Hey everyone! I haven't posted in two weeks! AHH! I'm so sorry. I have a Great excuse though. My mom just had a knee replacement so I've been helping her a lot. Would you please pray for her! This week I learned that through all the hard times we need to remember God is always with us and he will never leave us. He has a plan for each one of you and me. Anyway, I did some photography yesterday. It's not the best, but the insects were very photogenic that day.

This dragonfly was so photogenic! It wouldn't leave until I did! Then when I came back he did to!

So, I think everyone knows I love the Duggars. And I love to do edits to! I follow a lot of Duggar fan pages on instagram and they have edit contests so I like to enter them. I used to be bad at them but I think I'm getting better!

 

What are photo edit apps you use?

Do you like the Duggars?

Have you seen any photogenic insects around your house you've been able to take pictures of?

 

 

 

Super Summer Part 2!

BEFORE SUPER SUMMER

One thing that was really awesome was God speaking to me that week. The Sunday before the camp my leaders asked us to write down on a paper something you wanted God to make you more like. I wrote down to be more brave and share his gospel. That week I heard him speaking to me so much to be brave and share his gospel. When I had to be brave and invited someone to the block party I had to be brave. I had to be brave when I was asking people if they'd like to pray with them. But who should I be afraid of for God is with me always.

ELECTIVES!

Ok guys! The elective was awesome! The elective was a class with a topic of your choice you wanted to go to. I went to Meeting Needs outside of Super Summer. AWESOME! What I really learned there was to be brave. To not be ashamed of God's word, but to share his gospel. Don't make excuses. DO IT! I'm shy. Very. I always have an excuse. What if they privately talk to someone about me and this conversation we had. What if they think I'm weird? What if they're not even listening? Surely they'll be alive next time I see them to talk to them. You really don't know. Most of the times you die you are not expecting it. Sometimes. Anyway, you don't know what will happen next to them. So stand up! Don't be afraid! Speak loudly with no regret or fear of being laughed at. And share the most greatest thing to talk about! JESUS! I really had to get brave and raise my hand. Sometimes you know the answer but you don't raise your hand. That's okay if you don't want to, but I had this beating heart wanting me to. Finally, I raised my hand and answered. Maybe it wasn't right, but I learned something. I don't think people don't ask questions because they know that person is going to raise it's hand and know the answer. He asks the question so we can learn. We'll never know until we learn it. So, I'm going to say it again. Don't be afraid! Stick out of the crowd! Meet Needs and Share Christ. I also have a bible verse that related to what I'm talking about so here you go:
My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
Philippians 1:20  

 

FAMILY GROUPS!
Family groups was basically a couple other girls in your school and a team leader gathering together and talking about what we learned. Most of the time it was after a sermon or a school session. I loved our team leader because she asked us a lot of questions. It was great to just tell stories about whatever we were talking about which was usually how we can help people. We were all totally chill. Some would be laying down on the grass. One time we sat by these benches and we could see the pretty clouds and the moon. It was dark, but very pretty. That was the moment I wanted my iPod. To take a picture! Anyway, sometimes we'd pray for the person on the left of us or something. Even though we barely knew these people. We only met them like two days ago. But God knew them! After praying we sometimes got extra time to make funny faces and tell REALLY REALLY random stories. REALLY I'm telling you! It was fun! Just typing that made me smile.
WORSHIP!
Ok everyone! Worship is like the best part of the WHOLE camp! What I loved about it was when you entered you heard the music and when you left you heard music. It's awesome to really focus on the words. We sang new songs and old songs! It was awesome to see people just raising their hands and singing to God. Sometimes I would smile when I looked around and I'd see everyone. I bet you almost every person in there was singing. One of my friends who was in my school suddenly appeared on the stage and sang as a back up singer on the song, "Oceans." I LOVE THAT SONG! It was SO SO SO awesome to focus on those words, raise my hands, and tell Jesus the words. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wonder. And my faith will become stronger in the presence of my Savior. Let me walk upon the water wherever you will call me.
Some songs you listen on the radio ALL THE TIME and you don't like it as much. Not anymore. You love it! Because the music there just made you love it! It was literally like a concert. It was loud! So awesome! WOW!
SERMONS
In the sermons we were talking about Acts 3. Now, I was a little scared the sermons would be boring. I wouldn't understand it. But I totally did! All my focus was on him! He was a really fun and understandable preacher. I had some notes on my notebook, but sadly I think it's in my car which is in the car shop. SHUCKS! I really want to share some notes so I will make another post more on the sermon. Anyway the sermons were very good and understandable. In one of the sermons they brought up to people who shared they were giving our fliers in a group to people around the neighborhood. One girl was doing gardening work. They gave her the flier thinking she was the owner of the house. It turned out she wasn't. She was actually a very poor lady who had been laid off a job and ever since then couldn't buy important things like toilet paper etc. They prayed for her and invited her to the block party. She accepted Jesus in her heart that day. We MET NEEDS for her by getting some food and supplies she needed for her and also finding job applications for her. And most importantly we SHARED CHRIST! That encouraged me to be like the two people who talked to her. I wanted to do something like that!
BLOCK PARTY
For the first time Super Summer did a block party for the community. I hope they do it next year, but it really related to our theme. Meeting Needs Share Christ. We had popcorn, snow cones, cotton candy, face painting, games, twist balloons, and prizes. ALL FOR FREE! Some campers were evangelizing and some were helping with games. Everyone was helping. Though the first time it was hard for me. I had nothing to do, but float around. I wanted to talk to people, but I wanted a partner. Finally, I found my friend Moriah and we started talking to people. It was a little hard, but we did it. We started off my saying Hi How are you? We'd ask them how did they like the party and what they were doing. Then we asked if we could pray for them about something. Some said no. Some said yes. One girl let us pray for her daughter and then for her and finally we said she would like to pray for us. That helped me and I know Moriah too! It encouraged us a lot! That was getting me started to talk to people more. It was awesome to see people who maybe didn't get food like that everyday. When you saw the smile on they're face when someone gave them a balloon or when they won the game or when they saw the cat that someone painted on their face for them. It was amazing how God worked in not only those guests that day, but those campers!
MEETING NEEDS AND SHARING CHRIST OUR OF SUPER SUMMER
A lot of times my TL would ask us to write down someone we were praying for or someone we wanted to share Jesus with. I always would think about my two cousins. We used to be great friends and we still are, but I know they are lost. They do not know Jesus. After Super Summer I really wanted to talk to them. It wasn't that hard other than I didn't have all the answers. I began asking them did they ever ask themselves who made this world? Did we just appear? They answered saying, "Ellie, don't take this offensive but we don't believe in your God." I answered back by saying, "Ok that's fine. I was just wondering who do you think created the world." We all were confused in the idea if something has to be created then if God was the creator he had to be created to. In Genesis 1:1 is says, "In the beginning WAS God. He wasn't created. He was there! I told my family and my parents gave me a couple of books that gave me some answers. My real big question is how is the bible real? It's hard. I was glad I could at least get them thinking.

Finally, I pretty much got this whole Super Summer posts done. Just one little one about the sermons. Thank you for reading!
In Christ,
                        ~Ellie;P
 

Two favors please!

Bello everyone! If you could do two things for me. It's really easy. Enter in these two giveaways.

Allie's Giveaway

The Prizes

1. Cool Gear Cup with Straw

2. Our Generation A Bucket of Fun Set

 

Go to her blog for more information at Spreading my Joy.

 

Also please enter my friend Katie's giveaway.

Katie's Giveaway

That is the prize.

For more information go to her blog at Sparkly Ambitions.

 

Please enter both of them! Thank you girls for hosting these giveaways!

 

 

Super Summer! Part 1. :)

Bello! It's Ellie! Finally. Yeahh I got back from my camp (that I think I secretly didn't even tell you about) on Saturday, but posting never was my main goal. Days past fast, but I still wanted to post about it because you just gotta hear about it. This year for my summer camp me and my sister went to Super Summer at Greenville College, Greenville Illinois. It was my first year so I was a little nervous. I knew I was going to miss my family and I just wanted to be back at the no business life which is VERY rare for me. I LOVE BUSY! ANNYYWHO, right when I was with my church group heading to the camp I wasn't nervous. I was pumped! I was laughing and having a great time.

SUMMER CAMP NERVOUSNESS

Let me tell you something, Super Summer is like a dream land. Suddenly, whenever you get there you miss your family, but your not thinking about it. It's pretty much the college life. You get a dorm key! GUYS! THAT'S LIKE..............AWESOME! But I haven't even got to the best part yet. So hang on and keep reading!

MY SCHOOL

In every grade your in a different school. No it's not dreadful like that. It's pretty much like the group you hang out with and go to sermons with. Every school you have a color. I was in the red school. First when you got there you put your luggage in your dorm and immediately a TL (team leader) escorts you to the red school room. It was ALL decorated in red. Red balloons and red table cloths surrounded the room. IT WAS AWESOME! I met my roomie there too! We also met our family group. Mostly after sermons and school sessions your family group would gather together and talk about what they learned.

SCHOOL SESSIONS

In our school sessions the main topic was your identity. We read Genesis 1-3 talking about Adam and Eve. I though of a question which is: If we were born sinners then what did we do? What sin did we commit? Here are also some questions our dean (who is like your main speaker at your school) gave us: Would you die for someone? Would you give permission for someone to die? Have you or I put my hope in the hands of Jesus? Do you or I trust him with it?

RECREATION

Rec was AWESOME! It was all about supporting your school. You'd look weird if you didn't wear you school color. Before rec our whole school gathered in our room. EVERYBODY WAS PUMPED! Red face paint, red shirts, red streamers, and red horns were all over the place!

We were all ready to make our team look like so AWESOME! They screamed, The RED TEAM! One of our leaders shouted "For RED!" And we bolted sprinting across the field. Holding our hands up and screaming! We played awesome game like soccer, town house ball, hungry hippos, and my favorite dodge ball. We were DEFINATELY ALL PUMPED!

Hi everyone! I'm Simi from What's Simi reading? and first I'd just like to thank Ellie for asking me to do a guest post! The book I am going to review is called the Star of Kazan and it is a wonderful book! Enjoy!

 

 

Young Annika was abandoned in a church as a baby by her mother and found by a cook and a housemaid, who act as guardians until her real mother is found. She may be a lowly servant girl, but Annika is happy in her comfortable home in Vienna. But one day, a mysterious woman arrives in the city announcing that she is Annika's mother, and Annika's life is suddenly turned upside down. Her mother is not just any old woman, she is Frau Edeltraut von Tannenberg, the owner of a great estate in Germany called Spittal. Annika travels there with her mother, but her new life in this castle seems gloomy, and she is forbidden to help with household jobs, which is one of the only activities at Spittal that she finds joy in. She befriends a gypsy boy who works at Spittal, and only with him can she comfortably help around the estate. But her new mother is not as she seems and has a big secret that she is keeping from her new daughter. Can Annika be saved before it's too late?

 

This is a truly beautiful story with some amazing characters. It is a real page turner and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I like how the story flips from Annika to the people back in Vienna. One of my favourite characters was Pauline, one of Annika's great friends, because at the end she shows real courage and bravery to save Annika from harm. The professors that were Annika's employers, too, were lovely characters and showed Annika great kindness even though she was just a servant. The writing is amazing as well, and I really enjoyed the descriptions because they created beautiful images in my mind. I really recommend this book, and I'm sure Eva Ibbotson's other books are just as good!

Simi Star rating: ***** (5 stars)

Thanks again Ellie!