Why not try. . .

. . .a fishtail pinned up into the milkmaid?

My favorite tutorial for the milkmaid can be found here.

. . . his heart was filled with {love}. . .

"It was not for his own sin that the Father bruised the Son.  It was because he wanted to show us mercy.  He wanted to forgive and heal and save and rejoice over us with loud singing.  But he is righteous.  That means his heart was filled with a love for the infinite worth of his own glory.  But we were sinners.  And that means that our hearts were filled with God-belittling affections.  So to save sinners, and at the same time magnify the worth of his glory, God lays our sin on Jesus and abandons him to the shame and slaughter of the cross." 

- John Piper, The Pleasures of God

And he took it on himself gladly, in order to save such wretched sinners as ourselves.  There is much reason to rejoice, when we consider what has been done for us, and where we would be without it.

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24

Reminicing

(This was supposed to be posted yesterday, and you know you love pretending. . . thanks a bunch!)    

     Yesterday the question in my five year journal was "What is your most cherished memory from the past year?"  Thinking of this brought back so many lovely memories from the past year, (and some not so lovely ones,) that I had to share with you.  So, here's to a wonderful new year, and I hope and pray that it will bring me closer to the ultimate prize in my walk with the Lord.

Not to mention the fact that it gave me an excuse to go through all our pictures again. . . 

There were not very many pictures from January, because my grandfather passed away.  We had seen changes in his life, and after speaking with a close friend of his who had been privately counseling him in spiritual matters, we are confident that he is with the Lord.

In February we took a girls trip to Charlotte with my best friend and her mom.  Our birthdays are the 3rd and 4th, so we drove up, (got lost taking a "shortcut") and spent two days shopping, eating, laughing, visiting her family, and trying on killer heels and clothes we couldn't afford.

Keeping a straight face is very difficult.

See?

Melissa "Annie Oakley" turned five in March and my mother turned fdsanoinjenj.  In case you were wondering, that is just another way of saying 29.

"Put 'em up!"

April is Lillian's birthday month, so we hosted a little "European Picnic" in the backyard with the fam.

Vegetables and hummus, meat, olives and feta, citrus rounds,  crackers and cheese,  and  rosemary artisan bread

 In May, we took a family trip to Virginia, visited Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, Monticello, Ashlawn Highland, and Polyface.

Statue of Thomas Jefferson in Yorktown.

I like doing hair.  People tell me I'm good.  Lillian makes fun of me.  She says I spend three hours doing my hair.  (Which is totally not true, just sayin'.)  Back in June was when I really started to do "fancy stuff."  

This was my first attempt.  I was really proud.  Of course, it fell out within a few hours, but I try to forget that part.

When we went to Williamsburg, I sewed a colonial outfit ensemble for myself.  (Lesson learned - summer heat + corset, long dress, and jacket + walking around all day is not fun.)  (Then again, having people ask directions and random questions is pretty neat.  And there was a lady who asked for a picture with us. . .) Anyway, in July, our church had a Father-Daughter Colonial Banquet, so, thankfully I already had a dress.  I tried to be period correct, but I ran out of time, and finished my corset with bobby pins.  Shhh, don't tell!

I got to be the "official colonial hairdresser," with some help from Nancy, my "official colonial hairdresser's assistant."

Ah, August.  I received this letter from a dear friend after a small incident with a  scared girl and a jack-in-the-box.  Which led to a little blood and a small scar, hardly visible anymore.  It was funny for me, and not so funny for the scared girl.  I did suggest climbing trees to her once and later she fell and had a concussion, though.  I guess we're pretty even, now.

Aren't those unicorns adorable?!?

We also went and rode rides at our county fair in August, which was too much fun not to mention.

I loved this ride.  It was like a hamster ball that rolled around and switched directions very roughly.  Lillian, on the other hand, did not care for it at all.  In fact, I was rather afraid she would lose the contents of her stomach onto me, but thankfully we hadn't eaten our funnel cake and fried cheesecake yet.

In September we went to the mountains with some friends, and enjoyed the beautiful mountain views.

Isn't the view spectacular?

Hold on,

There, that's better.  Oh, now I want to go back.  

October held our first (and only, unfortunately) camping trip of the year.  I posted about it here, so there's no use in boring you again, but I did re-edit this picture of my cousin and me. . .

There.  Aren't we so cute?  :)

Back in June, Lillian and I acted in a film produced by some friends of ours.  Actually, we met them during auditions, but a week spent in pretty much one room with no air conditioning, lots of bright lights, and about 12 people either makes good friends, or mortal enemies.  We're pretty much friends.  The movie premiered in November, so we took some girlfriends up to see it with us, and spent the day shopping before the movie.

Christina and me.  And Coffee.  (not pictured)

After the movie, we drove back to our house, had some other girls over, and watched Robin Hood until two in the morning.  And then stayed up a little later (*cough, cough* 6am)  talking.



And here's December, barely over, yet seems so far away.  (It's been a long day.)

Christmas has come and passed, as well as New Year's Eve, and now, on New Year's Day I have had the privilege of re-living the past year through pictures and precious memories.  I hope very much that this year will be as amazing and inspiring as the last.

WHAT MADE YOUR YEAR SPECIAL?