The night when Christ was born.

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining

It is the night of our dear Savior's birth

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees

Oh hear the angel voices

O night divine,

O night when Christ was born

~~~

Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace

Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother

And in His name all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

With all our hearts we praise His holy name


Christ is the Lord, 
we'll praise His name forever
His power, and glory 
evermore proclaim

This was just a little bit of our wonderful Christmas.  Don't forget to remember Jesus' birth.  Even though the holidays are over, the Light of the world is still here...shining bright. 

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

P.S. All photography credit go to my dad and sister, Annie.

iLove Favorites

Thanks so much to everyone who entered!  Once again, it was a pleasure to look at all of your photos.  Here are a few of my favorites below.  And if you'd like you can check out all of the entries over here.

Emily Grace at Emily Grace Photography

Karissa at Set Apart Girl 4 Christ

Miss. Emily K. at The Adventures of Rosie

Emily Ruth at Borrowing Photographs

Thanks again, you all!

pondering life

{credit}

Lately I've been thinking about life.  I think people start doing that around the holidays and near the end of the year.  At least I do.

This new year that's approaching is going to bring along a lot of changes.  Such as...my 18th birthday.  High school graduation.  Full time college schedule...  I can't believe it's already here.  How did that happen?  Where did the time go?

People always say, make the best of every moment.  Capture it.  Live it.  Seize it.  I truly desire to do that.  Especially now when it feels like life is in fast forward.  But how do I do that?  I want to remember everything.  But is that even possible?

Friday night I had several of my friends over for a sleep over and at one point in the night we were being goofy and jumping on the beds to the sound of Tobymac's Christmas CD.  One of my friends leans over and says, "Remeber this moment."  Sometimes you just need a little reminder, you know.  We get so caught up in everything we seem to forget to remember.

So, my goal, at least for now while life is flashing by at breakneck speed, I want to stop, sit, and remember.

Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."

P.S. iLove favorites will be up in the next couple days.  And I'm going to put the challenge on hold until after New Years. :)

Christmas Bokeh

Last week we had a Holiday Stroll downtown.  I was really excited about seeing all the Christmas lights because I had been experimenting a bit with manual mode on my camera.  I was able to get some really neat bokeh photos.

This one was taken at home.  I laid under the tree to get it.  Haha!  The things you do for a photo. ;)

Yep, I'm officially in love with bokeh.  Do you have a favorite?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I have news!

Such great news!

You ready?

Ok I'll tell you...

Christmas is almost here!

All right so I'm sure you already knew that but it's still great news right?  My family seriously celebrates Thanksgiving for about half a day and then it's Christmas until January.  Haha! 

Our tree went up the day after Thanksgiving.  We get a live tree but because we aren't near a forest we do the next best thing and run to our local grocery store to pick out the prettiest one.  And I'm tellin' ya...everybody else lucked out because I think we got the best one in the lot. ;)  It's gorgeous! I think the prettiest we've ever had. But who am I to judge...you all can have a look for yourselves.

My sister, Annie, got to put the star up this year.  We go in birth order...so in two more years it'll be my turn again. :)

Ta-da!  What do you think?

Family <3

Merry Christmas!

iLove

I think I might just go ahead and move this photo challenge to Tuesday because I am late...AGAIN!  Urg.  Sorry guys.


But, welcome back to iLove everybody! :)  Here's my photo:

iLove Christmas lights...and bokeh.  {Post coming soon!}

{Inspired by this photo.}

<br /> <center><a href="http://hellohighlights.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa432/kbug747/iLovebutton.jpg"/></a></center><br />  

Rules:

• One photo per blog/person.
• The photo must be taken by you.
• Please link back to my blog with the button above or a link.
• Keep your photography pleasing to the Lord.
• Have fun! :)

iLove Favorites

Happy Saturday, lovelies.  I'm sorry this is a little late.  I decided to post all the entries again.  They were all wonderful.  Thanks to everybody who linked up!  I really enjoyed looking at your pictures.

Eve at Essence of Eve

DG at Quick, Snap Photography

Emily Grace at Emily Grace Photography

Carli Nicole at Reflections

Anna at God's Tomboy

Thanks again everyone! The linky will be up again on Monday.  Hope to "see" everyone back.  Have a great weekend!




P.S. Anybody else have their Christmas tree up?  Ours went up the day after Thanksgiving...post coming soon!

Dear Autumn,

I just wanted to let you know, you're a beautiful season...one of my favorites really.  I'm so very sorry for not getting out and enjoying you more while you here.  But thanks for hanging around just long enough for me to get outside and take some photos of all the pretty things you bring along.

Good-bye for now, dear fall.  'Til next year.

Sincerely,

Thank you, Lord for...

{in no particular order}

• answered prayer.
• exceeded expectations.
• my one of a kind, amazing family which includes:
• my daddy, who puts everyone else first and is always there when I need him.
• my mama, who always gets up from what's she's doing to give me a hug and always reads my school papers before I turn them in.
• my brother Zachary, who still gives me hugs even though he's 15 and helps me with all my technical problems from changing a light bulb that's too high for me to reach to fixing my iTunes.
• my sister Anna (or Annie, or Annie Beth), who listens when I have a stinky day, who will sing and dance with me at the drop of a hat, and who is my best friend in the world.
• my brother Logan, who is always willing to do me a favor, who will be able to pick me up some day, I promise, and who can always make me laugh.
• new friends.
• girl's days out with my sister.
• my besties. <3
• good listeners.
• people who understand perfectly when I expect to be the only one.
• music.
• good books.
• my coworkers.
• soft tissues.
• cranberry sauce.
• coffee...in particular mocha's.
• independence.
• unlimited texting.
• my warm bed (even though it squeaks sometimes).
• chorded songs on the internet.
• my camera.
• Your word...that gives me exactly what I need exactly when I need it.
• love.
• my Jesus.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Don't forget to remember all the things you're thankful for. 

Isn't this^ cute. ;)

Authentic Me

I'm joining in with Abigail's blog party over at her blog, Rear Window.  You all should really check it out!  It involves great giveaway prizes, awesome random questions, and meeting new people.  How could one go wrong? ;)

This is me.  I am Katie.

1} What's the nerdiest/geekiest/weirdest thing about you?
Oh goodness.  Nerdy: I still use the old fashioned yellow pencils that are apparently really outdated.  Mechanical pencils and pens are all the rage these days. ;)  Geeky: I skip.  Like around my house.  Weird: Apparently to several random people, when I'm just sitting, not really doing anything or thinking of anything...just sitting...I look really bored or half asleep.  Yep, I'm a certified nerd/geek/weird-o.  Haha!


2} If you could live in a fictional universe from any book, movie, or television show, what would it be?
Narnia!  That would be amazing.


3} Little or big, practical or frivolous, what is one of your favorite items in your house?
My trunk that sits in a corner in my bedroom.  It's the keeper of all of my special items.  Medium sized, practical, and one of my favorite things.


4} Do you like animated movies? If so, what is your favorite?
Love, love, love animated movies!  And I have so many favorites.  "The Lion King" is my favorite oldy.  "The Little Mermaid" is my favorite princess.  "Tangled" is my favorite new one.  (Speaking of "Tangled", it just so happens to be on right now.)


5} What is your favorite household chore?
Hehe...urm...none.  Naw, I don't mind cleaning...too much.  Probably cleaning my room is what I mind doing the least.  I guess 'cause it's my own space.


6} What's your favorite thing to get at Starbucks (or your favorite coffee shop)?
Ooo!  I have actually just recently become a Starbucks fan.  I've been doing the "coffee from the coffee pot in the kitchen" thing for a long while and then took my first trip to Starbucks about a month ago.  Tall white mocha = new found love. ;) 


7} What is your favorite pizza topping?
Cheese.  Lots and lots and lots of cheese.


8} Waffles or pancakes?
Waffles, please.


9} Do you like to play games? If so, what is your favorite?
Yes.  I enjoy board games and card games best.  I like Apples to Apples, Kimps, Spoons, Clue...


10} Have you ever let anyone win a game?
Yes again.  I'm the oldest of 4 so it happens.  Tehe ;)


11} Have you ever dyed your hair?
Nope.  My hair color is all natural.  Now my curls...not so much.


12} Do you make your bed every morning?
Baha...no.  Not even close.


13} Picasso or Norman Rockwell?
Norman Rockwell.  I actually wrote a paper on him for art class last semester.  I really quite enjoy his paintings.

14} Do you like carpet, tile, or hardwood floors?
Carpet.  I have tile in my bedroom and it gets cold in the winter sometimes.  I really like the warm, homey feel of nice carpet.


15} If you could put one thing in a safe under your bed, what would it be?
Probably all of my photos safely burned to CDs.  They're like my history...or perhaps my way of journaling, and I look forward to showing them to my grandchildren some day.


16} What's your favorite condiment?
Ketchup.  I'm a fan of ketchup.


17} Have you ever thrown up on someone (excluding when you were a child)?
Hahaha!  This is so gross.  No, I don't believe I have.


18} What was the last thing that made you laugh?
"You should know that this is the strangest thing I've ever done!...How 'bout best two out of three?" -Flynn Rider, "Tangled"


19} Think fast...what's the first song that pops into your head?
"Closer to Love" by Mat Kearney


P.S. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I'll be posting my 'thankful' post in the next day or so...be on the look out. ;)

iLove

I apologize that this is nearly two days late.  Time just got away from me yesterday.  So, instead of ending on Monday of next week it'll go 'til Wednesday. :)

Here's my entry:

iLove raindrops on roses

I also want to enter Emily Grace's growth photo challenge.  ^This photo was taken today and the one below was taken several months ago.  I love to see how I grow in my photography abilities! :)

 

Okey dokey, here we go!

<br /> <center><a href="http://hellohighlights.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa432/kbug747/iLovebutton.jpg"/></a></center><br />  

Rules: 

• One photo per blog/person.
• The photo must be taken by you.
• Please link back to my blog with the button above or a link.
• Keep your photography pleasing to the Lord.
• Have fun! :)