#tbt

Happy birthday Aunt Tracy!

I would like to take a few minutes to tell you about how special this lady is! Through my whole life she has always been there for me. Never has she missed sending us cards a little before or on the day of our birthdays. Her family is so important to her and she is always showing us that, through her hugs, her encouragement, her letters, her poems, and her caring for those around her... Even throughout the hard time she's had recently with cancer, she finds the time to still do all of those things for us! She is an amazingly kind woman and I'm so thankful the Lord put her in my life.

I love you Aunt Tracy and hope you have a wonderful birthday! Prayers and hugs sent from here to you! Here are the pictures from our last trip up there, really enjoyed the visit! <3 :)

<3

:) 

With Grandma and Grandpa 

Pizza party! 

Dylan's getting so tall

Nature walk + Rylan quotes

This morning I took this adorable group on a nature walk. By the way, have I ever posted about something the same day that it happened before?! I think this is the first time! The woods are so pretty and they had lots of fun.

We filled up the bucket with acorns for the pig, found lots of pretty leaves, and a fuzzy caterpillar.

When we got back home Lilli wanted to hold Fuzz Ball. :D

Rylan has said so many funny things lately so I thought I'd share a few of them here:

Somehow he got the idea that cemeteries are weddings, so twice in the van he has shouted, 'there's a weddin'!" "Oh, look! Another weddin'!" Haha

He says that he's thirsty for food instead of hungry, so just the other day he tells me, "Ash I am thirsty for marshmallows!"

He calls playing any instrument singing, so he will ask Paige, "Can I sing on the piano with you?"

Rylan's taking a bath, he starts slicking up his hair and says, "This is how to make yourself hamhum (handsome)." He looks at himself in the mirror a couple minutes later with a satisfied smile, "yep, this is what hamhum looks like!"

counting.my.blessings {2}

-Another little brother or sister on the way! :D

-The devotional "My Utmost for His Highest"

-Making this "adventure fund" jar

-Going to a cute little creation museum with my family

-Midnight, our 15 year old "little panther" and sweetest cat ever

-Paige's peanut butter cookies

-Sewing a burlap curtain for my room

-Lilliana joining me one morning to "help" me feed the animals :)

-The Miles family coming down and staying with us over labor day weekend! Thank you for visiting us! The picnic, hiking, volleyball, roasting s'mores, playing Balderdash, and all was so fun. :D

-Lilliana starting to call me "Ashee" <3

-A four wheeler ride in the dark with my brother

-PARASAILING!

-Running into old friends at places in town

-The adorable hummingbirds that came to our flower bush when it was blooming

-Time to journal at Flat Creek

-Swimming at a lake

-A lunch at Steak 'n' Shake with the whole family

-A friend doing this to my water bottle before giving it back to me (I'd forgotten it in their car), the inside was filled with smarties too

-Going to a sweet friend's wedding

-Joshua's new kitten, Fuzz Ball

-Getting to meet and hold my best friend's precious baby <3

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Wow! Sorry for the lack of posting everyone! I hope to do better this next month ... which starts tomorrow, whoa, I can't believe that!

"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."

-Psalm 34:8

counting.my.blessings{1} + Texas church camp notes

So I'm starting these "counting my blessings" posts which I'll probably do once a month or so... just listing things I'm thankful for! The Lord has blessed me with so much!

The litter of 11 Golden Retriever puppies our Kinsley had!

Completing some sewing projects

Hearing Lilliana say new words

Sweet tea in a mason jar on a sunny afternoon

A sweet letter from a friend in the mail

Doing a photo shoot with Paige, will share a few photos soon

Fresh picked wildflowers

Finding bunches of blackberries on our land...

...and Mom making a pie with them! Yum!

Time in God's Word + iced coffee!!

Bike rides with Dylan

Finishing a few wonderful books

Adorable little smiles to brighten my day

Jeremiah 29:11

Encouraging texts from friends

Caden's birthday on the 14th! :)

My rabbit getting better after being sick

Antique milk cans

Baby sister at breakfast wearing a fuzzy sleeper, cowgirl bib, and a morning smile :)

Going to a "Low Country Boil". T'was fun! My little sister, Paige, started her own blog (check it out!) and blogged about it here. :)

God's beautiful design being displayed everywhere, down to even this little bitty moth I found one day. Isn't it neat looking?

Fishing and swimming at Roaring River

Succeeding at a couple new recipes

Loving on my horse. <3 :D AND how good he's doing with his training/riding, I'm so proud of him!

HAY BALES

Taking the little ones to Flat Creek and watching them have so much fun

Finding a bunch of great reads for only 25 cents for every 4 books!

Surviving a week with Mom gone ;)

Finding great trails to ride horses and four wheelers on

Two hour trail ride with the sister 

Talking with a sweet friend on the phone

A recent clothes shopping spree at the thrift store

Meeting two blog friends!! It was so wonderful meeting these *sweet* girls, so glad it worked out! :D

And ya'll need to seriously go check out their blogs because they are wonderful: Heather and Tashia

 Date with Mom<3

Having fun wandering through Hobby Lobby with a friend, love that place!

Being given a big bag of sweet corn/shucking it/eating it :)

Okay, so I really don't have many good pictures from the trip that Dylan and I took down to Texas sadly. But that is definitely a big highlight from this month! We were able to hitch rides with friends and go down there for a church camp. There was several great messages, wonderful singing, youth Bible study, volleyball, rip-skating, and I got to see a friend that recently got married and moved down there as well! It was a very encouraging time, so thankful we were able to go. So, yeah, there's a glorious picture from our MacD's stop on the way home for ya. :P

One of the men who spoke at the camp shared this verse (John 15:9)

"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love."

He spoke on how much the Father loved His Son, His one and only begotten Son. Can you even imagine how great a love that was? And just as He loved His Son, Jesus loves you. He loves me. And we're to show His great love to others. He then wanted everyone to take out the you and put your name in that place instead. Like this:

"As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved Ashley Trask: continue ye in my love."

 I'm not sure anyone really said the whole verse aloud as he asked us to because halfway through he broke down crying. But I wrote it down in my journal anyway. He was a very sweet old man (the kind you just wanna go up and hug, y'know?) and what all he said meant a lot to me.

Saturday almost everyone was wearing a sticker that said "It's not about me!" and the message that night was on our focus needing to be on the Lord, not ourselves. Striving to be full of the Lord and then we won't have a need to talk or think about ourselves, but instead a need to talk and think about Him, giving Him all the glory and desiring for our lives to show Christ! I want to trade in all that I am: my selfishness, worry, wanting instead of being content = my weaknesses, for all that He is: love, mercy, kindness, hope, joy = His strength to be able to work in and through me for HIS glory. I want to diligently seek Him and His will for me and have Jesus be what people see, not my talent, courage, gifts, money, or sacrifices made. Anything good in me is all because of Him.We have no greater privilege than representing Him!

Little bunny hugger + volleyball player

*melts*

Last Saturday I baby-sat my siblings and decided to do yet another fun little spur of the moment photo shoot of Lilliana! Paige's new bunny, Sugar was in most of them too. :) Ah, it was so much fun! 

She is too fun and adorable! :D

:D Smiley lil' girl! :D

Dad and Mom got a new volleyball net and we've been spending hours playing! Lilli loves to try and join us when we're playing volleyball so one time I just had to pull out the camera and snap a few pictures of her cuteness. :)

The only thing is she likes to get the ball from us and sit on it. Haha!