Let us never forget...

12 years ago today, a terrible tragedy occurred. Lives were lost, people were hurt. We, as a country, had to step back and look at what was happening.

I was 6 years old. I was at home on that day, my mother was teaching me and my sister. My dad called from where he was working in town and told us that it had happened. He then asked that we bring my sister's radio/cd player to his job so we could hear the latest news. We did so and I remember sitting there, not completely understanding what was happening, but being afraid and very saddened by what happened. 

To the unsung heroes, those who have their lives, sacrificed themselves to help others, to those who just lent a hand, thank you! We are forever in your debt. God bless you! To the families of those hurt or killed in this tragedy, I am so sorry for your loss. God bless you! 

Let us not forget what happened that day. It was a day of sorrow, of pain, of courage, of love. I thank God for each and every person who worked to help the people hurt, the rescue teams, the firemen! Thank you for your service. God bless you! And God bless the USA!!! 

Doctor Who, Nancy Drew and a Destin trip

I went to Destin for my senior trip. You know, they classify a senior trip as your first big trip without your family. So, my senior trip was in August. It was AWESOME!!! I went with six other girls whom I love dearly and wish I could see more often. We spent seven nights in a villa and it was fantastic. The beach was wonderful and the weather was good except for a couple of rainy days but those days we watched movies. 

   

    This is our luggage. One dodge Durango, seven girls, all their stuff and about a seven hour trip. It was quite crowded to say the least. We even took beach hats! Here's a picture of Cara's brother wearing all of them. :D

It was loads of fun. We stayed at the beach or the pool almost all the time. 

Epic sand castle they built. We all built one but nobody took a picture and we ended up knocking it down ourselves. 

I was so encouraged by this trip. The girls were all so sweet and great room mates. I had only briefly met a couple of them but they were terrific! Like I said, this was in August. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more pictures soon. I usually write blog posts on my phone but I took a ton more pictures with my camera so I'll have to get those on here from my computer. 

While I was in Destin, one of the girls with us, Beth, got me started watching Dr. Who. I haven't watched them since then, not because I'm not interested, but because they make me miss her and I want to watch them with her anyway. (She lives in Colorado so we can't just have slumber parties, sadly *sniff* ) She showed me some pretty awesome ones! I liked the one about Van Gogh. I had watched one episode before I met her. It was called "Water on Mars" or something and the doctor was David Tennant, but she showed me a couple of other episodes that were pretty cool! 

So my little sister and I have started playing Nancy Drew interactive computer games. They are loads of fun, but some of them are kinda creepy. We have finished I think about 9 of them and we love them! I grew up reading Nancy Drew (listen to me, I grew up! I'm still growing up!) so naturally when we found these I wanted them. We have I think around 13 of the games but we haven't finished all of them. If you haven't played them before, they really make you think about what to do. They have puzzles and such. I do not recommend cheating. They are much more fun if you just play them. 

Also coming up, my trip to Michigan with my grandparents to meet a relative. Here's a sneak peak:

My senior recital!!!!

I have been taking piano lessons for most of my natural life. 13 years to be exact. So I had a senior recital to commemorate this accomplishment. I still have a year to go, but I have made it through high school!! 

I thought I would share some pictures. The recital itself went well, except for the fact I caught a summer cold a week before the performance date, and having to sing, that complicated matters very much. So, my voice was rather hoarse for singing. But it went rather well considering it. 

So, here are some pictures from that. Mostly the cake. It was awesome. My mom made it for me. And some of the little treats. I will see if my friend took some more but this is all I had time for. :)

It is "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on the cake. I love it!! My mom did an awesome job. 

These were chocolate treats wrapped in paper from Hobby Lobby! I love that store. I could spend hours there!!!!

My teacher surprised me with a bouquet. It is GORGEOUS!! 

My program included music from "Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables". I had an awesome time. 

Also, my friend is back from Colorado!!!!!!!! I missed her so much! She was gone to Summit for 2 weeks. It was forever but she made it back in time for my recital. 

Till next time!!! 

~Emily

You never know what you have...

...until it's gone. 

Today, a cousin of mine, Trey, died. He was 24 years old. He was in an accident July 3rd. He fell from a moving vehicle and hit his head on the pavement. Over the weekend, it seemed that he would come through it, but there was an aneurism on his brain preventing his waking up from an induced coma. This morning, about 4:30, the aneurism ruptured. 

Please pray for our family during our time of mourning. Pray especially for his parents and sister. 

Thank you all for the prayers. I appreciate them so much. God bless each of you. 

Farm Life: Ups and Downs

So, we've been doing some work in the garden. (Or rather, I've been sort of working in my Granddad's garden, the big pretty one) and it got me to thinking about life on a small country farm. And from this, I decided to write about the ups and downs. 

1. Goats

Ups:

     •We have fresh milk. 

     •We know that it is organic

     •Fresh cheese

     •Cute baby goats (and they really are adorable!!! <3 )

Downs:

     •They only milk for part of the year

     •They eat a lot 

     •Contrary to popular belief, they do NOT eat everything. They taste everything but they are actually very picky eaters. 

     •The baby goats grow into...you guessed it...adult goats (not near as cute) and sometimes the adults can be ornery. 

All in all, I've enjoyed having goats. It has been a pleasurable experience (for the most part) having goats. 

2. Next up: Chickens!!

Ups:  

    •Fresh Eggs

    •Again, organic, we know pretty much what they're eating but you can never tell with chickens. 

    •They eat almost anything. Leftover vegetables from the table, vegetables that go bad, pretty much anything!

Downs:

    •They eat almost anything (including the things you really don't want them to eat...umm, also including my cherry tomatoes that finally got ripe :(

    •They make messes that you wouldn't believe 

    •They are some of the dumbest animals you will ever see. 

But, chickens are a pretty good investment for us, I suppose. 

3. Gardening

Ups:

    •Fresh veggies!!!!! (Who wouldn't like that!)

    •May not be an up for everyone but I enjoy the harvest and putting vegetables in the freezer or canning them

    •The sunshine and spending time with my granddad. 

Downs:

    •Weeds. I don't like weeds

    •Weeds is all I can think of other than when vegetables start coming in you can NOT have a busy schedule or you'll have lots of bad vegetables. 

I personally love gardening. I haven't had much time this year, but I like to garden and work with vegetables. Wherever I live in the future, I hope that I will be able to have a garden, even if it is tiny. 

I hope you have enjoyed my post on small country farming. Maybe I'll post more about it later. Right now, fresh cooked veggies are calling my name!!!!

Ciao!! 

P.S. This is a photo of the basket I took to an Aunt this morning. Isn't it pretty?? 

Happy Mother's Day

To all the Moms out there, thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for being there for us, for kissing our scraped knees to make them all better, for wiping our runny noses, teaching us to live, teaching us to love, to laugh, to cry. For teaching us to pray. 

My mother did all these things and so much more. She taught me to cook, to be a lady. She taught me to look for the good in people instead of always seeing the negative. She taught me what it means to be a woman of God. She has been nurse, cook, chauffeur, maid, laundry-lady, teacher, drill sergeant, lawyer, surgeon, comforter and a load of other things. She has been a wonderful example for me and my sisters. 

So a special thanks to my mom: Thanks, Mom, for always being there. For being strong when I am weak, for always being able to offer advice on my numerous problems, just for being my Mom!!! I love you and I hope it was a great Mother's Day. 

Adjust the sails

My family (myself included) watched a movie the other night and it struck me how much the woman wanted to change who the man was. Mind you, he wasn't that great. He wasn't a very good husband, but it reminded me so much how I am. If I don't like something, I want to change it and change it fast.

My mind says that I should be happy, that everyone should be happy because I am. But that's not the way it works. I have to constantly remind myself that it's not about me. My selfishness is only getting in the way in matters like this.

I have to remember time and again that happiness is a choice. Even in situations where I believe I have every right to be angry, I must remember this. I have found that if I will let go of the anger and hurt feelings and just choose to be happy, things are better. But that isn't easy because of the selfishness in me.

There's another big factor in all that. My pride. It hurts to say it, but that's another big thing. I'm too proud to say I was wrong and that I'm sorry even if I was completely in the wrong. It's hard to admit it, for me anyway, to say that it was my fault and that I'll try to do better or whatever the situation may be. Instead I make excuses as to why I did what I did. That just causes more trouble because then I want once again to change things.

I said all that to say I ran across an inspirational quote yesterday that made me think of all this. It was by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. It says: "When you can't change the direction of the wind - adjust your sails."

When I want to change everything around me and can't, I have to choose to be happy, otherwise, I'm going to have an even more terrible time. The things I don't want to do, if I choose to be happy, won't be as much of a chore. That is my way of adjusting my sails.

It is a beautiful morning in Alabama. The birds are singing and the sun is shining bright. And today, I'm gonna be happy.

~Emily