Beach vacation

My Life (In as many posts as it takes) #99

 Hello everybody! My family just got back from an amazing vacation at the beach! So, it was five days of just sitting on the beach, with book, lots of sun, lots of swimming, and over 1,000 photos taken. It was awesome.

Here's a break down:

Day one:
We all packed up and believe me, the car was packed. Since we stayed in a house, not a hotel, we had to bring our own bedding, so I sat in the back seat with two of my sisters and I felt like I was packed in pillows. I was surrounded. It was actually pretty comfortable. ;)

So, we first went and rode the ferry's, if you ever are in Galveston Texas and have an opportunity to ride the ferry's, do it! Its awesome! You can usually see dolphins (I saw about four) and the seagulls all gather at the back of the boat giving amazing opportunity's for  photos. So yeah, the ferry's are awesome.

Then we went to the house and unpacked, and went swimming. Concluding day one.

This is by far my favorite photo I got on this vacation.

Day two:

I went swimming and got really badly sunburned. That was actually the majority of my day. After I discovered how much even going out into the sunshine hurt I found myself a nice porch swing in the shade with a great view of the waves and curled up with a book. I managed to finish Happiness Hill by Grace Livingstone Hill that evening.

Day Three:

I woke up dehydrated and in lots of pain because of the sunburn. Let this be a warning to you; if you get sunburn, remember to drink tons of water. Because I was on the couch all morning feeling sick. But, by lunch I got enough water to make me feel better. So, after putting on a ridicules amount of sunscreen, my family built a big sandcastle. It actually lasted all the way to the end of our vacation, so that was pretty cool.

We swam and I re-burned my arms. It ended up I had not sprayed them with sunscreen as well as I had thought. Take my suggestion; if you go to the beach, wear lots of sunscreen.

Day Four:

I read, a lot. I managed to finish Truth, and half of Courage by Molly Evangeline (Both are amazing, you should check them out). We went swimming, and I actually managed to not get sunburned again. So yeah, that day was uneventful, most of it was pretty much just spent soaking up the beach.

I took my boat in a bottle to the beach and got some photos of it. =)

Day Five:
We got up early and loaded the van up. Actually, we didn't have as much stuff going back so there was a tad bit more room. But it was still pretty packed. We went to a fish hatchery and walked around, that was pretty cool, even though the main part was closed.
Then we got home and our goat was caught in the fence. What a greeting. ;) Luke (My dog) was very excited to see us. He wouldn't leave me, it was adorable.










So yeah, that wraps up our vacation. I now have a pretty good tan and peeling skin because of the sunburn, but it was all worth it. There is something about the beach that makes me want to just sit and talk to God, which I did, a lot.


So, what are your plans for the summer?
What is your favorite thing about the beach?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I hope your summer is awesome!

Pure thoughts are hard sometimes

Food For Thought #69

Hey guys, I just want to start off by saying I will probably come on pretty strong in this post, so if you don't feel like an impassioned speech right now, I would just save this for latter. But if you want to stick around, I would really love you too, because this is something I am very passionate about and I feel like more people need to be as well. 

This is a problem I have with myself, so please don't think I'm pointing a finger at you, this is something I've seen failing in myself and honestly, it disgusts me. 

Today I really looked at myself and realized how much I'm not living what I belive. I'm telling myself and others that I belive that I shouldn't read any books with heavy magic, or with too heavy of romance. I say that I shouldn't watch movie that have any blush worthy scenes, or standards that go against my own. I say that songs should build me up in my faith, and make me think clean thoughts. But you know what, it is so easy for me to say 'this one won't hurt me.' I convince myself that just this one won't affect me, or that one won't hurt. I convince myself that I won't let it affect me, or that one bad part really matter in the long run. 

But its a lie. I complete lie. I don't care if its just one photo, scene, song, or chapter that made your thoughts turn from a good path, it matters. It matters a lot. More then you will probably ever know. 

Because, even if its just small things, they come together to make big things, Things that affect your life. Compromises on what you belive never end in good. God meant us to follow His lead down to the tiniest portions of our lives. That sometimes means giving up things we love because they are keeping us from him. 

For me it meant giving up one of my favorite TV shows, because I realized that the content was making me think of things I shouldn't. It meant giving up some music that I actually liked, and some books that were enjoyable. Did I like doing that? No. I didn't. I pretty much gave them up kicking and screaming mentally, because I had let myself get attached to a cheap form of entertainment. God has something better for us if we'd only give up these fake substitutes. And I know how hard the struggle is, but I think if we actually responded to God's prompting and gave up these things, we would find that we have a deeper relationship with God. 

Because he wants what is best for us, not just what is entertaining. 

I think this passage sums up what we as Christians need to be thinking about as we go through our day. 

Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Currently I am...

My Life (In as many posts as it takes) #98

Its been a long time since I have done one of those "Currently" posts, so I thought I would do one again. Unfortunately I cannot find my original post, so I'm just going to do all the ones I can remember.

I am...

(re)Reading...  Annabeth's War by Jessica Greyson.

Writing... A new story (Which I will be posting on soon).





Thinking... About all the blog posts I have to write today.

Wondering... If I'll have time for everything I have to do.







Editing... The fourth book in my princess series.

Enjoying... My new camera.

Drinking... Vitamin water.







Watching... The Lego Movie (At least I will be in just a few minutes)

Waiting... For a book to arrive in the mail.





Listening... To God Girl by Jamie Grace. (Its an awesome song, you should check it out if you can.)

Posting... A bit to much on Instagram.

Loving... Life right now.


What's going on with you?

(Just a small note, due to some stuff going on, I won't be able to respond to comments for about five days. But don't let that stop you from commenting!)

Blessed

Food For Thought #68

Below is one of my favorite portions of Matthew. I love that there is always one that I am, or am aspiring to. I hope this finds you well.

Matthew 5:3-12

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

My new camrea

My Life (In as many posts as it takes) #97

Hey everyone!! Guess what? A few of y'all already know this, but I got a new camera!! So I got myself a Nikon D3200 and it is awesome. 

Here are some pictures of it really quick:

I have already fallen in love with using this camera, because not only is it the very first DSLR, but it takes much better photos then the last camera I used, and also this one is exclusively mine. =) So, as you can imagine I have been playing around with this a lot since I got it.  

I've tried to narrow down the photos, but there's still a ton here, so please hang with me through all these.

My sisters just got me this figurine. Isn't it beautiful?

I followed this rabbit around for quite awhile to get this photo. XD

                                  

So, what do you think of my new camera?

Any tips to a girl new to the DSLR world?

I hope you have an awesome day!!

-Mikayla-

(My signature won't work today for some reason. =P)