Blog Archives

Photo Friday

5/29/2015

Between getting another auction finished up and getting ready for our trip to Alaska, I've not had much extra time, but I found a few pictures from my shoot last week that I hadn't posted yet.
My favorite is the top one, I think they are crab apple blossoms. I also like the lilacs and the jack-in-the-pulpit flowers (# 5).
Next Friday, or possibly sooner depending on how soon we can get this auction wrapped up, my family and I will be heading for a month in Alaska! We were supposed to go last year after four years of planning, but ten days before we were supposed to leave, a semi hit our RV and did a lot of damage. So our plans were canceled.
We are now just a week from leaving, and so far everything is still in place!
We will be gone approx. a month, possibly slightly longer. I intend to continue posting while we are gone so you can follow our travels, but my posts will be sporadic, depending on when I can get an internet connection. I know I will take tons of pictures so check back often!!
I will probably still do my usual three posts next week, but it will be hit or miss after that.
What are your favorites this week?

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Be Still My Soul (Previously Adah's Quest)

5/27/2015

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How I picture Ethan's daughter

A few weeks ago I posted about my new project, then titled Adah's Quest. I asked if anyone had any title suggestions and fellow author, Jason McIntire, suggested using a verse of Scripture for the title. Considering the fact that this story has more direct Biblical theme than my other books, I really liked the idea.
But I couldn't find a verse that really fit the story.

This past Sunday, my family and I were singing at a nursing home in Ohio. One of the songs we sang was Be Still My Soul. I have always known the song, but as I sang, I listened to the words and I could not believe how well it fit the story. I decided to use it as my title and my theme for the story. I am at just over 23,000 words and I plan on adding at least 15,000 more thousand. This book is going almost as well as Whisper!
Below is a music video of Be Still My Soul and I have included the lyrics as well. What do you think of the new title? I'm hoping to be able to post an excerpt soon.

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, be leaving, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

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Delicious Sun Tea and Giveaway Winner

5/25/2015

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Before we get started into our tea making tutorial :) the giveaway for two of my books, Rustlers and the Texas Trail and Hidden Treasure and Wedding Bells ended last night! I want to thank all of you who participated and shared the giveaway!
Without further ado, drumroll please, our winner is.....

Kristina Miller!

Congratulations, Kristina! I will be contacting you shortly.

Since I had so many participants, I decided to also give away one copy of my book, Whisper!
The lucky winner of Whisper is...

Jason McIntire!

Again, a warm thank you to all who participated!

On to the tea, the weather here in Michigan can't quite seem to decide whether it wants to be summer or winter!
A few weeks ago, we had a real warm spell. I do not really like drinking plain water, so, knowing I needed to stay hydrated, I made some sun tea.

Its not recommended to do this in plastic. The heat can leak chemicals into your tea...kind of defeats the purpose!! So I used a glass gallon jar. You can start with hot water if you want, or just let the sun do the whole job. I started with hot water.
For a gallon, I used three tea bags. I used Lipton decaf, but you can use whatever flavor tea you want.
I also used dried nettle, which is a detoxer. I don't really care for the flavor, so I only made one batch with it.
Simply put the tea bags, or loose leaf tea into your jar and let it set for a few hours in a sunny place. It's delicious and very good for you!
Just remember, the longer you let it steep, the stronger it gets. My first batch was just perfect and I think I let my second one set a bit too long as the flavor was very strong.
Enjoy!

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Photo Friday

5/22/2015

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Today is a true country girl post! I was so happy when Grandpa got six Herefords this spring. I have desperately missed having cows around and their lovely red and white colors make me feel I am a true ranch girl! Ironically, the bull is an absolute scardy cat! Nothin' tough about that guy! The little heifers are very curious and docile. The lone steer actually came up and smelled my boot as I was sitting on the ground taking pictures (last photo).
This week my favorite picture is the top one. It almost appears to have a mirror effect.
And #2 is Smoke...with that cute, innocent look. She's not as innocent as she looks :) We went for a six mile ride the other day, alternating between trotting and loping. She was barely sweating when we got back.
What are your favorites this week?

I was soooo excited to get my new DigPro AdventurePro backpack arrive today! It is a specifically designed for photographers. With the amount of hiking and sight seeing we'll be doing in Alaska, I needed something to carry my gear that wouldn't kill my neck and back.
This backpack is great!!! The back is padded at the pressure points and it has a waist strap to distribute the weight. It can carry two DSLR cameras, 6 lenses and all sorts of other gear.
I love that it can carry a tripod as well! There is a separate pack that can be attached where the tripod is and it also turns into a backpack...so its a two in one!! It was a bit pricey, but so far I love it!! Definitely something I will use a lot!

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What if....

5/20/2015

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Thunder, a.k.a Bannie

While working on my current projects, Thunder and Adah's Quest(temporary title), I've been learning a lot about plots and characters.

One thing in particular that has helped me a lot, especially with Adah's Quest, has been the simple question, "What if?"

For Thunder, this doesn't work a whole lot, because I already have a pretty good idea of where I want the story to end up. That doesn't mean I can't still ask the question, but at this point I don't think I will be changing it up too much.

With Adah's Quest, however, this question has helped me tremendously!

What if…the cabin burned down?

What if…she got caught in a blizzard, far from the cabin?

What if…she went to leave the mountain and her car wouldn't start?

What if…she fell down a mountain?

What if…she decided to quit her job and live on the mountain permanently?

What if…she ran out of wood in the middle of a storm?

What if…horror of horrors, she ran out of coffee? (I ran out of coffee the other day…well, not totally. But the other kinds we have are not my favorite by far. It's too hot to drink coffee anyway, so I'm not suffering too badly!)

This story is a bit different than anything I've written before. I am attempting to write it in first person and for the most part that seems to be working, though it does limit certain aspects.

It is also different in the respect that while I have an end goal for Adah, I do not know how I am going to reach that goal. I have a vague plot planned, but for now, I am just taking it one page at a time and asking the question, "what if" often. It's fun to explore the different twists and turns my plot can take J

For a brief writing update:

Adah's Quest is at roughly 20,000 words. I haven't had as much time to write, but in the few moments I have had, I was pleased to note that I am still not experiencing writers block with this story. At this point, I have no idea when Adah's story will be ready for you all to enjoy, but hopefully it will be sooner than later. Perhaps I will post an excerpt soon.

Thunder is progressing very slowly. Knowing how I want the story to end, and actually getting the story to that point are two very different things! I am still hoping to have Bethany's story out by fall, but with taking the entire month of June off for our Alaska trip, I will have to work furiously when we get back. I did manage to write 1,000 words the other day, which put me at just over 6,000 words total.

Now that TCCAS #1 and #2 are published, I have turned my attention to TCCAS #3-The Stranger and the Lost Mine. The rough draft is approx. halfway completed. I am hoping to be able to publish it next spring, to keep the series on a yearly release schedule, but we will have to see how it goes.

Speaking of Bannie, here is a video of him and I doing some spring work getting ready for summer riding :)

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INCH Conference

5/17/2015

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This past weekend I was very excited to be a vendor at the annual INCH homeschool conference!
I was a bit nervous about the whole experience as this event was many times larger than anything I had done before.
But I was very pleased with the end results and I had a lot of interest in the books. I had at least three people that I remember who said they or someone they knew had read my books...these were complete strangers!

The quality of this photo isn't great, but Dad did manage to get one picture of me actually in my booth :)

Dad helping to pin up my banner.

Lydia was able to be part of the Adventures in Odyssey skit at the Inch conference!! She got her books signed and her picture taken with Connie and Eugene, otherwise known as Katie Leigh and Will Ryan!!

A local pastor friend, Steve Kovac, wrote a newspaper article about my books and it came out last week!! Bannie is famous now!!!

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Photo Friday

5/15/2015

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This post lacks my usual quantity of images, but between working and preparing for the INCH Homeschool conference I am attending this weekend, I did not have much time for getting photos ;)

So these few from my cousin's wedding shower I attended last week will have to suffice!

My favorite is the punch bowl.

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DIY Basket Garden Décor

5/12/2015

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A few weeks ago, we had a large estate come in to the auction and there were tons, I mean tons, of baskets. There was every shape, color and size you could imagine. I like baskets in general, but I don't really have a lot of room for them, nor can I come up with a lot of really useful, creative ways to use them.
Baskets don't usually sell well, so we used a lot of them as box lot boxes to hold assortments of product.
But we still had a zillion left over (that may be a slight exaggeration :) and most of them were small, not big enough to be used to hold product. Some of them I grouped together in a large lot, which will probably only bring the minimum bid of three dollars.
So I took all the one that were around 8-10 inches in diameter home. I love baskets of flowers, but I am hopeless with keeping house plants alive, so I couldn't line them with plastic and use them that way. (If you have a green thumb with house plants, these make great country pots!)
So I came up with another idea...

I took this cute, rustic basket and cut the bottom out of it. It was hard work with regular scissors, pruners would probably have worked better.

This is what I ended up with. I just threw the bottom away as I couldn't think of anything to use it for. If one of you comes up with an idea, let me know :)

And this was the final product!! We have lots of daffodils growing at our new house. I simply gathered the stems and blossoms together and slid the basket over them. Now it looks like I have a basket of flowers in my garden!
I have quite a stock of baskets now. Some of them will end up the garden and I will probably find other uses for the rest. You can find nice baskets at Goodwill and thrift stores for little of nothing.
Have an idea for another use for those unwanted baskets? I'd love to hear it!

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Writer's Block

5/11/2015

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The words are flowing so fast you can hardly keep up. Your fingers are flying over the keyboard. You are so excited! The scene is coming together, you know exactly where this character is going to end up and how they are going to get there. The whole next chapter is already written out in your head. It seems that the words won't stop coming.

          And then…the river dries up. Your fingers hover over the keyboard, waiting for the next sentence and it doesn't come.

          You sit back in your chair and stare blankly at the screen in front of you. Ten seconds ago you had the rest of that half filled page all planned, and the words just left you.

          I'm sure any of my fellow writers can identify with the moment when that brilliantly planned out scene just disappears and you can't think of a single word.

          I hate those moments. It is so frustrating to have your train of thought leave like that. Sometimes it stops because of a distraction such as someone calling your name, slamming a door or the pots and pans clanking together in the next room. Sometimes, there is no explanation.

          So what do you do when you really want/need to continue writing and your brain refuses to cooperate?

          Here are a few things I have found to be helpful.

Take a walk. Fresh air always wakes me up. Now that it's summer, I will be spending more time outside and a lot of my writing will probably take place on the deck. The fresh air and sunshine will help to keep me awake and my brain sharp.

Talk to someone. The stimulation of having a normal conversation can sometimes get the creative juices flowing again.

Coffee. I only drink decaf coffee, but just the routine of getting up and making it, plus, of course, the delicious aroma and taste, help get me thinking again.

Music. I generally have music playing while I am writing, but if I don't, just relaxing and listening to a song or two can get me back on track. Or if I do have music playing, switching to a different album can help.

Chess. I'm not a big fan of chess because I'm just not that smart. Chess players are something special J But when I feel like my brain has gone dormant, a game of chess on my computer can help get me motivated again.

Laughter. This is especially important if I am at a sad point in the story, or I'm just having a gloomy day. My brothers love jokes so we have several joke books laying around. I'll grab one of those and find something to make me laugh.

Riding. Just going out and jumping on one of the horses for half an hour or so clears my head. Of course, not everyone has horses to ride like I do, but choose a favorite activity and do it! It helps.

Reading. Picking up a favorite book and reading a chapter or two can renew my determination to get this story written.

Writing a blog post. Yes, it's still 'writing', but there's a difference. Quite a few of my posts are prepared ahead of when they will be posted, so if I am stuck at a certain point in my story, I will gather materials and info for my posts.

Last but not least, prayer. I think sometimes the Lord lets the river dry up to remind you that this is His story, not yours.

Which one(s) of these things has worked for you? Is there anything I didn't mention that you have found to be helpful in battling writer's block?

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Photo Friday

5/8/2015

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I highly doubt anyone will get through today's post without saying "awww...." at least once! (If you did get through the post without succumbing to the cuteness, please leave me a comment!)
Last night, after I got home from working at the auction hall, I realized Friday was the next day and I had no pictures! Armed with my camera, I went to see what I could find...thinking I would take a *few* to get by.
A few turned into nearly 900 by the time I finished, about an hour later. After another two hours of sorting, lightening, darkening etc.., I had narrowed 900 down to 45. Ten minutes later I had painfully eliminated 25 of those to come up with my 20 for the post. Then I had to apply my logo and upload. Quite a process, but I had fun and I'm really happy with some of the shots I got. I have several to add to my favorites folder.
So though it was difficult to choose just one favorite, there was no resisting the cute little guy who has won the #1 spot this week. Isn't he cute!? He was sound asleep and had no idea I was there until my camera clicked several times.
#2 was really hard to choose as well, but I was so pleased with the quality of the flying bird. I was attempting to get some shots of the baby geese and their parents when this beautiful bright blue bird flew into view. There were two of them and this one repeatedly dove into the water, catching fish or insects I'm supposing. It was fascinating to watch and I was fortunate to get such a clear shot...it was extremely fast!
#3 is the empty robin egg shell. I used to collect these when I was younger :)
I also like the ones of the geese and the last picture of Chayton makes me laugh :)
What are your favorites? Have you seen any baby animals out yet?

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Family Post

5/6/2015

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The weather is finally starting to actually feel like spring and it is nice to be able to walk outside without grabbing a jacket first. :) We are all enjoying the change of pace.
Last year, we moved a quarter mile down the road from the farmhouse we had lived in for seventeen years. The house we moved to was the house my great-grandparents built as their retirement home. All of us love the house and though it can be a bit inconvenient to walk a quarter mile to do animal chores, we like it here.
We are surrounded on three sides by a beautiful cedar swamp. It's quite a change to be living in the woods! At our old house, we had shade trees, but other than that we were surrounded by fields and buildings.
Dad has big plans for grooming the woods into a park like atmosphere. He and the boys got a start on that a few evenings ago, with Lydia's help, while Mom tried out her new grill on the deck(my personal favorite part of the house) and we enjoyed supper outside. I was behind the camera :)
I wanted to share a few pictures of the evening. I know it's not photo Friday, but I do have a favorite...I just love the first picture :) Levi hard at work burning brush and Seth perched in the tree trimming branches.

Dad raking leaves and burning brush

Mom trying her new grill. Maple is waiting for handouts, which she usually gets!

I've always been a steak lovin' girl and these were amazing!

My favorite part of the new house! The patio table and chairs are a new addition.

Lydia watching the fire

They really got a good fire going

Trying to pull down the branch Seth chain sawed.

Seth filling the fire pit

Do you have a favorite part of spring? A special memory? A favorite spring activity?

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Interview with Author Rebekah A. Morris

5/4/2015

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I am excited to have author Rebekah A. Morris joining us today!
I have mentioned Rebekah before and shared a few of her books, several of which are on my Recommended Books page.
I have read five of Rebekah's books and I have one or two more waiting in my Kindle :)

The Triple Creek Ranch series was the first of Rebekah's books I read. A lovely series for all ages.
My favorite of her works so far has been Gift From the Storm. I highly recommend this book.

One cold, dark evening a young stranger appears outside the Morgan home with two small children. Injured and on the verge of complete exhaustion, she will only say that her name is “Amy.” Where did she come from? Who is she? And what has she been through? Dr. Justin Morgan and his family look for answers as they struggle to minister life and health to the needy ones in their midst.

Rebekah's Amazon Author Page

Welcome to Heritage Literature, Rebekah! Tell us a little about yourself.

Hi Lauren,

Thanks for inviting me over. I’m a homeschool graduate, an aunt to six energetic, fun-loving nieces and nephews, an author of ten books and counting, a writing teacher, a hand quilter and an extremely outgoing person. I’m the youngest in my family with a married older brother and an older sister. My home is in the southwest corner of the Show-Me state where I’ve lived nearly all my life. One of my favorite pastimes is reading. If I had a chance, I’d read new books every week. And I dream of traveling to every state in the country someday.

How did you get started into writing?

Well, that’s a question I’ve often wondered about myself. It was not when I was young. In fact, I hated writing assignments during school! (Though I did enjoy making up stories to tell to my best friends or acting out.) I suppose what really got me interested in writing was after my graduation when some younger friends and I started writing “pretend” letters to each other like we lived during the early days of America. I’ve always loved history so that was fun. It wasn’t until I had written with several girls (each during a different era) that I realized just how much fun writing could be. But it wasn’t until almost four years after my graduation that my mom encouraged me to try writing a book. And it wasn’t until 6 years later that my first book “Home Fires of the Great War” was published. I’ll never forget that day.

From that time on, I’ve been hooked. I can’t get enough stories written. J

What inspired the Triple Creek series?

This is a hard question to answer. I’m not exactly sure what inspired it. Perhaps it was my love of western life (I’m a city girl who dreams of living on a ranch some day.), my interest in three characters I created for an assignment, or perhaps it was something else. Whatever it was, I did not plan on writing a series when I started. I was only going to write one book. But it was too long, so it was going to be two. Then a friend asked, “Are you going to write three books since it is the Triple Creek Ranch?” Now I’m writing Book 5 with thoughts of Book 6 teasing my brain.

What is the question you get asked the most in regards to being an author?

The most often asked question is, “When is the next book coming out?” J

But another common one is “How and where do you get your ideas for so many books?”

My answer? Everywhere. Sometimes they just come to me. Other times I’ll have a thought about something and then I start playing the “what if” game and an entirely new situation appears. My readers have been a great help in my series with giving me any ideas they have, suggestions, things they want to know about different characters or just telling me things that they have done. It’s been a lot of fun. There have even been times when I woke up in the mornings and realized that the dream I just had would make an interesting idea. And what is even more fun is when a real life situation comes across your path and you just know you have to put it in your book. (I have found, however, that some people tend to think the real life stories are “too unreal” to have happen in a story.)

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

There are several things I would tell a new or aspiring author.

•Always remember that your writing is to glorify God. Never write anything even if you don’t plan to publish it, that you would be ashamed to let your family or Jesus Christ read.

•Write about what you know. I’ve seen so many young writers jump into writing with some great ideas, only they really don’t know anything about them. Start with things you know! If you don’t know about what you want to write about, research! You have to be willing to work.

•Make sure the ones who edit your work aren’t going to just say, “Oh, this is so wonderful!” You are going to need constructive criticism. Be open to take it. But that doesn’t mean you have to try to please everyone. J

•And finally, enjoy what you do. Yes, sometimes writing is hard work, but if you don’t have a passion for what you do, your stories will be missing a vital part. Also, don’t expect it to all be easy. There is a quote on my blog which I like because it is so true, only I didn’t realize just how true until I had published a few books and was really writing. “Only amateurs say that they write for their own amusement. Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth. Writing may be interesting, absorbing, exhilarating, racking, relieving. But amusing? Never!”
~Edna Ferber

What type of marketing/advertising have you done that you felt was the most successful for you?

When it comes to marketing/advertising my books, I’m not so good. I would much rather spend my time writing a new story than promoting myself and my works. But, I have learned some things which have been helpful. Since I am self-published, I can set my prices and I have found that using the FREE promotion or even the count-down promotion for my kindle books has been a help. Also word of mouth is invaluable. But I have to keep reminding myself that it takes time. Most people have to see something over and over before they really think about buying it. That is true with books too.

What other books have you written?

It’s funny that you should ask me that right now. I can’t believe how many books I actually have published! Maybe I’m making up for not writing stories when I was young. J

•Home Fires of the Great War (A story about home life during WWI)

•The Unexpected Request (A western)

•Pirates of Rocky Crag Bay and Other Stories (Short stories for children)

•Lower Lights and Other Stories (Short stories for teens and up)

•Triple Creek Ranch books 1-4

•The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers (Mystery book for any age)

•Gift from the Storm (My newest book)

Do you have any works in progress you'd like to share with us?

Currently I am working on writing Triple Creek Ranch – 5. Right now it has no title other than book five, but I hope it will be published by fall of this year. And who knows when I’ll start a new story. J I always like having more than one story going on at once. Perhaps it will be Triple Creek Ranch book 6, or another Graham Quartet book or something completely new and different. Stay tuned.

Where can people connect with you online?

They can visit my blog at www.rsreadingroom.blogspot.com . I’m always happy to have a new reader come by. I update my blog every Friday morning, so stop by and take a look. They can also find me on Goodreads.

Thanks for letting me come and share with you and your readers, Lauren. I’ve enjoyed it.

Thank you for joining us, Rebekah! I enjoyed reading your answers to my questions and the helpful advice you shared.

Take a moment and visit Rebekah's blog. I enjoy reading the weekly installments she posts of some of her stories.

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Celebration Giveaway!

5/2/2015

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I was very excited to come home from work yesterday to find that my first copies of Hidden Treasure and Wedding Bells had arrived! Words can't describe the feeling of seeing books 1 and 2 of the series together! I couldn't wait to share this with you all, so I didn't follow my usual posting schedule :)

To celebrate the publication of TCCAS #2 I am giving away one copy of TCCAS #1-Rustlers and the Texas Trail and one copy of TCCAS #2-Hidden Treasure and Wedding Bells! One winner will receive both these books!!
How to enter:

Using the form below, you have six tasks you can complete to get your name entered more than once. There is one free entry as well. If you already follow me on Google+, Goodreads and Pinterest, still enter your usernames. The same goes for my email followers. The giveaway will be open until May 24th. I will announce the winner on May 25th. Have fun!!

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Photo Friday

5/1/2015

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My post is a little late this week. I usually have it ready a day or so ahead of time, but here I am at ten pm Friday evening putting everything together!
We were in Ohio last weekend attending a rabbit show where Levi and Lydia showed their rabbits. There were 1,000 rabbits there and even with so much competition, their rabbits did really well.
The rabbit show was on Saturday, but we stayed in the motor home and visited one of the Dunkard Brethren churches on Sunday. We ended up having lunch with some friends and they took us on a tour of their beautifully landscaped property. I enjoyed their dogs and horses :) All of these pictures came from their home.
Choosing a favorite this week was extremely difficult! But, the bleeding heart has to be #1. I have never taken a photo of a bleeding heart before, so I was excited to find one in bloom. I also like the pictures of the horse and Lydia and the very energetic black lab who stole Lydia's flipflop! And the last photo makes me laugh!! What are your favorites this week?