preview of whats to come! :]

birthday...

spring!...

more spring!!....

blue sky breakin' through...

songs on repeat....

AND...

a fresh new look to the blog coming this week!! 

much love,

Samarah

New camera= pictures!!!! & Day 13: A pastime favorite

 first of all, thank you to all the girls who have joined me in the Crazy Love Challenge :) ♥

eeekk.... we got the camera last night!! :) its pretty amazing :] There is going to be a lot more pictures on this lil' blog for sure! I've been having some fun with it, here's some pictures :)
except for the first 3, all these are straight outta the camera :)

can't decide whether I like the black & white or...

or the sepia...

or the cross picnik...

which one do you like best??

ah lovely algebra.. not.

don't worry... I don't cheat by looking at the answer key ;]

I've received all my wonderful prizes! :) 

I LOVE my bag. I took took it to church this mornin' :) 

love

gonna read Do Hard Things then read Start Here :)
and can't wait to spend my gift at target!

the Freedom cd, gonna put it on my ipod and take a listen:)

i know its not good to love materiel things but i love this thing...

sweet Bailey... love this dog!

well that's all the pictures for now but be sure there will be more! :)

Faith over at Something Fun is having a photography contest in honor of her 100th post! This is my first time entering a photography contest so I'm excited! the theme is Nature. I'm entering this picture :) i took it on a hike and there's no editing. simply beautiful isn't it?!

if you wanna enter,go here!

Day 13: A pastime favorite- 

pastime- an activity that occupies one's spare time pleasantly

well honestly I love kickin' back with some of my favorite snacks and watchin' a favorite tv show or movie with my parents or friends or playing around with some photography ;]

I'm off to get ready for the upcoming week!

with love,

Samarah

FREE tobyMac Christmas song!!

tobyMac's Christmas This Year feat. Leigh Nash song is the single of the week on iTunes! So hurry up and get it for free! This totally made my day :)

the post with all the tags coming later :-)

i have a good reason for being absent from the blogging world :)

I would apologize for not keeping up with y'alls blogs but I would be lying, the fact is that I've been having a wonderful time with SarahLynn :D its hard to believe that she's been here 1 week.... time is flying! but she gets to stay for a whole other week!! We've had loads of fun together: laughing,taking pictures,watching movies, playing on our itouches,doing school(yes I said doing school, SarahLynn brought some subjects with her that she had to get done and I had things I had to do also...by the way doing school is way more fun with a freind than alone ;), and Christmas shopping :) here are a few pics from the week ♥

doing school and listening to Air1

SarahLynn's homework

SarahLynn's math homework... lol ;)

watching Emma

me :) 

We bought some scarves and were using them as masks,skirts,head wraps and taking funny pictures :P this one cracks me up ;) 

some fun edits we did :)

love this one :)

We had our first SNOW on wednesday! Then it stopped for a few days but today it has been snowing non stop. I love looking out and seeing  the snow falling ♥ we are relaxing in our warm cozy house :)

hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
off to spend some time with my dear friend :)
love.samarah

blessings and thankfulnes

(not my photo)

I probably won't be posting tomorrow so I'm doing my Thanksgiving post now :)
I've been blessed by God with SO much. I have a lot to be thankful for.
Here are just a few things I'm thankful for,

My Savior Jesus Christ. He saved me from myself and in Him I have Hope. I don't know how I would keep going without Him. In the past year, I feel like I've grown closer to Him through all my health issues. Some days I feel like my life is just falling apart then I read a verse, talk to friend, or listen to a song that reminds that I can go on with His strength and love. That I am more than my problems or mistakes. I am His and I am a new creation in Him.

My amazing family. Seriously I have the best family ever. They love and care for me even when I'm in my worst mood ;) Our favorite things to do together is snuggling up on the couch and watching The Andy Griffith Show or taking a hike or just hanging out :) my little sister will make me sweet cards saying "I love you" for no reason and my little brother will give me a hug or say something like "you're the best big sister ever". My dad never ceases to make me laugh and he would do anything for me if I need it. My mom is the best. She teaches me, laughs with me,. cries with me, helps me, and has incredible patience and forgiveness towards me! Those things and more are priceless and I'll be honest... sometimes I'm not very fun at all to live with but my family puts up with it and does a very good job ;) I don't know what I'd do without them!

My fabulous friends. One of God's greatest blessings! good friends are hard to find nowadays but I've got a great bunch of 'em. My friends will listen to me talk about the bad day I had or what I'm struggling with. And they will encourage me or just tell me to suck it up ;) just kidding!! :) We can laugh and talk about random girl things ;)  I don't feel like I have to put on a fake face for them, I want them to see me just as I am- a beautiful mess. We can help each other grow spiritually, emotionally and physically. I love talking to a friend about how I feel and they say " i feel like that too!" knowing that I'm not alone. in the good times and bad. I love my friends and am SO thankful for them!

YOU! yes I'm thankful for you, the readers of my blog. You reading, commenting, and following is a blessing to me. When I started this blog I had no idea that a year later I would have almost 70 followers and meeting new people who are like me-striving to love and serve Christ and reach out to other people. and the encouragement and joy I get out of this blog is great! Thank you so very much :)

Awesome music. Music is a big part of me. I'm so thankful for the artists who write about things that God has put on their heart and create some really awesome and uplifting songs!  Songs are the words of my heart when I'm speechless. ♥

Some random things that I'm thankful for :)

• my warm house
• itouch ;) 
• being able to get an education 
• photography
• my church 
• clothes 
• having clean food and water 
• entertainment 
• clothes 

Don't just think of all the things you are thankful for on Thanksgiving but all year round. When you think you've come to the end of your rope or just can't go any longer count your blessings. one by one.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I'll leave you with this Thanksgiving prayer from the episode "A Time to Heal" of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. It sums up my post and I think its beautiful.

Dear Lord,
Le us give thanks to God our Father for all of his gifts so freely bestowed upon us. For all the beauty and wonder of your creation and earth, sky and sea. For our daily food and drink, homes and family and friends, for minds to think and hearts to love and hands to serve, for health and strength to work and leisure to rest and play, for brave and courageous , for a patient in suffering and faithful in adversity and for all valiant seekers after truth,liberty and justice, we thank you dear Lord. Amen. 

Love in Christ,
Samarah

Click HERE to enter into our giveaway!

some great giveaways!

Leelou Blogs is having a giveaway! here's what you could win for a guy in your life: brother, dad, uncle, etc :) or you could keep something to yourself ;) 

 They are having some other great giveaways on their blog so go here and enter in those too :)

by the way this is my 200th post!! wow, it doesn't feel like I've written 200 posts but yet it does ;) To congratulate me click HERE to enter our giveaway!! :)

*sigh*

ahhh...... ( I mean ahhh in a tired way). I'm so exhausted and done! I haven't been feeling well at all and I feel sore and weak all over. I'm praying its just been the day and that I'll feel better tomorrow! I'm so glad I'm homeschooled because I wouldn't get a lick of school work done if I was in school! :)
I've been at a loss of what to post about so thats the reason why I haven't posted for a couple days. But I think I'm going to do a What I'm Listening To post since I haven't done one for a while :)

The whole album Five Two Television by KJ-52!! I love KJ because he makes good, clean, and Christ centered awesome songs! He has a podcast page on iTunes and his videos are great! I suggest you subscribe if you have iTunes and an iPod! :)

A Little Bit of Love by 33Miles! its true... a little bit of love goes a long long way! :)

Breakdown by Group 1 Crew.... awesome song! I can't wait till their full album to come out in September!! This songs just makes you wanna get up and dance! ;P

Unstoppable (Olympic Mix) by Rascal Flatts- I heard this when the Olympics were on and liked it a lot :) I'm not a big of fan them but I love their voices and this song :) and I don't feel like finding a picture for this one but I'm sure you all know who Rascal Flatts are and what they look like and if you don't know can google them! ;)

We have a beautiful rose bush at the end of our drive way and the roses bloomed like a week and a half ago. It was so pretty I couldn't help taking pictures of them :)
All these are edited :)









Aren't they pretty?! :)

Well I think I'm going to go to bed.... its been a good but long day :)

Love in Christ,
Samarah

Awards!

Sorry its taken me so long to get the awards posted! Here they are! :)

I got the Beautiful Blogger Award again from Kristin!! thanks :)

The Rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.
2. Copy the award and paste it to your blog.
3. Tell us seven interesting facts about yourself.
4. Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you have discovered. (Only I'm going to change this to 5 bloggers.)
5. Contact your nominations and let them know they’ve won.

Ok so 7 interesting facts, I'm not very good at doing these kinds of things! oh well.. here I go ;) I'm going to add images just to make it more fun :)

1. I'm a huge night owl!!

( heehee! ;)

2. I strongly dislike cats.

3.I love chinese checkers... its such a unique game! :)

4. I'm reading The Fellowship of the Ring right now.... I've been reading it for like a year ( no kidding!) now and I can't seem to finish it!

5. I've never ever had Mountain Dew. Yep you heard me right, I don't even know what Mountain Dew tastes like because its never touched my lips! It's my choice its basically just sugary syrup and sugary water anyway ;)

6. I recently got a cute new pink case for my itouch :)

you can kinda see it in these pictures... I'll take a better picture of it later but this will have to do for now :)

7. I want to visit Canada!

Isn't this gorgeous??!!

I now award:

Kailyn at A New Rebel

Anna Gray at Anna Cabana

Grace at Grace Place

Bess and Ellie both awarded me this one... isn't it cool?! thanks girls :)

About this Award:

A prolific blogger is one who is intellectually productive, keeping up an active blog with enjoyable content. After accepting this award, recipients are asked to pass it forward to 7 other deserving blogs.

I present this award to...
Rose at Through Rose Colored Glass
Sarahlynn at Just Hangin' Out
Grace at Grace Place
Antonia at Outside into Life
Kristin at These are a few of my favorite things

This one has gone around to most everyone too but if you haven't been awarded with this one yet.... and you follow my blog- you're awarded! :)

I grabbed this one from Bleah's blog. I love it! :D

I awarded anyone who follows my blog and is homeschooled and loves it!!

I got these last 2 from Taylor's blog.

isn't this one just so adorable?! ;)

I award:
Sarahlynn
and
Rose

I award this one to:
Sarahlynn
and
Mylena

Hope you all enjoy your awards!
Love in Christ,
Samarah ♥