A Hero

Define the word . . .
hero-
 1. a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

The other day, Mama sent me a quote, or definition, that I really liked. I really look up to soldiers and respect what they do for us. They go off to war to protect our freedom to do anything we want. To worship, to speak out, to live. They sacrifice their lives for us.
But back to the subject; what is your definition of a hero? Is it Superman? the Avengers? Captain America?
Or are you more on the realistic side? My Dad? my brother? My teacher? Someone you actually know.

Here is the definition that was sent to me:

A hero is not someone with supernatural powers. A hero is an ordinary person, like you and me. A hero is someone who has the courage to stand against opposition, the honor to respect his/her position and not abuse it, and the will to sacrifice his/herself for the cause.

In today's time we have many HERO's that have fallen in battle. Many people have these soldiers as their family members and friends. I've got 1 friend in the army, I don't know what he faces. I don't know what he goes through. But I know one thing, there is a God in Heaven that is watching over him, and the least I can do, is pray.

So today, remember the fallen hero's, and pray for God's hand of protection over our soldiers.
I like the way Lawson Bates puts it, "Freedom Sure Ain't Free". Freedom comes with a price and very few pay it. Remember that you have the freedom because someone died for you, in your stead.

Have a blessed day.
Bethany

Homemade Cards

The past two days I've been making cards to give as a Christmas present to some friends. It's always hard to figure out what your going to get your pen-pals, e-pals, or friends you don't see that often. So this year I'm making homemade cards and envelopes for some of them. I've been having so much fun. Matching colors, designs, different shapes and inside decorations. So far I've made 6 cards with matching envelopes.

This first one is my absolute favorite.

#2 - Pinwheel

#3

#4

 #5

 #6

Which one is your favorite?

Have a blessed day.

Bethany

Nails

Last week I was on Pinterest and saw these beautiful nails. I didn't know how these artists made the nails look so perfect and smooth. Every time I've tried to do designs they look good but not perfect. They look good, but not smooth. So I watched a video and I found out that she was doing; water marble.

Here are the first 2 really pretty ones I did on my sister.

 The first batch on Amy was a mix of colors. Every nail was different.

So we cleaned them up and did this which is more her style and uniform.

Close up.

 Jennifer is more of the pretty type. She doesn't like all the bold, flashy colors or designs. So I went with this new pink I had and did only one nail in the water marble.

Close up.

 As for me, I like the bright, funky, fun colors and designs. I didn't really know what I wanted, so I did 2 nails each hand, different designs and switched the color order.

Close up.

Water marble nail art is super easy once you do it a couple of times. It also lasts longer that a straight applied coat of polish. So you can have your own nails looking professional without having to spend loads of cash on them. =)

If you want to learn to do it yourself, go to Youtube and type in water marble tutorial and have some fun with your nails.

Have a blessed day.

Bethany



Wonder and Amazement

Have you ever been discouraged? downhearted? This morning I woke up in a sour mood. By now nobody would know it though, I feel so good.
So I got up and didn't want to read my Bible, I didn't want to pray, I just was sulky. When I get this way I like to just go outside and walk. So that's what I did. I was walking around my yard, barefooted by the way, and started feeling the beauty of nature around me. The wind started blowing gently, the air was fresh from the little bit of rain that we had yesterday, and the ground was damp from the dew/rain. The grass under my feet was soothing and the wind wrapped around me like a hug. For me, ever since I was 14 when the wind blew it was like God was telling me 'I'm here', 'talk to me', 'I love you'. The wind is a comfort to me, and the knowledge of the presence of God wherever I am.
As I was walking I started to feel bad about being the way I was and looked to God for the answer to my question; Why do I get so down, depressed and upset with myself? Several times I just closed my eyes, breathed in the air and felt the world around me. I realized in myself what the issue was, I compared myself with others on things that don't really matter.  The result to that is I make myself miserable because I don't do anything about it. So I'm filling my head with things that are not going to profit me anything because I'm not doing anything to change them, (if they are changeable attributes).
So here's my conclusion: I'm going to accept myself for who I am and not worry about those around me. They are the way they are because God made them that way. I am the way I am because God made me this way; for a reason.
What came of this pep-talk? Being in God's creation gave me inspiration to go. I ran inside and grabbed my camera and went across the road to my neighbors for a nature photo shoot. I love some of the shots I got. I'm going to put scriptures on a couple of them. Probably Psalms 23. That's the scripture I was thinking of when I was taking these. =)
Hope you have a beautiful and blessed day.
Bethany

 Feel the wind.

 Let God lead in in green pastures.

 

 Look for the beauty in small things.

 

Write it? or Photograph it?

Ever since I was in school, I didn't like writing. I wasn't good at it. When I wrote it was bland, boring and very un-interesting. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't write.

I found out later that I could write when I had inspiration. This came along when I was 16 and was at a family camp. We had to write/create cheers and in the inspiration of fun I wrote a cheer that was recognized by the leader. I was really surprised.

Since then, I've written things that only come from inspiration. Poems about people I love, word pictures, again about people I know. If I write it has to be inspired or its not going to be good. =)

This picture kind of explains my way of writing. 

 

Courtesy of: SnapKnot - Find Local Wedding Photographers

The saying goes 'pictures can say a thousand words'. I may not can write, but I take pictures; and I love doing it. 

Bethany

A Nature Walk in My Front Yard

I am at the end of my photography schooling through NYI and I'm super excited. I have finished all the bookwork and now all that is left to do is take, and submit my photo project pictures. I have to take 7 more pictures before they are ready to go.
So this morning I decided to go on a nature walk around my yard in search of a banana spider I saw the other day. I had knocked down his web when I was mowing and had hoped that he'd re-build; he didn't. On the way to the spot I heard lots of noise in the trees above me. When I looked up, there were several woodpeckers hopping around in the tree branches. I ran back inside to get my zoom lens in hopes that they would stay till I got back.
I found out that bird watching is really challenging, especially in the oak trees in my yard. I did get a few good pictures though.

Isn't he a beauty!

This bird hopped around a lot and as you can see there are a lot of branches that can get in the way of a perfect picture. These are the two best pictures that I got before he took off.

 

One of my assignments is to get a close up of something; i.e. insect, flower. This was my first reason to go out this morning and I got side tracked by the woodpecker. Back on to my mission I found a dragonfly perched on a fence post. I learned something else this morning, dragonflies will perch in one place for a long time. If you move they might fly off but come right back once your still.

I first started shooting this blue dragonfly and got these shots:

I moved around a little bit and this one was shoved off by another dragonfly.

This one is my personal favorite. The colors are really bright and crisp, and the dragonfly is clear.

 

It is interesting how the background changes with a slight turn, or when the cloud cover changes. Both of these dragonflies were taken on the same post, just at different angles and minutes apart. 

Painting Toe Nails

Last night us girls had some fun. We were bored so we drove down to the river. We walked the shore a little, and sat on the dock for a bit. The dogs went with us and Boss loved it! Lucy on the other hand was like a little prissy girl, she didn't like it at all.
On the way home we were talking and decided to do something really girly; paint toe-nails. =) I've always been the one to gravitate more towards the get-dirty-for-fun type of girl. But I've been changing, growing up if you will, and I've gotten in to painting nails.

So I started with Jennifer.

Blue-green foundation with a white flower and yellow center on the big toe.

Mama was next. She usually just sits and watches us have the fun and be silly. This night we talked her into having her toes done. =)

Blue foundation, with 3 half daisies on the big toe.

After Mama, it was Amy's turn. She generally doesn't like to have her toes done and we don't know why. but we convinced her to let me do them because we all had ours done.
Purple foundation, white foun. on the big toe, with a purple and pink plaid.

Then I had Jennifer do my toes. We were talking about different ways to do nails, different patterns. We looked on Pinterest for some designs. But I wanted this.
White foundation, black and yellow polk-a-dots and a yellow smiley face on the big toe.

So happy and colorful.

We really had a fun time sitting in the living room painting nails. We got done at 10:15 p.m.

Bethany