Day 1

Fruit

Photo A Day Challenge

Yes, I'm doing another photo a day challenge. Hopefully ill be able to actually finish this one! :) I've put the list in this post.

Hello, World!

Hi, all! So sorry for the lack of posting (I feel like I say that every single post... That might should tell me something... Hmm...) here lately. College has pretty much decided to take over my life at the moment :) . School is going pretty well. I really can't believe that the semester is already half way over! I'm definitely looking forward to Christmas break though haha. I mean, a month without homework AND you get presents! Who doesn't love that?!? LOL! Well, I just wanted to let you all know that I am still alive and I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs :)

My Summer in Pictures

Wow! Summer went by SO fast! I leave for NGU in less than two weeks! Actually, I think it is down to 10 days now. How crazy! I took a ton of pictures this summer, so I'll tell you about it through those.

 The first big thing that happened for me was SLA. SLA stands for Student Leader Apprenticeship. This is a program that Fuge Camps (which is hosted my Lifeway) sponsors at two of their camp sites. I went to the one in New Mexico. 

 The SLAs go around the camp learning about how it is run and helping the staffers with  whatever they need. We went to an assisted living home and a nursing home one day, which is the picture on the left. 

Here are my fellow SLAers and I outside of the chapel where we held the worship services. My group of SLAers ended up being an all girl group so we called our group the SLAdies. :)

 We were going to go ziplining (I truly was going to actually do it. Someone was probably going to have to push me, but I really was going to do it! Promise. ;) ), but it started raining right as we were climbing up the stand. We waited around a few minutes to see if it would pass, but when it started raining down some pretty sizable hail, we decided to forgo that experience.

We went backpacking over the weekend. It was a pretty neat experience to go up into the mountains and do that. (Sorry for the turned picture)

We had what I like to call 'hispanic smores' while backpacking.  :) Just take a flour tortilla and fry it some in a pan and then add the chocolate and the marshmellows! So incredibly yummy.

This is me and some of the group that the staffer I shadowed and I brought to the nursing home during the second week, as well as Mrs. Bonnie. She told us all about her life and showed us scrapbooks that she and her daughter had made together. Below is me with the staffer I shadowed, Cat. She was amazing!  

 

About a week after I got back from New Mexico, my youth group went to Fuge camp together at NGU. We were there during the week of July 4th (notice my amazing shirt in the picture to the left!). Fuge really is an amazing camp. I always grow during my week there. Sadly, this was my last year as a camper, but I fully intend on being a chaperon next year! :)  

 The top picture on the right is the band that we had that week. You may remember them from one of my previous posts about worship. Jarod Espy is the worship pastor at the church I am going to be attending while at college. You should definitely check his music out. It is pretty legit.

 There were giant slugs... Just thought I'd mention that one.

Below is some of us with Jarod and one of the staffers, Sarah. She led one of the track times I was in, Interpretive Sign. I've posted the video of my track preforming above.

The last thing I am going to write about is my mission trip to Honduras this year. It was absolutely amazing, just like last year.  It is great to get out of the country and see how God is moving in other places. This year is was good to see all the wonderful friends I had made last year as well as see how God had been working in their lives over the last year.

 Our awesome translators, Carlos and Gabby.

 The team I was with.

 We did VBS everyday with the village kids. That was super fun! :)

 I'm not kidding when I say that these kids LOVED to have piggy back rides. (Yes- Carlos has two on his back!)

We poured concrete floors for several of the village homes.

 

 We helped to roof a few houses, too.

 Washing our hair in FREEZING water! It felt great afterwards though.

 In the picture above, we were having one of our nightly worship services. 

We helped paint a school on the last day.

There you have it! My summer in pictures. :)

Winner!!!!! :)

First of all, thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway I hosted! It was a good turn out I think with a total of 13 entries. Anyway, without further ado, here is our winner:

LADY DRAGONKEEPER

Yay! Congrats!!! I am going to send you an email soon. Thanks again everyone! Hopefully there will be more giveaways and reviews soon! :)

My Favorite Form of Worship

Hey, all! Definitely my favorite form of worshiping God is music. I ADORE contemporary worship music. I can get into all the other kinds too, but there is just something about the contemporary side of worship music that just draws me in. I can focus on the lyrics of song and really think about what the song is saying, you know? And I think it is important to think about what you are singing to God. I mean, if you start singing something like 'Send Us to the Nations' by Jarod Espy (posted below), you had better mean it because God is listening and taking  notice of you. He knows if you mean it or not. Anyway, I've posted some of my favorite worship songs below for your enjoyment! What are some of your favorites? I'd love some new music! :) 

Send Us to the Nations (Jarod Espy)

Be Glorified (Jarod Espy)

Oh How He Loves (David Crowder Band)

Wrap Me in Your Arms (Michael Gungor)

Our God (Chris Tomlin)

Don't forget to check out the giveaway! It ends a week from today. Here is the link for that: Giveaway Link

Forsaken Dreams - Interview and Giveaway!

Hi, all! As promised, here is the giveaway of MaryLu Tyndall's Forsaken Dreams. As a bonus, she agreed to answer a few questions for you all to get to know her better. Here they are:

1. How did you come to know the Lord as your personal Savior?
Unfortunately, I met the Lord late in life. I had gone to church off and on as a kid, but the whole religion thing just didn't stick with me. I wanted to live life to the fullest, explore everything, have fun! And it seemed to me that God was into restricting that. Boy, was I wrong!! It wasn't until I

turned 35 and had made a complete muck of my life (divorce, alcoholism, many broken relationships, wrong career. You name the mistake and I made it) that I started coming to my senses. I remember wanting to die. Instead I dusted off my old Bible and began to read, searching for answers, wanting to find meaning to life.  In the book of Ezekiel, a light bulb went on in my head. It had to do with the prophecy that God would gather the Israelites from the far corners of the earth and bring them back to their land again. Israel was in the news a lot at the time so I knew some of their history and I realized at that moment that God had done exactly what He said He would do. I realized He was real, very much alive, and that He loved me.  Instantly I fell to my knees and felt an overwhelming love pour down upon me. I've never been the same since!
 

2. What is the best compliment you have ever received on one of your books?
The best thing anyone can ever say to me about any of my books is that the story brought them closer to God. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's the truth. That is why I write. I want people to know there's a God who adores them and died for them and wants to know them and help them with their life. So many people don't realize that. They have a shallow belief but they don't walk day to day with God as one would a friend and a father. That's what I want people to see in my stories. And yes, I have received a few comments along those lines and they have blessed me tremendously!

3. How do you pick your character's names?
There are several websites that I head to when I'm trying to name a character. One of them has all kinds of names from all kinds of nationalities and it lists the meanings behind the names. I try to choose a name that means something related to the character's unique personality. The problem lies in also choosing a name that was in use during the time period in which I'm writing. For that, I have other websites I search that list the most common used names for a certain century. Most of the time I can find a name that fits perfectly. When I have trouble, I sometimes make up a name as in The Red Siren where I named my hero after two Biblical characters: David and John. I combined them to form Dajon.

4. What is your favorite kind of food?  

I love all kinds of food!!  Eating is one of my favorite things to do. Here's some of my favorite foods: Coconut shrimp, pasta, popcorn, cheese, anything sweet, but especially cake, and of course chocolate! What would life be like without chocolate?

5. How can readers contact you?
Website: http://www.marylutyndall.com
Blog: http://crossandcutlass.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MaryLu-Tyndall-Swashbuckling-Romance/175344859169475
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLuTyndall

If you want to know my opinion of the book, the post below is my review! Or, you can click HERE.

GIVEAWAY

Okay, if you want to be entered to win Forsaken Dreams, all you have to do is comment with your email address! You can also get a second entry for following my blog with Google Friend Connect (located on the right hand side of the blog). Just remember to tell me you are a new follower! For all of the people who already follow KKR, just tell me in the comment and you will get a second entry too. :) The giveaway will end 2 weeks from today on April the 22nd.

Good luck to everyone!