Photography

Since I was kid I always loved to take pictures. I like posing for them, setting up photo shoots, and taking pictures in general. The only camera I have ever used was the ones on my phone and iPod. Which, even though a good camera, it never could do things to quite the justice I wanted. Sometimes the beauty I wanted to capture was to great, and could only truly be experienced by sight. Then other times it was just my camera was’t good enough!

And to my joy, three or four weeks ago my mom bought a real professional camera, this is a really nice camera. Well after that it was another week and a half before I got my hands on it. And when I did . . .I took three pictures and fell in love with it. And in the past week or so have taken more pictures that I can count! 
Pictures of flowers, birds, planes, the sky, grass, trees, my home, my pets, and our chickens. I even took a picture of a brick! 

Pictures can be magical, and like they say worth 1,000 words.

Now I’m a little jealous, and I want a camera of my own like my mom’s. But the price for her camera, even on a really good discount was way out of this no allowance, non income girl'
s budget. Plus I am trying to save for a car, a laptop, and I am going to Florida for a week or more in May. So I’m stuck sharing. Which Is totally fine =)

So get out there people and take some pictures!

Victoria. . . 

OK

"I'm okay." 

We use this to tell people we're fine, that we aren’t upset, that we're....okay. 

A lot of the times for me after I moved I told people I was okay when I really wasn’t.

My friend Ryan would sometimes ask me if I was okay. I would say yes when the answer was really no. I wasn’t sure why but my problems in my mind seemed so big that I couldn’t explain them to anyone and I would explode if I said “no I’m not okay.” 

Maybe I said I was okay because I thought I might cry if I said how I really felt. I’m not sure now the answer to why I said “I’m okay.” when I clearly showed I felt otherwise. 

It made me feel good that my friends noticed something was up. But I also didn’t want to tell them what was up. Strangely enough some of my most depressed moments was when I was with my friends. I guess it was because these were the friends who lived so far away from me now, who I used to hang out with all the time. On the days they came to visit me It made me sad to know that soon they would leave and I wouldn’t know how soon I would see them again. 

Thus the voice saying “I’m okay.”

And the heart saying “no I’m not.”

There were people like my Bff Ellie, Ryan, and my parents who could tell that even though I said I was okay, I really wasn’t. I still didn’t talk much about what was wrong. The person I confided in most was my Bff Ellie. 

Today things are a little better. I think if someone asked me if I was okay, I could say yes and mean it.  

Maybe now if they ask me what’s wrong I can say what's wrong. 

But I know I feel a lot better today than I did five, six, seven months ago. I feel. . . OK =)

Victoria . . . 

New things

The amount of new things I have encountered in the past eight months is a good number of new things for sure.

1. When I moved I had to get used to being twenty minutes from everything not five or ten. 

2. I had to adjust to the kind of stores they have in my invisible town of Gore. 

3. The quiet was new to me. 

4. For seven long moths I had to cope without even a few local acquaintances.

5. We changed from a small church to a indescribably large church.

6. I had to get used to country life, which I actually was fine with.

7. I had to change where I went when I was mad, sad, or upset. Before I would just swing on the tree swing in my old backyard until all my problems flew away. Now I have  tree that I can see over the front yard. It's really peaceful. 

8. The people who had been in my life on a weekly bases, were no longer with me much.

 These were some of the bigger changes, little ones fallowed like:

9. No wegmans where we lived (we adore that place)

10. No ten minute drive to the park.

11. Every trip in to town is minimum of two hours.

So travel was a BIG change. Aka new thing. 

And if I though really hard I could think of all the other little new thing that make one BIG change. But I think I listed enough for you to get the idea =)

One change = 1,000,000 little or big new things

This is what it will be like for most entering a new situation, and or a new life style . . .be prepared!

Victoria. . .

Memories

No matter how far away you get from someone you love there will always be one thing that distance can’t take away from you. Your memories.

Life isn’t perfect, but when you miss someone you can remember the perfect(or imperfect) moments you had with that person. 

When I miss my Maryland friends, I just remember them, it leaves a smile on my face. 

I can close my eyes and pick a day and time where I remember something funny or great happened, and I will be there all over again listening to the people say the thing I had preserved in my memory. The things that made me happy or made me laugh.

I recently made some new friends, I am getting in to some events at my church, and going to a co-op next year where a lot of the kids at a youth event I went to also go to. 

And now,for some reason,  the world doesn’t seem like it’s on the verge of ending anymore.

I still have my really close friends that I miss A LOT and really wish I got to see more. 

My memories of the past have paved my path for the future. There are friends I never hope to forget, and I want them to stay in my life forever no matter where I go or where they go. 

What I am saying is that God gave me some wonderful memories of my friends and family, the kind that will always put a smile on my face. These people that were and still are in my life are the most important people in the world to me! Besides my direct family of course. =)

The memories of these people keep me going till I see them next. 

Life has it’s complications at every turn, bumps in the road will slow you down, and stop signs are everywhere. But while your going remember those people that made you laugh and smile and maybe even cry. God has or had them in you life for a reason.

Victoria . . .

Land

Land. An investment that usually spans a great distance. It could be woods, fields, valleys, or hills.
Land is a wonderful thing.It's something that allows you to broaden what you do with your space and time.

The possibilities of stretching landscapes are endless. Plant a garden, build things, do stuff.
The fun you can have running over grassy hills or leaping through wooded slopes goes on forever.

I love ridding my ridding my bike down our hilly yard, hanging out in the woods, climbing trees, and running until I'm out of breath. These are some of the things I enjoy most on my land. I did climb trees when I lived in MD, but my roof was the only view I had.

There is something about taking a look around you and and the land you see(most of it anyway) is mine. That hill is mine, those woods are mine. It must have been really daunting when God showed Abraham all the land he could see and said it was his.

Land is a gift. And for some, a privilege. This is short and sweet because I am VERY tired.

Land is fun, useful, and like I said before, a gift.

Victoria. . .

Kites

Kites have always been so cool. Even when I was little I loved to watch kites soaring high above. It's a wonder why I only got my first Kite few years ago. 

When I got my first kite I still lived in my small neighborhood with my small backyard.

So I didn't get to fly it much. Then we moved out here. And there is definitely room out here to fly a kite! I have spent a couple hours trying to fly my kite. And most of the time I fail =(

But I did manage to get it up and keep it up for awhile. I hope to have many more good flights in the future.

Did you know these kite facts?

The record for the highest single kite flown is 3801 metres (12,471ft).
for a train of kites 9740 metres (31,955 ft).

The world record for the longest 'kite fly' is 180 hours.


Kite flying was banned in Japan in 1760 because too many people preferred to fly kites than work.

More adults in the world fly kites than children

In 1826 there used to be a stage coach service between London and Bristol using kites instead of horses.

There are over 50 million kites sold in the USA every year.

The longest kite in the world is 1034 metres (3394 ft).

The record for the highest single kite flown is 3801 metres (12,471ft).
for a train of kites 9740 metres (31,955 ft).

Happy kite flying! 

Victoria. . .

Joy

James 1:2-3

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Some days I feel really happy and joyful. I have a great life.  

 I the have friends and family I love and who love me. I have more blessings than I can count. So I should be joyful for the trials that come. Right?

Joyful. . .joyful. . . joyful. . .God is joy. 

After my move I wasn't very joyful. Like you have figured I was mad and a  little confused. But after a long time with him I see my need to trust God, and when I do that I will have joy.   

joy

noun

1. 1.

   a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

   
   

   
   

   The definition of the word "joy" is lacking. You cannot have joy without the maker of joy. 

   You will never truly be joyful without God. If you think you have joy when you don't have God your hanging on to a false happy feeling brought about by the things that make YOU happy. Those material thing will let you down, run away and never come back.The things of this world that make you "joyful" will only crush you in the end. God is always there, he is the source of joy that never ends, never goes away, and will always love you.

   
   

   Make God your joy. =)   

   
   

   
   

   Victoria. . .