Atlanta Mission Trip, American Idol, Youth Pastor Leaving, and Katja

A lot has happened since I last posted!  I went on a mission trip in Atlanta which is pretty much what his post is about.  Also my dad is in Brazil on a mission trip, my brother is on his way to Afghanistan, I got to go see the Top Ten of American Idol on their Live Tour,  my youth pastor and his family left for New Orleans, and we now have a German Exchange Student named Katja staying at our house for a whole month!  Oh, and school starts in a little over a week. :(   So as you see it's been busy here in Tennessee!
During the mission trip my group got to help at a VBS.  I had SO much fun playing with those kids!  I love them all even though I still can't pronounce half of their names!  Here are a couple of the names:
Aaron, Bobby, Shakara, Miahjah, Manojemm, and Trzahen just to name a few.  Now this little guy's name was Aaron and her is the cutest little boy in the world!  I love this picture!

Those kids were happy as larks if you let them take pictures with your camera or cell phone!  If you had one you were their best friends!  I think this one is my favorite!  He was reaching for the camera when I snapped this one!

Awww!  I love getting hugs!  Especially from kids!  I was so blessed to be in this group!  I loved working with these kids!

I love this picture!  I have to say, balloons are pretty awesome don't you think?

I wish I had taken this picture but I didn't!  Aaron took this hilarious picture of Rob and Jo!

This little girl really became best friends with my friend Holly.  They ended up switching names so Shania became Holly and Holly became Shania!  Isn't she cute?

And Vanessa hanging out with this little boy.  Sadly I can't remember his name!  Vanessa gets along so well with these kids and any kids for that matter! :)

Then I just wanted to add in a few pictures I took in Knoxville while waiting to see the American Idol Live Tour!  It was really fun getting to hear them!  I love this barbed wire picture!

Mom took this cute one of me! 
P.S. I made the hat myself but more on that later!

We went past this ally way and I just wanted a picture of all the graffiti!  I think it looks really cool!

I love fire escapes!  They just look really cool against the sky!

And to top it off my youth pastor, Tim and his wife Emily and their two girls Olivia and Sarah Cate are leaving us and moving back to New Orleans.  I'm really sad but I know their where God wants them to be. :)  Love you Brays!

P.S. I'll write more about Katja soon!  Maybe even get up some pictures!

I Heart Faces Over My Head Pictures

I had an amazing idea for this photo challenge but it just never worked so I ended up this this instead.:)  I like how it turned out!  And how God created everything on the world, including us, is in my opinion "above our heads."  Also I'd like to thanks Abby and Olivia for putting up with me long enough to get this shot! ;)  Thanks girls!

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Ohio Trip, Hayden, Amish Country and Close Call With A Tractor Trailor...

Yes, I know that my title covers a wide veriety of topics!  Please read it all.  You don't want to miss the tractor trailer story and that's the second to last picture I think...well let's hop to it!
On Monday my mom, Kenzie, and I left for a trip to Ohio to see my grandma, Aunt Pat, cutey pie Hayden, and the rest of the family!  Hayden is my cousin.  Just thought I'd clear that up!  One of her nicknames is Hayhay so if you see it you know who I'm talking about!  Isn't she cute?

My favorite picture of Hayhay!  I love her serious face as she looks at Kenzie.  I love how Kenzie's face is just a blur. (is that the right word?)

A couple of Kenzie and Hayhay's cute pictures!

Then we tried to take a picture of the grandma's and grand-kids!  Hayden didn't want to cooperate.  My favorite is the middle one with her mouth in a big O. :)

Then we got to go out into Amish Country!  It was so cool to see buggies driving down the road.  We ended up pulling in and looking at an auction!  It was really cool.  They even auctioned of veggies!

They had rabbits for sale too!  I felt sorry for the rabbit on the right ---> They said he was sick. :(  The horse wasn't part of the auction.  Just caught his picture on the side of the road!

They also auctioned off chickens, ducks, cows, and much more!

I got this picture at the auction.  I really like it especially the Amish girl with her cute pink crocks. :)

I've never seen so much corn in my life as I saw this trip.  People even had corn in the small backyards!  The corn were all so close and so tall!  It was really cool!

I love the sky in this picture!  It's so pretty!

Then we pulled over to take pictures of this cute school house!  Yes, I cost a some time since we pulled over to take a picture of anything even remotely picture-worthy!  I love how old the sign looks!

And then there were these really long swings! 

And then these see-saws!  This is one of Mom's favorite pictures!

I love this picture of these two sheep!  I love their expressions!  I'm glad I caught it before the moved!

I couldn't resist a picture of the barbed wire and fence poles! 

These hay-bails were everywhere.  They are so cool!  They looked like someone was in them and at any moment they would walk away.  Very weird!  Well, these particular hay-bails have a...let's say an interesting story.  We had turned around to go back so I could get a picture of these and a big tractor trailer was a pretty far distance behind us and we were going really slow so we wouldn't miss the dirt road when mom looks in her rear-view mirror to see the tractor trailer ready to kiss our bumper!  She swerved off the road and into the hay-bail field and I just about got a VERY close look at those hay-bails.  Well, Kenzie starts cracking up because she didn't know what happened.  All she knew was that swerving was fun and Hayhay joined in!  I think my mom is still freaking out over it.  But needless to say, I got my hay-bail pictures without doing a face plant in them! Haha!

They also kind of look like that weird dog that looks like mop...just saying...haha!

1) This is 201 post and I have 44 followers!  I'm getting closer to 50!
2)  More will be coming that have my grandma in them!  Please pray for her, she has cancer.

I am shocked!!!! (please read this post all the way through...giveaway...hint, hint :)

Is completely shocked for one reason!  My picture got fourth place in the Teens Only challenge on I Heart Faces!  I am really shocked.  Thanks for all the wonderful comments!

I also have a VERY important announcement.  I am coming up on 200 post and I am very close to 50 followers.  As of right now this is my 198 post and I have 42 followers.  Now if I can get 50 followers I will have a giveaway.  So I need all of my faithful friends to help me get to 50 followers so I can giveaway something cute!  Hey and I'll even give you a hint: hairthings, ribbon, and old jewelry. :)

Isn't this a cool picture?

My mom and I finally (after almost a year) looked at everything that came with her camera.  We found two lenses, screen cleaner, helpful hints, UV protectors, CDs, and more that we never knew came with it.  So I tried out mom's lens and found out that if you don't zoom it it puts a circle around it!  I think it looks really cool!

My Army Brother is Leaving...

Yup, you heard me.  Ryan is leaving tomorrow to go back to his base and soon he'll be off to Afghanistan.  :(  On Sunday the whole congregation prayed for Ryan.  Then I got these awesome pictures afterward.  I love the kissing ones!  They're priceless.

Then we went to spend the Fourth of July out on the boat.  I got some pictures of this cutey

and this goofball!

Then we went to the Church's property on the lake for the talent show which my friend Megan and I were in.  We did our Irish dance called Blackbird.  It was a ton of fun.

Then there were fireworks!  These pictures were really from Saturday when we went to Rogersville.  They always have the best fireworks!  If you notice that half of the fireworks are cut off it's because I forgot that I have to move the lens cover thingy.  It keeps sticking! :(

I Heart Faces: Only Teen Photographers!

Here's my entry coming in a "little" bit late! LOL  I love this picture!  Ross' laughing, Kenzie's smile, Nate's expression, everything!  Hope you do too!

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