Hello Everyone! Now I know what you all have probably been thinking "when is she going to post something new!" I am here to say , all in due time. Things have been quite busy here for me among other things. I have been doing a lot of babysitting, and helping a lady who has had two back surgeries, and her third is today. So I haven't had much time for the internet. Then our computer, with all of my pictures on it, decided to have issues. It was easily fixed. Unfortunately, because of the 11 inches of snow, our phones went out. We have one set working now, but the computer I need cannot get on the internet yet.

Friday night the snow storm hit. My mom didn't want me driving in the snow, so she dropped me off at the lady's house. The lady's husband took me home, and after 2 hours of driving, getting stuck in a ditch, and walking part of the way, I finally made it home safely. Thankfully his car was not damaged. I thank the Lord that he kept us safe.

I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, and I pray that each one of you has a blessed Christmas, filled with Christ's love.

This was sent to me in an e-mail, and I found it very interesting.

Dear Friends and Family,

I just finished reading Sarah Palin's book. I think I now understand more fully than ever before why the liberals are attacking her so strongly. It is not just the libs; it is not just the Democrats or even the liberal wing of the Republican Party; it is Satan. He is behind it all. Even if you do not read or even purchase the book, find a copy and read the very last two paragraphs under the acknowledgment section. Here is a woman who is not afraid. I believe that if this woman was the president of our country, things would happen; God would use her to do wondrous things for this nation because she is not afraid to give God the credit for all she is, has or does. After reading this book, I could strongly support her for president in 2012. Read that section and try to imagine those same words coming from the mouth of our current president. I don't think so.

Government should do for people only what they cannot do for themselves. A. Lincoln

PBR

Here are my pictures from the PBR (Professional Bull Riding), finally! Like I said before, the pictures are pretty bad, and don't give any justice to the experience. But, I hope you enjoy them anyway!

The Bull pens.

The opening festivities.

In the chutes.

Mike Lee

Brian Canter

I can't remember his name, but he is the only one from Virginia to make it to the finals, and he has been 6 times!

Thoughts of Thanksgiving, and a few other things.

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? I had a really nice holiday with my family. My mom allowed me to do all of the planning, and cooking, again this year. I prepared most everything in advance, then cooked it the next day, which saved a HUGE amount of time in the end! The people I babysit for were running in a race that morning, so I was able to spend a few hours with their kids! We kicked back and watched the Macy's parade. Then when I got home, Mom and I finished everything.

My Brother, Ben, and I went to see the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) in Lexington, at the Virginia Horse Center, Saturday night. It was AWESOME!!! I am not really a "sports" person... we have always watched football ( I shall not mention the team!!) and Nascar, but I get rather bored with watching guys chasing after a ball, and cars going around in circles! Now Bull riding, that's my style! You never know what the bull is going to do, or how long the rider will be able to stay on. One would think that staying on for 8 seconds would be the easiest thing in the world, but in that instant, it becomes an eternity, even for those that are watching. It is such a victory for those cowboys, when they stay on for the short, yet seemingly long 8 seconds, then jump off (or in some people's cases, fly off!) and await their score. I took quite a few pictures, unfortunatly the lighting wasn't very good (further proving that I need a detachable flash!) and my sport setting would not cooperate, so the pictures turned out pretty bad, but you'll get the idea. I hope to be posting them in the next few days, then it will be back to our regularly schedualed beach pictures!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and didn't get too trampled on black Friday!

Thanksgiving Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is only three days away. I can hardly believe that it is already here. So, I thought that I would take a moment and write a few lines. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love everything about it, and I have SO much to be thankful for, yet so often I take these things for granted. Sunday evening we had a service filled with songs of thanksgiving, and testimonies of praise to God. It was such a blessing, and so convicting. I was humbled by one testimony in particular, of a man giving thanks to God for his every breath...WOW! I don't think I have ever thanked God for giving me breath. I thought that I might share a few things with y'all that I am very grateful for this year.

1. My salvation...with out the Lord, I would be nothing! And it is only by His wonderful merciful grace that I am alive.

2. My family...they are everything to me, and I know that I do not tell them often enough, but I love them with my whole heart. They each have talents and gifts that make our family unique, and I love them for that.

3. My country! God has given us an amazing country, full of freedoms to make our voices heard. Unfortunately, if we don't stand up for those freedoms, and elect godly men and woman into office, we will lose them.

4. The healing that God has done to my Dad's eye! He has given him almost perfect vision in his right eye, and it has been so encouraging.

5.My church family. When we travel, we are in a lot of good churches, but there are a few that make you wonder WHY they invited you to come. It is those churches that make me appreciate my church family even more.

6. friends. God has blessed me with amazing friends, ones that i know I can go to when I need to talk or need encouragement. My friends are like family to me, and I love you all!

7. My mom. She has taken so much time to try and teach me to be a godly woman of faith, and how to be a good wife and mother one day. She has been such a good example to me, and I pray that one day, I can be just like her! I LOVE YOU MOM!

8. Our soldiers...they risk their lives everyday, for people that they don't even know. They are true red white and blue Americans, that are not afraid if they offend someone in saying so. Thank you, for serving our country so faithfully, and for putting your life on the line to protect me. I am eternally grateful to you, and for everything you do to keep our country free.

9. The Bible... the greatest love letter ever written. I often take my copy of God's word for granted, and I am very ashamed of that. There are so many people in the world who do not have a Bible, or even have one in their language. I am so very grateful for all of the men who risked their lives to transcribe the Bible.

10. last but not least...an education. I am so grateful to my parents for taking the time to homeschool my brother and I. We have seen so much of our country, and we would have never been able to experience that if we had gone to public or even Christian school.

So as you can see I have many things to be thankful for this year. I would love to hear what you are thankful for. Leave me a comment.

Beach Trip part 2

These pictures were taken shortly after we arrived at the beach house. After we unloaded the car, and said hello to Poppa Keith and Grandma, Ben and I headed for the beach. It had been three years since we had last been at the beach, so we were very anxious to get out there. Poppa Keith and Grandma rented the same house that we stayed in three years ago, so that was nice. We were one lot back from the beach, so we could see the ocean from the top deck. In the morning you could see the fishermen as they headed out for the day.

This is the house we stayed in...it's called The Patterson.

This the view we had from our top deck!

Poppa Keith

This was the path that we took to get to the beach.

I loved this sand sculpture, whoever did it is very talented!

This is the only picture that Ben would let me take of him.


Stay tuned...more pictures to come.

Beach Trip Part 1

On our way to the beach, we stopped at Dennis Anderson's shop. For those of you who do not know who he is, he is a driver in the show Monster Jam, and drives the car, Grave Digger. Dad loves to watch this show, and is a fan of Dennis Anderson, so we decided to stop. You don't realize just how big they are until you are standing beside them!

This is one of the Grave Digger vehicles, that stands out in front of the shop.

At this point, we were getting really excited, cause we were almost there!

Part 2 coming soon!

My First Photo Shoot!

I just did my first photo shoot on Tuesday, with three of the most adorable kids...I am a bit biased though, cause I just happen to babysit these cuties! They all cooperated until Gabe decided to pose himself, and do silly picture instead of the serious ones that I preferred! All in all I got some really cute pictures, and am pretty satisfied with my first shoot.

I love the way this one turned out...they are such cuties!

This is another one of my favorites.

Garrison

Gabe



Moriah

The Peaks of Otter

Sharp Top

This is one of my favorites!

While Kelly was with me, we went to the Peaks of Otter. We had a picnic lunch, and walked around getting some picture. It was a beautiful July day.

Old City Cemetery

Experiment 2

This one was at the Peaks of Otter, and that deer was only six feet away! it was so cute!

Experiment

I took this at the old city cemetery back in July, and have been experimenting. What do you think?

Home Again

So I am finally home...and it feels wonderful. I know that my bed is going to feel great!

We had a great trip, though it rained everywhere we went. It rained the entire time that we were in Kentucky, so i really didn't get many pictures. oh well.

We came through 5 states today. We started out in West Virginia, then Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and finally Virginia. These past three weeks went by very fast. and I can hardly believe that it is almost November. This year is almost over.

That's it for now

Urgent Prayer Request

Please pray for my adopted grandma, Donna Hartman. We just found out today that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. We don't know yet what kind, or any other details. Please be praying 1. that it is localized 2. that she will have peace about the surgery and 3. that the doctors get everything. I would really appreciate if you'd keep this special lady in your prayers, and I know she would too.

On the Road Again...

Yes, you read that correctly, we are leaving in the morning (more than likely VERY early :-( ) for three weeks! We will do a re-enactment in Kentucky, a revival in Ohio, and just a Sunday thing in Western Virginia. I am looking forward to the trip, cause we'll get to see some friends that we only get to see once a year. It definitely makes you appreciate your friendship! All of the places that we are going to are absolutely beautiful, and in the prime of Autumn, it will be perfect for picture taking.

I have finally gotten a card reader (thanks to my dad) and have uploaded 1,000 pictures, spanning back to July!!! So, I'll have some pictures to share when I get home.

I better run for now, cause I still have stuff to load. Let's hope that I don't forget anything, like my PJ's, which I have done before, and makes for an excellent excuse to go shopping!

God Bless, and till we meet again...

Yikes!

On my way to the post office this morning, I happened to look in my rear view mirror, and what did I see? A Sheriff's car right behind me! My heart did a little flip flop, and I slowed my speed, cause I really had not been paying attention, and all of a sudden I became the world's best, and most responsible driver! I came to a stop at the intersection, put on my turn signal, and looked both ways before proceeding with caution. I let out a little sigh of relief when I saw that he went the other direction. Why is it that we only take caution in our driving when there is a police officer right behind us? Even when the officer is not there, God is, and we should strive to do our best not only in driving, but in everything that we do in this life, to please Him. This reminds me of a story from the Children's Book of Virtues, called, Someone Sees You. It is about a man who decided to steal from his neighbors fields, and takes his daughter along to stand watch, and to call out if anyone is watching. All of a sudden she calls out to her father, "someone sees you." The father looks around, when he sees noone, he continues what he was doing. After his daughter calls several time that "someone sees you" and he obviously does not see what she does, he asks, "Why in the world do you keep saying that someone sees me? I've looked everywhere, and I don't see anyone." when the child replies "Father, someone sees you from above." God is watching our every move, waiting to see what we will do, and how we will respond to things. So remember "someone sees you", and that someone is our Heavenly Father.

Monday

Happy Monday, everyone! I always have a difficult time motivating myself to get up and go on Monday mornings, probably because of the relaxing weekend! I certainly have a lot to do today. Mom and Dad are coming home today, and before they arrive, I have to clean the kitchen & bathroom, wash Pepper & Sweety, mop the bathroom, hallway, and kitchen, go to the post office, do laundry, do my work out...maybe I'll nix the work out!!!
Did y'all have a good day at church, yesterday? Pastor Ferrell preached two very good messages. The morning text was out of James 1:13-18. He has been preaching about Trials and Temptations. Yesterday's sermon was about temptation, and he gave 3 points on how to overcome temptations: 1. Take care not to blame God. Vs. 13 2. Take note of the real source. Vs. 14 3. Take hope in the saving God. Vs.17 Three things that he pointed out was that God sends trial, but NEVER leads anyone to temptation, It is impossible for God to lead someone to evil and being tempted is not a sin, succumbing to the temptation is. The evening message was out of Acts 3:1-21. He has been preaching on Sunday nights about how to reach others outside of our church, and encouraging us to go witnessing. Last night he gave a few examples on some outreach opportunities.
Well I hope that everyone has a blessed day, and safe travels to work. God Bless!

Canada

Here are some of my pictures from Canada. The top one is Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side, during the laser show. The second one is both falls. The third is horseshoe again (can you see the little speck in the water? It's the Maid of the Mist!) And the last one was this really cool restaurant. You had to ride a car all the way to the top!

Kristin and I at the Battle of Gettysburg.

First Post!

Hello! This is my first post, of many to come(I hope!). I love reading other peoples blogs, and it looked like so much fun that I have decided to start my own(after the persuasion of one of my friends!) I have named it Katherine's Adventures because I travel a lot, so hopefully this will help all of you stay in contact, or at least know where I am.

I can hardly believe that it is now October. The summer went way too fast, but it was so much fun. After the Gettysburg re-enactment I went home with my friend Kelly, and spent a week with her family. We had way too much fun, and took a TON of pictures! I even was able to go to Canada (for the first time) and see Niagara Falls. It was awesome, and the falls are beautiful. I spent most of the time thinking to myself "I can't believe I'm in another country!" At the end of the week, Kelly and I flew back to Virginia, and spent another week together. We had a blast, and hopefully we can do again! At the end of July we went to Salvo, NC, in the Outer Banks, for a vacation. My adopted grandparents rented an awesome beach house, one lot back from the beach, and invited us to come for the whole week. While we were there, we went to Kill Devil Hills to see the Wright Brothers National Park. It was so cool to see where the first four flights took place. We took the ferry over to Ocracoke Island one day, and spent the whole afternoon just walking all over the island, and shopping. On the last evening at the beach, we all went to see the "Lost Colony" drama, in Manteo. It was a really good production, and we thoroughly enjoyed it, except for all of the mosquitoes! We came home thoroughly relaxed, and very refreshed.

Mom and Dad have done some traveling by themselves, while I stay home, and try to keep things in order, and Ben is off working. It's been nice to be home more, but I still love traveling!

On Wednesday, Mom, Dad and I are going on our last trip of the season. We will do our last re-enactment in Kentucky, then go to a supporting church in Ohio for a revival, and then to a church in West Virginia. By the time we get home it will be late October.

Well I think that's it for now. Hopefully I can post some pictures soon!