Pictures, Places, and the Creator's Fingerprint

Hey! So I'm a little obsessed with looking up places that I think are just gorgeous (and boy is there a LOT of those places!) Here are just a few.

                                             Gold Coast Australia. Is this place not incredible?





                                      Hawaii!! That's drop dead gorgeous, I don't care who you are!!




                      Like a giant swimming pool. Why can't South Carolina have beaches like this???


 But.......If you're not the beachy type...........




                                                    Switzerland. Too gorgeous for words!!




                                            How would you like this to be your front yard??



                                       Grand Canyon. I hope to see this place one day!



So where would you like to live? Oh, and one thought. Isn't it just mind blowing that there are people out there that truly believe that the places above were created by random chance? I just can't even comprehend that thought. The Creator's fingerprint is on everyone of them, as well as on you and me.

Blessings,

Peyton

Long lost blogger is back..........

Whoa! It's been a REALLY long time since I've posted on here, most of my followers have probably died of old age already! Just kidding, not that long. But you know once the blog craze kinda wares off it's hard to find things to blog about.:) Anywho, I'm back to blogging (Hopefully!) Okay, so some updates since last time.

1.  I'm fifteen (have been since October)
2.  I just got out of the hospital two weeks ago. In December my kidneys shut down from a strep infection and I have been in and out of the hospital four times. Now after two months on really high doses of prednisone I'm doing a little better, but the recovery process is slow. I'm warning y'all to flee from strep like it's the plague!:) Funny thing is I never even knew that I had it in the first place!!
3. Started new school year. I'm a freshmen! Yay! By now I'm almost done though!:) It's funny, in the hospital everyone asked me if I hated high school. As soon as I told them that I loved it and that I was homeschooled they would say, "Aha, that's why. You can't get bullied or anything at home!" I would answer, "Yep, and because I have such great teachers that will not let them get away with it!"

Long lost blogger........

Peyton

long time no see!

  Hey guys! What have you all been up to in my absence? Wow, I've been gone for a long time! I haven't really done much this summer, but I've been very busy somehow, if you know what I mean:) Since that didn't make sense, let me explain. When Veritas let out in May, I was so tired of writing that I didn't want to think of typing one more word for a REALLY long time.;) Then my dad and brother went on a two week mission trip to Uganda, which by the way was awesome! Then we kind of just had those long summer days where you go to the beach, play outside, or go on road trips. Just typical summer things. Let's just say summer snuck up on me too fast, and all of the sudden it's time for school again! I'm a freshmen now, which means tons a LOT more writing! But in spite of this, I'm ready to start blogging again! Let me hear YAY! from y'all!  Just kidding!:) I am glad to be back though.
   To get back to writing, I thought it would be kind of cool to start memorizing portions of the Bible as a group. We could come up with a verse to memorize, then practice it for a week. By the end of the week, everyone could recite (by commenting) the verse. I just thought this would be a good way to keep each other accountable for memorizing God's Word. Anyway, just let me know if anyone is interested.

 Have a great wonderful week!

  Peyton

Go back in time!

                                                         

 

 

 

Who doesn't want to live in this time!!???

For your vacation you would pick............

 If you could go on vacation to any of the places below, where would you choose?


  

 

 

Beside a sparkling lake? 

 

The ocean maybe?

  

Beautiful mountains?

Country hills?

 

Or is it most appealing to just laze around the house? 

Let me know in a comment:) 

Quotes by Jim Elliot

  

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”


“Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know so extraordinary a God.”

“We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with. But we are "harmless," and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the Cross. We are "sideliners" -- coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!”

“If we are the sheep of His pasture, remember that sheep are headed for the altar.”

PLEASE Read This!!

   "Then I will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirst and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' Then they also will answer Him saying, 'Lord, when did I see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?'

"Then He will answer them saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do unto Me."                                                                        Matthew 25:41-45

O Sacred Head Now Wounded

O sacred Head, now wounded, 
 with grief and shame weighed down, 
 now scornfully surrounded 
 with thorns, thine only crown: 
 how pale thou art with anguish, 
 with sore abuse and scorn! 
 How does that visage languish 
 which once was bright as morn! 

2. What thou, my Lord, has suffered 
 was all for sinners' gain; 
 mine, mine was the transgression, 
 but thine the deadly pain. 
 Lo, here I fall, my Savior! 
 'Tis I deserve thy place; 
 look on me with thy favor, 
 vouchsafe to me thy grace. 

3. What language shall I borrow 
 to thank thee, dearest friend, 
 for this thy dying sorrow, 
 thy pity without end? 
 O make me thine forever; 
 and should I fainting be, 
 Lord, let me never, never 
 outlive my love for thee. 

                                                                                

              

Our God is an awesome God!

 

Our God, is an awesome God,He reigns 
From heaven above with wisdom, power and love!
Our God is an awesome God!

Christmas Tutorials!

Homemade Christmas Ornaments

How to make a glitter snowflake ornament

I thought these looked so pretty! Glitter Snowflake!

Supplies:

• 1 clear glass ball ornament
• Beacon Glitter it (from Hobby Lobby)
• Silver Glitter
• vinyl snowflake

Instructions:

1. Per instructions on the bottle of GLITTER IT -remove hanger from ornament and add one tablespoon of white vinegar to one cup of warm water and pour a small amount into the ornament. Swirl around to thoroughly clean glass. Empty ornament and rinse well with warm water. Let dry completely. (do this step a day a head or use a hair dryer to speed up drying)
2. Pour a small amount of GLITTER IT into ornament. Swirl around to coat the entire inner surface. Add more if needed.
3. Immediately add about 1 teaspoon of fine glitter to inside of ornament . ( you can pour some glitter onto a piece of paper with a fold and use it to guide/pour the glitter into the ornament) then rotate and shake ornament until the inside of the ornament is completely covered with glitter. If necessary, add additional GLITTER-IT and glitter until all areas are covered.
4. Turn ornament upside down and shake away any excess glitter.
5. Add vinyl snowflake to outside of ornament.
6. Replace hanger, (*note – you can spray paint the hanger with white spray paint to give some contrast.)
7. Go hang on the tree and enjoy!!

 
    I saw this tutorial on a blog and though it was so cute! I love tutorials! Anyway, I am going to try it. I also found this pumpkin white chocolate drink and thought it looked so yummy I had to share. I am going to try this also!!

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice White Hot Chocolate

Summary: Just like pumpkin pie in a mug!

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch sea salt
• 2 ounces white chocolate (roughly chopped)

Instructions

1. In a small sauce pan over medium heat, combine milk, pumpkin and spices. Cook string constantly until just simmering.
2. Remove from heat and add chocolate ( reserve some for garnish)
3. Just before serving, top each mug with a generous mound of whipped cream, a few shavings of white chocolate, and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon. Serve immediately.
4. Enjoy
   

 Tell me that doesn't look absolutely delicious!  Hope you have a wonderful evening (with or without this scrumptious looking treat!)

~ Peyton~







   

Thanksgiving

Hello everyone!! Since we are approaching Thanksgiving, I thought I would make a list of all (or some) of the things I thank God for. I have currently been reading a book about some missionaries to Africa, and God has showed me how truly blessed I am. So here is my list.  



   1. Above all else, I am thankful for Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for his love and mercy. I am thankful that though I deserve nothing but hell, he has given me eternal life through his blood.

2. I am thankful for the Bible. I am so thankful that I have one that I can pick up and read at any time. So many people who would love to have one can not, or are forbidden to read it.

3. I am so thankful for my wonderful, godly parents. I am so blessed to have Christian parents to love and guide me. I love them so much and never doubt their love for me.

4. I am so thankful to have such wonderful siblings. I love beings the oldest daughter, and having eight younger siblings. I LOVE little kids! I also love my wonderful older brother! Siblings really are your best friends.

5. I am so thankful for all of my family members!

6. I am thankful for a church.

7. I am thankful for a house, a car, clothes, food, and all of the things God has blessed me with that I often take for granted.

8. I am so thankful  to be home schooled, and that I have been all my school years!

9. I am thankful for the little things we take for granted such as air conditioning. Our air conditioner is broken and a month ago I had to sleep with it being 90 degrees. After one night of a Charleston summer night with no a.c, trust me, you will love your air conditioner (at least I do!) I know that is really nothing compared to some places around the world.

10. I am glad for water to drink, bathe, wash clothes and dishes in and so on. Hundreds of people die each year because they don't have clean water.

11. I am thankful for doctors who know so many things about the body and medicine.

12. I am thankful God made the world so beautiful. All of creation is evidence for God. There is no going around that fact. This world is defiantly not here by chance! 

 
13. Tasty foods and deserts! (Don't laugh at me mom and dad!) They know me well, and  know I like yummy foods! I wonder who I got that sweet tooth from;))

2. The holidays!

14. Wonderful scents! I love the smell of spices, herbs, flowers, breads, pies, treats baking in the oven, soups and roasts in the crock pot.

15. Drinks like apple cider, hot chocolate, and coffee!
 
16. As all bibliophiles, I am glad I have books!

17. I love animals !

18. Golden sunrises and sun sets.

19. Staring into my sweet baby brothers big blue, bug eyes! I call them that because they are so large for his face. He is so adorable!

20. I love it that my baby sister, who is nearly two, is totally my girl! I love hearing her call my name in her sweet (loud) voice, "Pate!! Pate, where are you?" Or, "Pate, I want dis!" Some times it can be just a bit annoying, but I would much rather hear that voice calling my name all the time,  than it not calling me at all!

21. I love having long talks with my brother, or mom and dad.

22. I love talking with my little sisters.

12. I love looking into the star filled night and being filled with wonder at the awesomeness of Gods creation.

24. I also love reading all the wonderful blogs.

25. I love getting up early to read my Bible and pray.

26. I also love it when I wake up in the middle of the night and can just feel that God is near me. When I do wake up, I always think of the verse that says God sings over us in the night. How wonderful that thought is!

Wow, that is pretty long! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families!

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."

 ~Peyton~

Pray for the children of Africa!

Micah Shepherd is born and Treasure's Birth Day!!

   Micah Shepherd Hardwick is here! Actually he has been here for almost a week.  Mom is doing good and so is he. He s a bundle of six pounds of cuteness! You can read about his delivery on my parent's blog. I was a little disappointed I could not be at the delivery (as I was with Treasure and Josiah,) but I did get to hear him being born on the telephone. I love taking pictures of little babies so you will be seeing lots and lots of him. They are so much easier to take pictures of, that is if you can catch them in between feedings (they seem to be all the time for a while!) Also, Treasure's birth day is today! As I mentioned before, I was in the room when Treasure was born, and since our birth days are a day apart, she is almost exactly how old I was when she was born! It doesn't seem like it was seven years ago, I can remember it like it was yesterday! I am going to make a list of ten things I love about my sweet little sis.

1. She loves Jesus!

2. She is so sweet

3. She can brighten a room with one little smile

4. She has a contagious laugh

5. She loves to read

6. She loves to help out

7. She loves to share

8. She loves little babies

9. She loves to sing with her pretty voice

10. She is so beautiful inside and out!



   Pictures coming soon!

     ~Peyton

Psalm 15:1-2

 O Lord who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks the truth in his heart. ~ Psalms 15:1-2

Hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the fall beauty and weather (it seems as though you are from reading all the posts.:) I haven't posted in a while because I am  busy with school and my spare time is spent with my family or outside. My mom is also going to have the baby soon! I am SO exited. It will be so good to have a tiny baby in the house again. They grow up to fast for a baby loving big sister! Not that I don't like it when their grown too though. Eden has been the baby of nine for almost 2 years so we will see how she is with him. She may be pretty spoiled but she is still so sweet. Yesterday when I was getting ready to go to school, I told her I was leaving and she shook her head and clung to me. She is my girl!!:)) Anyone else have anything exiting coming up? God bless,

  Peyton 

Twenty things I love about the Fall/Winter season

     Hi there! I know I have already written about fall and winter, but  this time I am going to make a list of twenty things I love about it. So here I go!



    1. Cool weather

     2. Colorful trees

     3.  School starts back, and yes, I am exited about that!:)

     4.  Those clear, deep blue sky's

     5. Birth day season in the Hardwick home starts! Mine is next month!:)

    6. The brilliant star filled nights (that is if you live in the country like us.)

    7. NO MORE MOSQUITOES!!

     8. All the soups my mom makes

    9. The smells of gingerbread, pies, cakes, spices, pumpkins, and all those other good things drifting through the house! Got to stop with the food, making my self seriously hungry!!

   10.  Being able to run through our woods and clime trees again without worrying about  snakes, ticks and all those other wood critters!:)

   11. Long jeans and short sleeve shirts

   12. All the fall clothing colors and styles: cardigans, jeans, turtlenecks, sweaters, knee high socks, boots  and  so on.......

    13.  Fires in your living rooms as you are drinking hot chocolate and reading a good book! Now who's not looking forward to that??
 
    14. Feeling cozy inside when it's cold outside!

    15. Getting exited when you see it MAY snow on the weather forecast, ( if you live in SC you will no what I mean.:)

   16. No more of those rainy days (well at least not as often.)

   17. You can go out places with out feeling scorched when walking, then suffocated when you get back in your car!:)

  18. When it stays dark longer and you get to sleep in longer in the mornings!

   19. Then on the other hand, I love it when I beat everyone out of bed, wrap up in a blanket, fix my self some steaming tea, and read my Bible on the front porch as I see dawn brake.

  20. All the holidays are around the corner!


    So there you go! I put them down randomly as I thought of each one so they are not in order. Oh, and Veritas starts tomorrow so please pray for me. I hope you have a wonderful (rest of the) week!
 
        ~Peyton~

Tag

Your Favorite...

Color? Pink, lavender,and blue

Candy? Willie Wonka

Main dish?I'm not sure

Dessert?Not sure! :)

Drink? Water, Dr. Peper, sweet tea (sweet tea mind you!:)

Go to Starbucks Coffee? No, but  my parents do and I love that place!

Go to the mall a lot? Not a lot

Veggie? ?? Do baked potatoes count??

Do you?

Talk on the phone everyday to someone who is not family?  No
 

Read your Bible everyday? Yes


See your grandparents everyday? Not hardly ever!

Bake a lot? Not really

Clean your room everyday? Yes!!

Have to say you're sorry to someone everyday? Yes

A Certain Thing You Dislike Of Each Category

Veggie? Collards!

Drink? Pepsi

Animal? hyenas  and opossums! (only because I think they are positively ugly!:( 

Random



What color is your room? cream may be?
 
Do you share a room with anyone? Yes, one little sister

Have you ever went swimming in a pond? Yes, lots of times!

How old are you? Almost 14

What year were you born? 1997

Are you related to anyone important or famous? George Washington!! (Just kidding, I don't know.)

Have you ever met a vice president?I think I have met a vice president (I have been in the White House!) 

Are you getting bored yet? No Are you??

What are you thinking? About how to answer this question!
 
Do You Have A

Pet? Yes, 2 dogs and 2 birds

Gift card at the moment? Nope!

Sewing machine? Yes but I don't know how to use t!

Big mess under your bed? Never

Pack of gum in your bag or purse? No, but I'm about to go get some of my moms!

Computer in your room? No
Have you ever

Been on a plane? Never, and I'm not sure I want to! Kinda old fashioned and like to stick to the ground!:)

Been out of state? Lots of times!

Been in a eighteen wheeler ?No

Been in a car accident? No

Read about a hundred and fifty page book in about an hour?  Sure!
 

                                      Thanks Eden!

Summer is coming to a end.....

 Summer is coming to a end already! It seemed to just fly by! I can't say I am very sad though. I LOVE fall! Reasons I love fall :The weather is just perfect, the sky is that deep blue, trees turn beautiful colors and shed their leaves, my birth day is in the fall, not to mention all the nearing holidays! I will also have a sweet new baby brother this fall, SO exited about that! I also love the excitement of starting school back. My mom has already started school  with the younger kids. Our family likes to have just a couple weeks brake in the summer, then start back again, and take some time off when the weather is cooler. Last year my brother Hunter went to home school classes called Varitas. He really liked it and is going back  again and so am I! I am really exited about that too. It starts in 3 weeks. So, what are your favorite things about fall?

Photo Shoot

 Hello every one! Yesterday I was playing with the little ones. All of the little girls wanted to dress up, so I helped them. Farah Beth and Treasure have been watching the American Girl movie Samantha lately, so they wanted to dress up like Her. I thought they were so cute ( and nearly looked like a 20th century child) so I wanted to get some pictures. Aren't they so cute?! 

                                                                       Farah Beth, she was quite proud of her dress:-)

                                                                                         Treasure

                                                                                              I love this one!

                                                             Well anyway, Josiah and Eden wanted to get in also. So, I let them. I set up my own photo area, dressed them up, then took some shots. I found out that the only thing harder to do then get Josiah to sit still, was to get him make a regular face! All he wanted to do was to make faces, then run and look at each shot. He was so cute though, and I did manage to get just a few serious faced ones..........

    Have a blessed week,

          ~ Peyton~

Mount McKinley

Mount Sanford

Mount Saint Elias

 

Who is  ready to go to Alaska? I AM!!! Such beautiful mountains. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could look out your bedroom window and see one of these magnificent sites?! God is so good! He created the earth so beautiful, every little bit of his creation cries out that there is a creator. If the earth is so beautiful, I can't even begin to imagine what heaven looks like! 

  The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork . ~ Psalms 19:1