The Weekend end

Well, it's Tuesday now, time to head back to work. Papers from my desk will attack me, computers will want to eat me, their pilots may just want to strangle me, but I will not go quietly, I will fight back, I will conquer the computers for one more day, and hope that I survive until 8 o'clock. =)

Seriously though, it was a great weekend, from paintball, to wood splitting, to painting ceilings. I must say though... I am just a might bit sore today, but still, much was accomplished. Saturday was the paintball festivities, I think it was 9 of us that played, I'm not sure how, but I managed to survive till the end of all but 2 games, but somewhere within those 2 game, I managed to pick up 11 welts, only 3 broken balls, but still... OWWWW. Most of them have now changed from red to black-and-blue... my only solace... knowing that the same people that gave me those black-and-blue marks all got some of the same back from me that day!! Fun was abounding that day, and at the very end of it I completely disassembled my Automag (the marker/paintball gun.) I now will begin preparing it for a new coating. I need to strip off all of the old paint, and potentially will re-coat it this weekend.

Monday came soon after... go figure... Which I started with some splitting of wood down at Ken's house. It was some hard wood to chop... some were a bit smaller and not too bad, other were bigger and still not that difficult... but some just seemed to be 50 knots all tied together and not coming apart... I think I hacked at one piece of wood for about half an hour. Still, it was a great time, I always enjoy that.

A little bit later we headed to the Yager's house, as they are fixing it up getting ready to sell it, and we helped them out a bit. My first task was hanging shelves, and when I finished there went to painting, first a ceiling, and then another room, everything but the ceiling. All in all there was a lot accomplished that day, though there is still a ton of wood to chop, we got a lot chopped, and though there is work left to do on the house, a lot was finished. So praise God for all He allowed us to accomplish on Monday, though my back may not admit it right now, it was great to go and help out part of God's family, and minister to them in that way.

Ephesians 5:1, 2 "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children: And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor."

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Ever had one of those weeks where you're just going through something over and over again in your mind? It can wear you out... But then, through much prayer, God just breaks through it all, shows you He is all sufficient, and gives you a peace that just about knocks you off your feet because you just can't understand where it came from?

God is just incredible that way. My mind hasn't stopped going since last Sunday, but this morning I woke up, just praising God for who He is, and how He truly has everything in control! He is all sufficient, able to meet any need we come across. His work doesn't just stop at our salvation, but continues working in us for the rest of our lives. The question about it is, will we let Him be our sufficiency, will we let Him use us, will we be vessels in His hands... When we are willing, God will use us to do amazing things, and He will guide us in ways we never thought possible. He will be working in our lives, and in the situations every day life presents in ways that we cannot even know or understand. Praise God, He is wonderful, and a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

God Will Make A Way
by Don Moen

God will make a way,
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way.

By a roadway in the wilderness, He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His Word will still remain
He will do something new today.

Just a Quote...

This will be a short post, mainly just for a quote that I liked in the book I am reading. First though, a quick update for the weekend.

Saturday was a day of much laundry, and resulted in many clean clothes, sounds thrilling doesn't it?!?! Sunday I was invited over to a Mothers Day Feast at the Christensen's. I was thankful that while I was there I was able to help a little bit in making a few of the things. I received my instructions, and was on my way. It was fun then, though my feet and legs are quite tired today as I ended up playing kick ball then soccer for a total of something like 2 or 3 hours, it was loads of fun though.

I also got a chance to talk to my mom all the way in NY for a little bit, which was rather nice for Mothers Day. I have to say, my mom's the greatest, and I only wish I could have joined her for the holiday!!

So anyway... the quote, I'm not going to do a full bibliography though... It's from the book "Christy" by Cathrine Marshall. At this particular part Christy is talking about how friendship is in the mountains, and I liked it because I can relate, because it describes how I feel about my friendships...

"And so this kind of friendship was for life- yes, and for eternity too. One would never deceive or defraud a friend, nor allow him to be in need so long as you had one coin, one garment, or one meal to share with him. His sorrow was your sorrow; his joy, your cause for rejoicing."

1 John 4:7 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God."

Wow... It's been a while.

Has it ever been a long time since I've put anything up here. I guess it's just been really really busy, I've just been doing other things. Now, however, I have a little bit of time, and thought it a good time for posting.=)


So... Here goes... The last time I wrote was on Wednesday, April 25, and in the post I left off by saying that I would have plans on the following Saturday as long as nothing better came up. The truth is, that nothing better could have come up, I was set to do what I was going to do on Saturday, and there wasn't much hope of changing it.


That Saturday I woke up at about 4:30 and started getting ready for the day. By about 5:30 I was ready to leave, and took off. I drove north for about 2 and a half hours, up to the "Helen" area of Georgia. You see, my whole purpose for this day was to get the "Perfect Picture." I had several stops that I planned on making, but had been hearing on the weather the past few days, that it was supposed to be mostly cloudy all day. As I drove up there, however, I saw that in fact it was not mostly cloudy, but almost the exact opposite, I couldn't see but 1 cloud in the sky. When that hit me I could do nothing but praise God. He had started my day out amazingly, He gave me a perfect day, in which to try to find the perfect picture.


Finally I reached my destination area. I drove around in the mountains a bit when i first got up there, although I didn't exactly make it in the 2 and a half hours I was expecting to, but that was my fault... I stopped for breakfast.=) So all that considered, I pulled into the park area for Anna Ruby Falls at about 9:00.


It wasn't too bad of a hike to the falls area, with a paved pathway, only about a mile long. It was a very beautiful area, as the path followed the stream the whole way to the falls. The whole way I was taking pictures, tons and tons of pictures.


I was done at Anna Ruby Falls by about 11:00 or 11:30. From there it was a short drive over to the Raven Cliffs Falls trail. This was a much more rugged trail, and was somewhere between 3 and 3.5 miles long. There were make-shift bridges, trees fallen across the path, rocky inclines, and all sorts of stuff. Were I not on a mission for the "Perfect Picture" I probably would have taken a little bit more time on this trail, but as it stood, I was on a mission. I took even more pictures on this trail than I did at Anna Ruby, but as I was walking I realized all the beauty surrounding me, and just again praise God for this day that He had given, and He just brought to my mind all the ways He has blessed me. Now I was surrounded by some of the most beautiful parts of His creation.


So on this trail I walked at a brisk pace, stopping every few minutes to climb down embankments, or hop over some stones to get to the other side of the river, so I could get some good pictures. I also ended up taking pictures of other groups that were up there. They would see me taking pictures, then ask if I could take their camera and get pictures of them, I was more than happy to oblige. As I felt I was getting near to the end of the trail, or at least what I thought would be near the end of the trail, I started realizing that I should have worn 2 or 3 pairs of socks, as my feet started telling me to stop. I however did not listen, and pushed on.=)


Soon I did in fact come to the end, where I climbed quite a steep, rocky, hill up to the falls. It was kind of interesting, it was like two rock faces next to each other, with a split in them, and from both sides, in poured the water. It was pretty cool, definitely different than any falls I had seen before. Shortly I climbed back down, set my camera up, and got a quick picture of myself. After that I packed everything away, and started back at a very quick pace.




As I said, the way back was walked very quickly, and not only my feet but my legs many times were saying "STOP!" Still, I didn't listen. At my feverish pace, I made it back to the beginning of the trail in about 45 to 50 minutes, and went over and just sat in my car for a minute. Then I took off my shoes, to which I think my feet will be eternally grateful, and slipped on my sandals. By this time it was getting close to 3:30, and I once again took off, only the drive home remaining for this part of the day. I did however make a quick stop as Sonic...mmmmmmm.... after breakfast being so long ago, that was just wonderful.




I finally made it home between 6:30 and 7:00 and was glad to rest just a bit. I thought about taking a nap, but instead ended up looking through the pictures to try to pick out "The One." My first pass through I narrowed it to 78... lol... I decided that was enough for that day, and just rested a bit.


You may now think that that was a long day, and it would be a good time to go to bed and get some rest. But that wasn't it... I had plans for that night! At about 9:30 I reached the Christensen house, where we watched the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. We had popcorn... I don't think I had ever been happier to have popcorn... it was very strange, even as I drove over there I hoped popcorn would be involved, and it made me uncommonly happy. We had a fun time though, and a late night.


Sunday was busy as well. Starting out early with Sunday School, I must say, I was a might bit tired. =) Our evening service was canceled that night, and we had our men's and ladies meetings. After the meetings I once again went back the the Christensen's house, at which time Ken, Ede, and I headed over to Callaway gardens to take Ede's senior pictures. It was fun to go out there and walk around a bit, we got some good pictures as well. When we tried to print them Wal-Mart did not want to give them to us, even though I was the photographer. I even filled out one of their copyright release forms, and they still gave us a hard time, saying that we could have gotten anybody off the street to sign it, and that we couldn't prove that I took them... There's some real good customer service for you... HA... Eventually they gave us the wallet sized pictures.



Later that week I tried to print out 5 8x10's one for each of the chosen pictures. I went to pick them up, and was told they would not sell them to me no matter what, they were professional and they will not give them to me, so I went back the next day to see the manager. I brought my camera, with the pictures still on it, as well as my portfolio in, and still, even though I filled out the copyright release form, they would not give them to me, saying that I couldn't prove they were mine. So later on I called the Walmart.com photo center customer service line. Finally someone that would help me. They apologized for how badly I was treated, and told me that it would be delt with, and that I would hear back shortly from them. Well I did hear back on Saturday. I got a message on my voice mail, saying that once I fill out a copyright release form I would be able to get my pictures... HELLO!!! Anybody home!!!! I already filled one out..... I still couldn't get my pictures... So a lot of help they ended up being. So right now, to me, the Newnan GA Wal-Mart... is just a huge pain in the rump, I'm going to try my luck today at the Wal-Mart in Peachtree City, and hope I get some people that actually have a brain.


So... Anyway, to get off of that... This past weekend was Ede's Graduation! Way to go Ede! She graduated with about 35 other home school students, and the main speaker was a supreme court justice here in Georgia. It was a good ceremony, and afterwards I took her picture with Ken Ham. We looked around the book sale a bit afterwards, then headed back the Newnan to eat at the Chin Chin Chinese restaurant. That was where all the hard work from Saturday was revealed. The picture that I so needed to be perfect, was part of my graduation gift. That picture I will not be posting, as it is reserved for that gift.


That evening we had a fun time of dessert, and playing cards. It was another late night, but still it was a blast!!


I think that pretty much catches up everything... I've yet to make plans for this weekend, so who knows what I'll be up to, I guess there's no telling......





Philippians 2:1, 2 "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. "