~Love~

Well, I thought that it would be good to start a small series of posts about every week on the fruits of the spirit. :) I think that it's a good idea! And this is my opinion of them of course. :) Alright, so the first one is LOVE. There are many pictures that can show love. Pictures of couples, best friends, families etc. But I think {and know} that the greatest example of Love is Jesus' example. The only reason we as people can love is because of Jesus. SO I thought that I would get this picture. A picture of Jesus and Children. He shows his love for us so wonderfully and he is a great heavenly father :)   

~Love is not always sugar and spice~

Nope, love is not always sugar in spice and everything nice. In this picture Jesus is teaching the children and blessing them. A lot of the times we look at the act of love like it must always be wonderful and happy. But love is also discipline and punishment. We need to recognize that love can be hard sometimes and it's not always all wonderful. It can be wonderful, but it isn't always wonderful. Many times we are angry when our parents discipline us and even when God disciplines us. But we have to know that that is love. Love comes in many forms. :)  Love is discipline. Love is also giving, helping and serving. We must love in all ways :D

~God is love~

It is a simple statement. And its true. That's why I chose this picture. Now God is also many other things, and we can talk about that some other time.

But I just wanted to say that the best example of love, is God's love. That's why I chose him for the picture today :) God sent his only son Jesus, who was holy and perfect down to earth, to die for us. Jesus came to live among men, that we might know him. That is the most incredible story of Love. Because if Jesus didn't set that example, we wouldn't know how to love. The only reason we can love is because of God. If there wasn't God, love couldn't exist. :) 

 So I'd encourage you to thank God today for loving you so much, and dying for you. Because he was 'a full bucket' as my dad likes to say. He didn't need us what so ever. But he chose to come on earth and live and die for man because he loved us. 

That's incredible. I thank God for dying on the cross for me and my sins. I hope you do too. 

1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Hope your day is awesome!

~Hannah 

~Dreaming of Christmas~

  Yes, I'm dreaming of Christmas! I can't wait till Christmas. Christmas is one of my favorite times in the year. It's joyful, wonderful, and important. :) I can't say I'm looking forward to tons of snow. Illinois snow was quite enough for me, but Michigan's snow is even heavier! AND we have a driveway that is like a half a mile long. I'm really really hoping that we won't have to shovel that manually.

 Christmas means a lot to me. First of all because it is Jesus Christ's birth;  that's the number one most important reason. It's a very very important part in history and our lives as christians. We celebrate His birth and coming into this world. That is the main reason I am looking forward to Christmas :) 

  Now I will mention some nice side effects of Christmas time. First of all, Christmas is a time for happiness. Everyone's just happy; and they should be! Christmas is a jolly time. Second reason I love Christmas is that SO MANY THINGS HAPPEN! Everyday is busy, busy. busy. Now, we get ready for Christmas early. We get Christmas music out right after my birthday (Nov. 10), and then we decorate a week after. The beginning of the Christmas season starts in December though. Donna's birthday starts off a great December and then the days till Christmas are just filled. We usually start planning who to have over, which Christmas goodies we're gonna make, and about the Palmer House. Every year, our whole family, a few days before or after Christmas, goes down into Chicago with our whole {extended} family! It is such a blessing to be able to go there. We go Christmas shopping with our cousins and aunts. We see all the wonderful Christmas decorations. And it's a wonderful way to spend Christmas. :) 

     Then for Christmas Eve we have an early chili supper in the afternoon, because in the evening we have a Christmas buffet.  The buffet has everything from Christmas punch, to shrimp, Christmas candies, to nacho dip and chips....everything!  We try to have guests over on Christmas Eve to join us.   And for Christmas day, we drive down to Indiana and be with the extended family. This year, we'll only be driving 10 minutes to my grandparents home!  :)  It's such a happy time. So much singing, happiness, and FOOD! :D What do you guys do in December? :D

    So yes, Christmas is one of my favorite days of the year!! :) And I am dreaming of it, and thinking of it. Guess what?? 128 days, 15 hours, and 16 min left! :D It's coming so quickly and sneaking up on us! :D I can't wait!!! 

{Putting together our artificial tree-I always wanted a real one :D}

  

{Christmas Decorations} 

                       

{Palmer House 2010}

  Well still dreaming of Christmas! Soon enough it will come :D I am eagerly awaiting it! Christmas in Michigan...hmm sounds interesting :)

  Hope your day is awesome!

  ~Hannah

~Then and Now~

Hello :) Well, obviously today I didn't post early, hahahaha. I normally do, but I guess I wasn't prepared. I decided for the next few weeks, about once a week, I would do a 'then and now' post. I think it's so fun to look back and see what you looked like when you were a baby. Sometimes it's really different. Sometimes it's practically the same. The first 'then and now' post is about my Isaac Thomas Lyndon. I found a picture of when he was a baby on the computer and I smiled. He was such a pudgy baby and now he's a cute little guy. Isaac's favorite activities are playing with his siblings, running around the house, and Angry Birds. He's a great talker now and often tells me I'm a Bananahead :D

Well that's it for now from the 'then and now' post!
 Hope you have an awesome day!

~Hannah

~My awesome followers~

  Alright, so this post is dedicated to my followers :D Which is you guys lol Followers are people who keep a blog possible. I'm so happy to have followers and while more are welcome, the few I have is enough :) . Now my wonderful parents have also followed me. But this ones for the girls :D lol

So I made a little something for you girls!

Thank you for your support on this blog! You guys are so awesome! Hope you like it~

Hope your day is awesome!

~Hannah 

~The expert mover~

 Okay, well the title says it all. 'The expert mover' should be one of my titles. I should put it with my description, 'I play saxophone, I sing, I like piano, oh and I'm an expert mover'. Yes, I think that sounds good. :D Well I put together a picture (the one below) of me, and all the places I've lived. Its a longer list than most people might expect from a fourteen year-old. Yet, I truthfully can say I have lived all those places.
  As you can see, I'm not exactly smiling in the picture. And I think you can guess why. Moving (especially far away) is not always a pleasant thing. Its bittersweet really. Sometimes, its is fun to move, and the process is actually fun. There are so many new things, people and places to discover. But sometimes you wish you weren't moving at all. I feel both ways, as of now. I'm moving away real soon, actually I think 16 or 17 days. I am excited to see what's in store for me over in another state, but I'm very sad to be leaving. I have been in Illinois for more than half of my life, and well, the idea of leaving - it isn't welcome.
  But I think it's important that when things like this happen, we should look at them objectively. Am I moving for a good reason? Yes. I'm moving because my family is going to go help my grandparents. That's a good reason to move. I am happy to serve my grandparents. Now in the past, we haven't moved for my grandparents, obviously. We moved for other reasons, and some of them I don't know. But I don't always agree with moving. For example the last house in West Chicago. That was one great house.  It was big, had a great yard with a pond, and the street was a dead end, so there were no cars. We backed into the forest preserve. It also had an awesome driveway, and great friends there too. I was very sad to leave there, and it was one of the hardest moves. We also moved the furthest away from the suburbs that we had ever been. It was quite a change to be 45-50 min away from activities that used to be 15-20 min away. It wasn't very agreeable at all. Also, in Sycamore, (which I do love now, and still love) to this day I have no neighborhood friends. These are things that I miss. In my new house, I have also been informed that I probably won't have any neighborhood friends around. *sigh*
  Well in these situations, I have to be content. Whenever I feel sad about it, I remind myself why I'm doing this. When you are leave something, it's usually your parents decision. I'm not blaming my parents, I'm actually complementing them. Often times, the parents see a bigger picture that we don't see. But when we look back, we will thank them for their decision. I know there have been decisions by my parents that I really hated at the time, but now I can thank them for it. I think this is the way I will feel about the move. My parents are funny and they always say 'make new friends, but keep the old ones'. I have decided that that is what I'm going to do. I'm am going to miss all of you terribly. Moving is never easy. But I want to remind everyone to be content and look at the bright side of things. Because we don't always see the big picture, or understand why. In the future, we eventually do though, and that's when we can decide whether it was a good decision or not.And when you are content or realize the decision is right, your picture will look like the one below :D I am a happy expert mover that will always remember and be thankful for great friends!

 

Hope your day has been awesome!

~Hannah~

~An accomplishment~

Well, now that I've posted my first post, I'm starting to realize how much I like blogging. The trouble with blogging though, is that many times you don't know what to blog about. That's why I had never started a blog. I mean, what do you post about? Also, now I feel that I want my posts to be like my first one. Its a hard thing, this blogging. :) I think I'll pull through.
 So I was thinking on what to post about and what came to me was, why don't I post about a memory? I like memories! :) I have so many good ones and I could fill this blog up with just memories. But I wanted to share a specific memory, that is also an accomplishment. The picture to the side here is of Donna, my dad, and me. This memory is one of the best ever :) It's the second time the three of us climbed a mountain. I will also mention, that Amanda and Matt were there too, and they did a fabulous job at climbing the mountain. Everyone reached the top. The sense of accomplishment of climbing the mountain is hard to describe. When you're going up you feel so tired and a lot of the times you just wish you could sit down and stay where you are. But we all overcame that wonderful thought, and pushed through. I'd say the hardest part for me, is when you see the peak and it is only like a hundred feet away and you are so close yet so far. When I'm at that point all I'm thinking about is my lunch and my coke (I always bring one :). I'm sure Donna could tell you, I like to sit down as I get closer. It's a weird tradition of mine, but I really do do it.  It takes about 3 or 4 hours, and 2 to 3 hours to go down!
  Well anyways, climbing Grays peak and Quandry's peak is one of my fondest memories. Just knowing you climbed 14,000 ft high on this hard, rocky path, in bad weather and reached the top is just amazing. I would definitely recommend if any of you go to Colorado, to climb one of them. It is hard and takes time and patience, but in the end it's all worth it. I can't wait till I go to Colorado again. I want to try a harder mountain. :D
  That's all I have to say for now! Till next time <3
  Hope your day is awesome!
  ~Hannah 

~blog post #1~

  Alright, well I'm officially a blogger. I started a blog because I thought it would be fun to post about what my life is like. You are not going to find anything special here; just thoughts, pictures, and sometimes ideas. I hope that my posts can encourage you and shine a light in your life in some special way.
  Today I'm posting a picture of my family. I thought it would be fitting to do so, because besides God, they are the most important people in my life. If we take time to think of how special they are to us, we'll become more grateful for them. So I'd encourage all of you through this post to think of how special your family is to you, and what life would be like if you didn't have them :)
 

       Hope your day is awesome!
       ~Hannah