What Does Your Picture Say About You?

I do not know if I have ever said anything about this on my blog before, but one thing I enjoy is making poems. Amazingly, I have noticed that the best poems I have made only come by inspiration....meaning it takes twice as long to write a poem that is not something that God has inspired me with. I also have the habit of while thinking of a topic, start making a poem about it in my head. About a month ago, I had one of those days. I was rinsing dishes and putting them in the dishwasher when I began thinking about a certain topic that had been bothering me. Suddenly, words started forming in my head which turned into verses...I ran up to my room to quickly jot them down so I would not forget...later on I sat down and finished the poem. I was rather skeptical of my poem and therefore was reluctant to have others read it, but after my Mom and sisters said it was wonderful, I decided that perhaps it was worth posting. I am also reluctant to let you all read it because I do not want to hurt any feelings....but I believe this to be a major problem, mainly among young teen girls, so I thought I would share my view on the subject in poetic form. By the way, as a word of encouragement, I have struggled with the same things as well, mainly because of wanting to fit in with what other girls were doing. So as a way of holding myself accountable, I post this poem...so that way, if I ever do anything against what I have written, hopefully you all will be there to remind me to stay true to myself and to others. Here is it.

With lips pierced tight and eyes turned away,

If only they knew,

Might their heart be turned too?

Gone are the days of fair pink cheeked maidens,

In their golden hair bright flowers,

Now, dark as ancient towers.

The colors of life blotted out by strange inks,

Gone are the vibrant colors of blues, reds and pinks.

Now a masquerade of mystery and gloom,

The once lovely face it does now consume.

What work of evil,

What work of deceit,

Robs them of such beauty

Which from them will soon fleet?

How could they except this, 

Believe it is true,

That true beauty comes from the you they never knew?

I know it is not true, 

Since some I do know,

In happiness they thrive and in cheerfulness they grow,

But when in ink their portrait they take,

I see the girl I never knew...full of sadness and most of all fake.

There is a saying which I know to be true,

“A picture is worth a thousand words”

What does your picture say about you?

                                                                                                                                  By,

                                                                                                                                    Evangela Grace

If you do not understand this, try looking over some pictures of yourself and then going over some of the questions I have below. In Genesis 4:6 God asks Cain, “Why is your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you but you must master it.” By looking at your pictures you can ask yourself a couple questions. Is your countenance lifted up? If it is, then all must be well. But if it is not? Then all must not be well. But what if in your picture your countenance is fallen but you are positively sure that everything is going well? Maybe you know that you are doing well, but what might others think when they look at that picture? 

I guess I should tell you how much I miss seeing pictures of happy, cheerful girls, with beautiful bright smiles and gorgeous colors cloaked around them. I miss seeing REAL smiles...with teeth showing!!!! I miss seeing beautiful eyes enjoying the creation that God has blessed us with, not merely staring into space. I do believe that there is a time and place for this, but every single picture, or at least most of the ones others are supposed to be admiring, I think should reflect the beauty of God in you, that He has given you. God did not give us a sepia world to live in. He gave us a bright and colorful world! If He wanted us to look dark and dreary then wouldn't He have made us that way in the first place? What a wonderful God He is to give us such a variety of gorgeous colors! Let us show our love for what He has made by not hiding those colors! 

With Grace,

            Evangela

I Was Tagged.....

Hello everyone!  I was tagged by my friend Leah at Appassionata for a fashion tag. Let me warn you ahead of time that I am not a big “fashion” person and nearly every piece of clothing I have was bought at a thrift store....so hopefully my post on this won’t be too boring. :) 

Here are the questions she asked with my answers:

1. How would you describe your style?

–Elegant country, Spring-ish

2. What are your wardrobe staples?

–Jean skirts, heels/boots (to hide the fact that my younger sister is taller than me:), seasonal blouses

3. Most expensive item you own?

–Probably shoes, since they are the only wardrobe items we buy from the actual store and not a thrift shop :)

4. Most wanted item?

–A LONG blue dress with TONS of material on the skirt part

5. Favorite designer?

–Relatives, family, or myself :)

6. How much do you spend on clothing?

–Rarely more than $10, for anything besides shoes

7. Favorite places to shop?

–Thrift stores with plenty of long skirts and dressy blouses, My first two favorite thrift stores are The Foundry and Mission Possible (I don’t think that they are chain stores, just local ones) 

8. Favorite Fragrance

–I am not big into perfumes and that sort of stuff but my favorite is probably “Violetas Francesas”, which I received in one of those gift buckets from the hospital when I was born. (Back when hospitals used to do that sort of thing) Yeah....and it is not even half empty....tells you how much I wear perfume! 

9. Favorite way to have your hair?

–My sister Mikaela loves to dress up peoples hair and just put my hair in a braided bun the other day which I LOVE! My next favorite hair style is a “Rapunzel” hair style, so we call it. :)  (Made by twisting the hair instead of braiding it) 

10. What is your go-to outfit when you have no idea what to wear?

–If I am going out, usually my favorite black skirt with any dressy blouse that fits my mood at the moment. At home I usually prefer my jean skirt with a T-shirt.

11. Most prized possession?

–My jean skirt and any outfit of mine that is blue! :) 

I hope you all enjoyed this!    I will add names to the list of people that I am tagging as they except the invitation. 

Grace to you all,

       Evangela Grace

Paragraph No.1

Boom! A cloud of dirt and smoke flew into the sky as 17 year old Kaleb Herschel ran and took cover behind a tree. The sound of the roaring engine of a German Heinkel He 111* bomber plane flew swiftly overhead and disappeared into the horizon. The silhouette of the boy’s tired body sank back against the tree as he wiped sweat from his forehead. A quiet moan broke the now silent landscape. "Why? Why?!" The boy cried. "Why am I here? Why are things not as they should be....Normal! Why did You have to send me out here in the middle of nowhere, alone!" His cries almost sounded more like a demand rather than a question. He rested his head on his hands and moaned again. Quietly, a cool breeze blew across the torn landscape and a whispering voice, or was it the wind, seemed to say, "Kaleb. I have not left you....You are not alone."  The limp head of the boy straightened up as he glanced around then whispered, "Lord, if You are here, please show me Yourself." Then he laid his head against the tree and fell fast asleep.

This is the first paragraph I wrote for my book, Together Because Of Forgiveness. I am not positively in love with the title and I have a couple siblings who do not quite prefer it so I am totally open to any suggestions and would definitely write down your ideas on my list of title “possibilities”. 

In my next post about my story, I will be introducing you to my main character Kaleb Hershel, and perhaps some other characters. I am very excited about introducing them to you all! 

By the way, I would love for you all to stop by my blog specifically for my story. Hopefully, over time I will be posting extra bits and pieces of my story there, along with pictures and such. You can click here to go to the address. 

*The Heinkel He 111 was a main German bomber plane during WW2

Exploring The "Delopidated" House

 This weekend my sister and I went and stayed at a friends house. The mother is expecting her 6th child and we are all so excited! While we were over at their house helping out, her kids took us out to the “delopidated” house as the kids call it. (Dilapidated) :) We had a blast searching for treasure and trophies to take back home with us. Mikaela and Allie, the bravest of the bunch, were so excited that they even went to the extreme of going underneath the house to find treasure! Amazingly, most of the treasure was found underneath the house. (Since the house was pretty old, it had been built up on top of large stones leaving a fairly wide gap between the floor and the ground.) Mikaela’s souvenir was a glass Mountain Dew bottle. It seemed to have been made sometime in the late 1900’s. Allies souvenir was two old dresses that we found in the house. My souvenir was an old key that I found in what looked like a closet. For there not being much else....a pot and an old shoe....I think we all did a pretty good job of treasure hunting that day! Here are some pictures of our exciting day “treasure hunting” with our friends.

Getting the younger kids inside through the window

Mikaela with her pot and Mountain Dew bottle + her photogenic smile

Mikaela holding up a dress the girls found in the loft

The piece of a splinter that went through my shoe and pricked my toe! (I had sneakers on!) 

While I was at the house I had a great opportunity for taking some pictures. Here are a couple of the ones I edited.

Wasps nests in corner

The "turquoise room" wall...amazing texture photo! 

The "Delopidated" house 

Allie walking through the doorway (Going to find Mikaela)

 Penelope's boots 

Here is the key I found

Smiling Penelope

Me, looking out over the gorgeous landscape

This house had some amazing windows covered in vines 

This is a hole in the floor (Not quite sure why I took a picture of that)

The "delopidated" house from the pond view

The "dilapidated" house, from behind the weeds and cattails 

We had a wonderful time at our friends house! I hope you all enjoyed the pictures of our time exploring the "dilapidated" house!

With grace and peace,

             Evangela Grace

Another Contest!

I just finished a header and button for Hadassah's blog design challenge! I created a header and button for her photography blog that she is just starting called "Behind My Camera Lens"which I entered in her contest. You can visit her photography blog by clicking here, or even better....follow! Hadassah is a contributor to "Designed To Inspire" and this is where I heard about her challenge. There is still 2 days 'till the contest ends so if any of y'all creative girls out there would like to try out for it, go on ahead! If you click the caption that says "button" below the button it will also take you to Hadassah's photography blog. Oh! By the way, I am hoping to post the first tid-bit of a story I am working on here soon! (I have not come up with a name for it yet. The story takes place during WW2 in Belgium.) I would love to hear all of y'alls input about it! Have a blessed day!

Header

Button

Lyric Challenge & Possible Photo Contest

Hello Everyone! Britt from Designed to Inspire is doing a lyric challenge. Her challenge is to get a picture and make lyrics to go with a song that you like. She said it was OK if you made a couple and she would choose which one she likes best to enter in the contest. Here are some of the ones I made. 

Casting Crowns "Already There"

Meredith Andrews "Not For A Moment"

Philips, Craig, and Dean "Your Love Is Amazing"

I love doing contests and I was wondering if any of y'all who are into photography would like to do a photo contest? I was thinking that the theme could be something like "Spring On The Way". I am not going to do it if I do not get at least 5 people to participate so if you would like to be apart of the contest please leave a comment and tell me so that way I can get ready. Also, since I only have 11 followers I may not be able to get 5 people to do this so if you can spread the word perhaps we can get a good amount....the more the merrier! Also, do any of y'all want to sponsor the prize for the contest? If we get enough people I can do 1st. 2nd. and 3rd. place prizes so if any of y'all would like to sponsor that, I would be very thankful! If nobody is able to sponsor the prize I can provide it.  

Thank you all and I hope that your day is filled with God's grace and blessings! 

Love,

Evangela Grace

Birthday Fun!

My birthday this week was wonderful! The most exciting part was that my parents took me out to go get my learners driving permit....which I passed!  Exciting it was, yet tense at the same time. Thankfully, I had studied on the Internet for a while the night before plus my super Dad helped me too. 

Taking my test (I am not sure what the phones were for)

The next day Mom and Dad took me to practice driving (Don't worry, we practiced in a huge abandoned parking lot)

The first thing we did that day though, was go to a gun range and shoot my Dads hand guns. The gun range was in a building and because it was so loud we had to wear ear coverings. I felt so bad for the people that worked in the range and couldn't help wondering how bad their hearing was! 

Dad and I smiling (I just made the hit closest to the center)

Me shooting

Dad shooting

Mom shooting

After this we went to get my learners permit which took at least 3 hours. Then we went and got lunch which sort of turned into "lunner" (half lunch, half dinner). While we were eating, our waitress, who was an older Chinese lady, came up to re-fill our drinks. She asked my Mom if she wanted tea and my mom nodded yes then she asked me if I wanted more Dr.. Pepper and I nodded yes, then she asked my Dad something and walked away. We all looked at each other and Dad said "Did she really ask me if I wanted more moonshine?" "That is what it sounded like", Mom said. Then, the lady came back and laughed and said, "I was just joking!" We all laughed! Later, The lady went on to tell us that when she lived in Kentucky they would go fishing and when they were done they would go visit all the old stills. 

After we finished eating we had a few errands to run. Then, right when I thought that all the fun had ended....it started all over again!

 While we were gone the kids had decorated our bedroom and set up a gorgeous tea party. My marvelous Mom surprised me by buying beautiful teacups with saucers and a lovely rack to hang them on! I love them sooo much! While we drank our tea and ate little treats, we told the kids all about our day and got really hyper because of all the sugar we had that day and started acting silly....which was fun.   The girls even made a canopy out of curtains around my bed which was soooo beautiful. 

The table set up nice and fancy

My bed with the canopy (I share the bed with Gabby)

My favorite tea cup

Me holding up some of the treats we got

There was a lot more that happened that day which would take forever to tell so I just named off the highlights of the day. Oh! Something we found out while we were at the gun range......Never try to break into our house while my Mom is home...she has the best shot in the county! :) Of course, we could just use the Southern Home Security System......That will be a post for another day!