30 September 2015

Life = Beautiful


I got up a little early this morning... Finally! Ha! I've been intending on going to the lake about everyday this week to take pictures of the sunrise, and each morning I decided I wanted to sleep instead! ;P
It is always such a heavenly experience to watch a beautiful sunrise, and this morning was no exception! I got home and was getting ready for work and put on the song "Life is Beautiful" by The Afters and just listened to it on repeat. :) 
I've always been a little bit of a "romantic" — if you want to call it that — when it comes to the way I view life and the world around me. And so this morning my thoughts were on how beautiful nature is, how wonderful it is to be with family (we have a family reunion this afternoon), how blessed I was to get a few extra days off work next week to go visit Alyssa in West Virginia, and how much I love tent meetings... And all the other lovely things that are going on in my life right now. 
And then I talked to one of my friends this morning to wish her a happy birthday and she told me that she just got a new car, and was having a perfect day! Eeek! So happy for her! :D There are just so many beautiful things in life that causes me to realize more and more how much God has blessed us with and how he gives and gives to us, even in the small things.





-MarLeahJoy

15 September 2015

Prauge Weekend



I have been looking forward to this weekend since forever. Haha!
Rather, my friends and I have been looking forward to this weekend since Monark! 
We call each other "grannys" since we are all single and we can still "live it up!" So we planned our "granny reunion" for this weekend to jet ski and camp out. It also happened to fall on the weekend of the start of the Prauge tent meeting. I've always been quite partial to tent meetings myself, so it was really cool to be in one again. 

I left home at 6am Saturday morning and I ended up stopping to take pictures not far from our house at the lake because the fog and sunrise was just so cool!


Lake/camping gear 101 ;)


I was on the phone with Alyssa, so (not any blame to her) I was a little sidetracked and let a lot of the fog escape before I got the picture I wanted. So I'm hoping/planning to go back there one morning this week to see if I can catch some more fog.



After riding around on the lake, we roasted hot dogs and had grilled chicken in Christy's new air-tank grill she had someone make for her. (I think it's just plain adorable!)



After lunch, we tried kneeboarding. It was the first time for most of us, and it took everyone quite a few tries to get up and go. But I resentfully must say that I gave up after three tries. :( I figure I'll have an opportunity to try again sometime, though.



I can't say enough about how much I love this girl and her spirit! 


That evening, we made our way over to Christy's older sister's house and met up with Jaime and Kayla before we went over to Christy's land to camp out.


Apparently, the thing to do at their household is to sit around the fire and eat sunflower seeds. So we sat and talked with the background noise of everyone spitting out the shells of the seeds. ;)


Little Levi and his toad





Our protector ;)


Everyone had retired and went to bed on their cots, and my hammock was waiting for me... but I was busy getting some shots that I wanted to get since the sky was so clear.



The good ole Milky Way





Then I took a few 30 minute exposures to catch some star trails. I love how you can see Christy's truck in here too ;)


I sat my camera up to take this last shot, and I went to my hammock and tried to lay down to get a little nap and hopefully get rid of the bit of a stomach ache I had developed that night. I couldn't stay there long before I felt like I was going to throw up, and I thought, "Oh no. Really? Not this again." I realized that I had probably dehydrated myself. So, to save you the gory details of my erupting stomach... I'll just say that I was finally able to fall asleep in the car sometime after 20 minutes of throwing up and felt 100% better in the morning. Thank the Lord! 


Like I already mentioned, we went to the Prauge tent meeting Sunday morning, and it was a really blessed service. But, one of the things I love best about tent meetings is the fellowship afterwards.
We at lunch at Christy's parents' farm and enjoyed a relaxed Sunday.





-MarLeahJoy

09 September 2015

Lake Tenkiller


The most controversial topic we had at our household before our camping trip was whether to take the dog or not. XD Thankfully, he got to go... and he didn't cause us any problems by barking his head off like he sometimes thinks he should do... o.O





And this ends my DSLR photos... I was going to take some when we were in the boat, but I forgot my memory card D: At least I had my GoPro :D


Before we took a boat out on the lake we decided to try out some disc golf. None of us ever met par... Haha! But we had a blast trying! And it was a little un-nerving at times when we were all trying to throw the discs over the pond and not IN the pond one time... 





Tubing wasn't the most fun thing I've ever done. But for me, it's all about making experiences, because you never know until you try! After we did that, my mom was like, "And next time you'll probably want to water ski..." Well yeah! Of course I do! Haha! I want to try everything! ;) And that's what I've got a lifetime ahead of me for... To fill with different experiences. Good or bad! And it's a beautiful thing to consider.


A little under water abstract art ;)


Daddy :)





When I look at this picture, all I can think of is a mermaid ;D 

- MarLeahJoy