bible saying Jesus was God's Son. Pretty obvious...why an essay?!?!? Anyways....

BTW, David, you can't read this till Wednesday...no sneak peeks for you, boy ;) That is, unless you post yours so I can have a sneak peek, too LOL

We are melting over here in the heat + humidity combo. YUCK!!!! Mom and I have been walking a few times a week and we went at 5 AM this morning...it was still totally miserable. The clouds have been beautiful, though.

Our latest adventure was taking our little stallion, Steamroller, into Eye Care for Animals to treat an ulcer in his right eye. We walked him right into the vet's office with little Build-a-Bear shoes. Everyone loved him and took lots of pictures, but we were a little edgy because he IS a stallion and VERY studly :) He was totally awesome, though, and he is now on the road to recovery.

Oh, I guess I should update about the fire :) About 22 cabins burned in Greer, but ours got saved. We are hoping to go visit it later this year...thank you to all who prayed. This cabin means a TON to us!!!!

ALL for Jesus...

Lisa

The Man Who Lived Against the Grain

Jesus was unique. He lived His earthly life by saying things, doing things, and reacting to circumstances in exactly the opposite way than people are normally expected to. He told people to be nice to and love their enemies, that your thoughts are as important as your actions, and that the humblest people are the most important. When out on a ship in a storm, He didn’t help bail water, He just stopped the storm. When He encountered a leper, He didn’t turn and run, He healed the man. And finally, when they killed Him, He didn’t stay dead like most people; He walked out of the grave and went on teaching. Despite persecutions, His teachings have come down through the ages and have proved unstoppable and immortal. In Acts, the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Peter and the other apostles in an attempt to kill the message Christ proclaimed. They were stopped from executing their plan when the rabbi Gamaliel stood up and told them, “Hey, leave these guys alone. If this is of men, it will run itself out. But if it is of God…well…we probably shouldn’t try fighting against Him.” Obviously, it hardly ran itself out; instead, it flourished and is still being taught nearly 2,000 years later.

So, who is Jesus? What kind of man could turn a few simple fishermen into passionate preachers who would shake the world? The answer is – no man could. At His trial, the high priest asked Jesus if He was the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus simply replied, “I am.” I love how C.S. Lewis said Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord because He was very clear about who He was…which makes it kind of funny that so many people seemed confused about His identity. They were guessing anybody from John the Baptist to Jeremiah. But some got it right. One of the ones who knew Him best, Peter, when asked who he said Jesus was, said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” (Matt. 16:16) Others who saw miraculous things like the centurion at the cross who saw the temple veil split, and the earthquake and darkened sun said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God.” (Mark 15:39)

It must have been a strange sight for the local people to see the plain-looking, homeless, young Carpenter shake the earth, split the rocks, and raise the dead at His crucifixion. But, then again, not only His death was strange; His birth was, too. How many young girls have an angel come to them and tell them, “You have been blessed by God…in fact, so blessed that you are going to give birth to His Son.”? Only one. Jesus was born of a virgin…it sounds like an oxymoron, but “with God nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:37) And the fact that the Sovereign King of the universe would allow Himself to be born in a manger surrounded by common shepherds…how does one account for that? It seems that God delights in going against the grain, that He revels in creating ironic circumstances, that He glories in using simple, common tools to display His incredible power and majesty. He says, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” What kind of statement is that? It is one made by a God who is so extremely powerful that He can, and yet so loving that He does, call the ordinary people to accomplish the extraordinary. Jesus Himself appeared ordinary. He was “a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief,” He had “no beauty that we should desire Him,” and yet “He knew no sin,” was called the “Son of the Highest,” and loved people enough to die for them. His perfections, power, and standards made everybody either love Him like crazy or hate Him enough to kill Him. There was (and still is) no middle ground. If Jesus was lying about who He was, somebody somehow would have found Him out…either before or after He died. But there are no loopholes with God. If Jesus was a lunatic, what about the miracles He performed? Normally, a mentally deranged person cannot walk on top of water…even if they think they can. There was some very real power that enabled Jesus to change water to wine, raise people from the dead, and heal all manners of sicknesses. He refuted the statement that His power came from Satan by saying that Satan would not use his power to cast out his own demons. The only other place that power could have come from was God Himself.

One of the most mind-boggling events of Jesus’ life was His death. He had proven that He had power on earth to do basically anything He wanted. So why would He allow Himself to be executed in one of the most humiliating, excruciating ways known? He did it out of obedience to His Father and love for men. It is a crazy thought, and we can never do anything to begin to make up for it. All we can do is love Him and be grateful to Him with our whole heart. Another reason He died was to be raised again. “Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.” (Rom. 6:9) Our God has power over everything – even death. Jesus was the only Man who ever was able to raise people from the dead.

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ more than prove to me that He was the Son of God. Why are people so reluctant to accept that? Because if you accept that fact, then you are also accepting that all He taught was true…and you have to live by it. People don’t want to “give up” their earthly “pleasures” for heavenly ones. “No thanks, I would never trade a life of drug and alcohol addiction for a life of peace and a promise of heaven.” “Give up my secular magazines and TV for an intimate, loving relationship with my Creator? Are you kidding?” It’s a wonder God doesn’t give up! The pull to be like the world is so strong that it is incredibly hard – even impossible - for people to pattern their lives after a Man who lived going against the grain. What we must realize is “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18)

Fire Dangers!!!

Exciting news for us is that our season of raising baby birds is almost over! It is a TON of work, but it helps with the income and the people who buy the babies are so sweet.

Usually when we are done with birds, we take a trip up to my grandparent's cabin in Greer at some point in the later months of the year. This year, I don't think that will happen. I don't know if you have heard about the huge fires going on up north. The latest news was that the fire was moving at 6 miles per day and is 8 miles away from Greer...and my grandparent's cabin. If the cabin burned down, I would just CRY!!! We have been going up there since I was born and it is one of the most beautiful and enjoyable places I have ever been. Actually, let me re-phrase that. It IS the most beautiful and enjoyable place I have ever been. Here is a picture of the cabin before the fire came...note the CLEAR blue sky.

And here is the view from the front porch yesterday. That is NOT a cloud, that is all smoke!!!!

If you could please pray that Greer would be protected, it would be very much appreciated. They have evacuated Greer, Alpine, and all surrounding towns. My grandparent's were up there along with my aunt and uncle and the sherriff came at 1:30 AM and told them that they needed to leave. It is very scarey and sad.

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

"I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well." Psalm 139:14

This is one of my hundreds of favorite verses :) Actually, all of Psalm 139 is an awesome chapter. There are times when pressure from the world is so focused on outward appearance, especially for girls, and it is easy to wish that we were prettier, taller, shorter, thinner, whatever-er than we are. One time when I was talking to my mom about it, she told me to go read this chapter. Wow! How awesome it is to know that God formed us EXACTLY how He wanted us to be as a child of His. When one realizes that they have been made on purpose for a purpose and that God is using us exactly how we are, it makes it a lot easier to accept how we are...not even accept, but be thankful and joyful!

I have always wanted to be shorter...you know, 6'2" is a little on the tall side, and there are many times that you feel a little, um, conspicuous. Of course, I know there are people who are really short who want to be tall, but it is just really neat to me that God created us perfectly for His plan for our lives. He is so powerful and awesome, and when I realize how big and powerful He is and yet how caring for us, it blows me away!!!!

On a more superficial note, here are some pictures of our ADORABLE new baby horse...I AM The Rose of Sharon. Click on the pictures so they blow up big...they're worth it! She is just another example of God's creative genius!!!!