Bible Verse of the Week #18

I believe this is the theme of my school this year.

To me this verse is saying that God wants all of His children to come to Him because He cares for us and He wants us to be safe in His arms. When I hear/read this verse, I am reminded of the saying and song, "It is well." It is well with God. It is well with my soul.

When we give ourselves to the Lord, He will heal us. He will protect us no matter what and be by our side through thick and thin. No one, and I mean no one is unimportant to God. 

"Lord, may we never hinder our youth from coming to you to receive your blessing and healing power.  Make our youth strong in faith and character that they may follow you zealously.  And as we grow with age, may we never lose that child-like simplicity and humility which draws us into your loving presence." (link)

^That is my new favorite song. It's just SO pretty and it really touches my heart.

Let the sand speak

"Happiness is a summer breeze, sand between your toes, and your best friend by your side."

“My life is like a stroll on the beach...as near to the edge as I can go.”

--Thoreau

Do you see my hand print? I didn't see it there when I took the picture! :P

“Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”
--Anonymous

Miscellaneous Ramblings

1) Babysitting 

<That girl is SO cute! That picture was taken the day after her 4th (?) birthday.  I've been babysitting a lot lately before school starts. One family has me come a few times a week in the morning, which I absolutely love! I mean, babysitting is SO fun! And, it's a good job to get money toward a new camera.

2) August skies

 The sky is August is always SO pretty! So many vivid colors. This is a daily thing, it's always pretty.

  3) Swimming

<That picture was taken at my neighbors new pool! I babysit for they're three kids all the time and I was SO excited to swim in they're pool because seriously, it is amazing!

 4) Lovely flowers

A lot of flowers are blooming at my house right now. This flower is one of them. I honestly love this picture! I love the edit, the flower, the bokeh, the crop, everything!

  5) Random pictures of my towel

I got bored on the way home from Wisconsin Dells, so I ended up taking a lot of random pictures of my towel. :P 

  6) Summer umbrellas 

 This picture was also taken at the Wisconsin Dells, but I think it could apply for anywhere/anyone. If you didn't already notice, I miss that place. Now I'm stuck at home doing hardly nothing.

 7) Doing things I really shouldn't do...

Long story short: our teacher said, "I don't care what you do with your workbook... You can throw it away, recycle it, burn it, whatever." So I burned it. 

Disclaimer: I had adult supervision.  

 8) My school's ice cream social

Every year my school has an ice cream social where students and their families go to this one park, play, and eat ice cream! :-) Nothing like free ice cream, right? 

  9) I didn't do it!

It's a LONG story....

 10) Denim

That picture is of a pair of jean shorts that I wear all. the. time. They are very comfortable and I really shouldn't wear them to school, even though I have. :D  

Butterfly, Butterfly

There's something about butterflies that is so spectacular. Maybe it's their colorful wings, or the way that they're made. Or maybe it's just how they flutter their wings around without any care in the world.

 

I love how butterflies are made; egg, larva, pupa, adult. And that's just the butterfly part! That doesn't include the caterpillar before the butterfly. I heard a quote once that said, "If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies." I think that quote is so neat! Change can be a good thing! Maybe if you moved, you moved and met your new best friends! {I personally <experienced that< one}

My neighbors are "raising" some butterflies and I just love watching the cocoon. Weird right? Just think, they are only in that cocoon for a certain amount of time.

I highly encourage you to go check out this document. It's called, "A Butterfly Lesson." We can all learn something from butterflies and if you read that, you will know exactly what I'm talking about! :-)

Have a lovely day!

Bible Verse of the Week #17 | YOU

As it is, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"

This Bible verse is saying, that every part of your body is important.

It is also saying that you are important. You are also part of a body; the body of Christ. 

You are just as important as everyone else. God made you for a reason and He put you on this earth for a reason. Don't go around thinking you aren't important, because you are important and mean something.

God loves you SO much and wants you to remember that He will always be there to strengthen you and help you. (Isaiah 41:10)

Wisconsin Dells|August 2011

 If you didn't already know, I was just at Wisconsin Dells over the weekend. It was really fun! Here are a few pictures!

 Wood roller coasters. They were really scary! One of them went under ground and I seriously thought I broke my back on that one because it hurt so badly.

 Architecture that is supposed to look ancient, but really felt like Styrofoam! The theme of the whole place is ancient gods and goddesses.

 Race cars... I totally forget what they're called. It was my first time and people called me a grandma because I drove so slow!

 I huge tidal wave! I was freaked out to go right in the front, but I got pretty close!

 I went with my girl scout troop and those two are two of my good girl scout buddies! They did "The Almighty Hermes."

 Water slides. The water slides were probably my favorite part! They were SO much fun!

^That was where we stayed: The Mykonos Village

I have a TON of other pictures, but I thought I shouldn't share them because I took about 100 a day. So, that would be a lot of pictures to post!

Have you been to Wisconsin Dells? If so, where did you stay?

A Lesson on Photographing Nature {a Guest Post by: Francesca}

hi bloggers! before i start this post, i'm going to tell you a little bit about me and my blog!

i'm francesca. i have brown hair, brown eyes, and i'm 12 2/3 years old. i'm going into 7th grade this year. i'm the girl that obsesses over blogger, sings in the shower, and has a HUGE heart for Jesus. i love photography, math, art, music, and have hopes of learning guitar. it's nice to meet you!

(ignore the bathrobe in the background, my cats claimed it as their bed)

my blog is sunshine + moonlight photography. as you can tell it is a photography blog. but, it is also a blog of thoughts, and expression. it is a blog about my life. it is my life in photos and words. blogger is one of my obsessions and loves. it's like i have a huge unknown family that loves reading about my life and looking at my pictures. so that is my blog.

now about this post. right now, i am reading a book called The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital NATURE Photography By: Jim Miotke. so far, i really like the book. it is interesting and Jim Miotke is a great photographer. so using tips from his book i am going to post a lesson on photographing nature. 

(my neighbors cat whom i am cat sitting for)

the word photography comes from the Greek word for light (pho) and painting (graphe).

one thing that the book suggests you remember is L.C.D or light, composition, digital exposure. those are 3 things that you should remember while taking pictures outside, or anywhere really! light is important because depending on where the sun is (or your source of light) you photo looks different. if the light is facing you and behind your subject, it is called backlight. if the sun is behind you, facing your subject, that is called frontlight. if it is on the side of your subject it is called sidelight. simple right? 

composition. is where you place your subject. when you are taking pictures you usually always want to use the rule of thirds. this means divide your picture into 3 sections. don't place your subject in the middle because it makes your pictures look more professional and pleasing. believe me, it works!

digital exposure, is aperture. aperture is the adjustable opening through which light passes into your camera. digital exposure is shutter speed. depending on how fast your shutter opens and closes makes your picture look different especially if you are taking pictures of water. the slower your shutter is, the more cotton candyish the water looks. digital exposure is ISO. ISO represents how sensitive the camera sensor is to light. 

my personal favorite thing to photography in nature is flowers because they are all so beautiful and full of detail! another thing that i love about photographing nature is that most things don't move! lol! i am an only child so i haven't really ever had any people to practice on so i either use dolls or i use nature.

one thing that i have noticed is that most of my pictures are horizontal.i think that most people don't really think of photographing vertically unless they are taking pictures of something tall. but, if you are on the ground, most anything can be photographed vertically. i found out that flowers especially look cool photographed vertically! so next time you are taking pictures, take one horizontal, and one vertical. then see which one you like better!!

so that ends my post on photography tips. i hope that these tips help you in the future because i know they helped me!! 

i hope you guys liked this post! so if you did, why don't you go stop over at my blog and follow!! i would LOVE if you did!! i am actually hopefully soon having a {almost} 25 follower giveaway, it would make my day if i could have a 25 follower giveaway or even 30 followers!! 

thank you in advance and to visit my blog click here!  

happy blogging!

-francesca-

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thanks for letting me post Madie! i really enjoyed it!

Vacation!

Hey Blogging Buddies,

As you are reading this, I will be on the road to Wisconsin Dells! I am SO excited and I can't wait to share my adventures with you! I will be having a wonderful guest post on Sunday that you should be looking forward to because it is really good!  I will be back Sunday night, so I'm not gone long.

Have a wonderful weekend everybody!

Friends| Friendship

 "Friendship is like a rainbow, it's bright and full of color, there is no end in sight when you're with friends."

"Friends will always be there to help you, it may not be the advice they give, but it's the support given that really counts."

"Money doesn't make a person rich, what makes a person richer or poorer are the kinds of people they call friend, and with the friends I have... I think that I am very rich indeed!"

 "Friendship is the union of spirits, a marriage of hearts, and the bond thereof virtue."

 "A true friend is the greatest of all blessings."

"A good friend is like a computer - he enters your life, saves you in his heart, formats your problem, and never deletes you from his memory."

"This is my wish for you: rainbows to follow clouds, smiles when sadness intrudes, comfort of difficult days, hugs when spirits sag, sunsets to warm your heart, laughter to kiss your lips, friendships to brighten your being, beauty for your eyes to see, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, patience to accept the truth, courage to know yourself, and love to complete your life."

Bible Verse of the Week #16

Psalm 62:2

"He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

To me this verse means that God is always there with us and no matter what happens to us, we will not be shaken because God is there. He is by our side 24/7. 

Many of us try and work to get money and riches and fame, but when that all crashes and fails, we still have God's protection. As long as He is our "rock" we will not be shaken.

A Mysterious Adventure

A few weeks ago, I went to my cousins house for a few days while my parents were out of town. When we got there, we dropped our stuff right by the door, hugged everyone, pet the dog, and started playing wii. After like a half an hour, my aunt came downstairs {where we were} and told us to put our shoes on because we were going on an adventure. She would not tell us where we were going! So we went to get some gas in the car and then out to lunch.

After lunch we went to the Bell Museum.

 Okay, gross!!!

 The sign below explains the picture above.

After the Bell Museum, we went into the building below...

VIA

...to see the Exploradome.

 The next morning we went to the Washington County Fair. I couldn't help NOT taking pictures of these cute animals!

 Do you see her tongue?

 ^That is the new hair style everyone! :P

 I think bunnies are SO cute!

What a pretty animal!

 After the fair, we went swimming!!!

 Waterproof cameras are amazing!

 I tried to get half the camera above water and half under water. Hot or not?

 My awesome cousin Eva.

 And again.

 My toes under water.

^Those are my new best friends. They were so much fun.

The next day we went to ^that^ very good restaurant.

And we had, their "famous" Hersey's chocolate shakes! YUM!

It truly was an adventure, wasn't it? Do you go on "adventures" like that one?