As I'm writing this, I am sitting in a beach house looking at the  waves in Dauphin Island, Alabama.Monday we left our little farm in east Texas and drove through Louisiana all the way down to New Orleans. We ate lunch there, then drove through a little piece of Mississippi, then Alabama!! The beach house is fairly large,the backyard  four lots,  everyone of them oceanfront.On the way here, we toured sprawling plantations. I've been through these states before, but never these parts of them. SO MUCH  FUN!!! We went swimming yesterday (i got the cutest new swimsuit)
I love living in the South, even more so  when I travel through it.

...do not be discouraged...

With so many sad things going on in the news, particularly the Boston Marathon bombings/ hunt for suspects and the West, Texas explosions, it's hard not to get discouraged and worried, but Joshua 1 : 9 gives us some encouraging advice:

When you feel helpless,like you can't do anything to help these two grieving cities, remember there IS something you can do.

PRAY.

I visited Boston when I was 10, and I loved it. It's such a beautiful, historic city. Everywhere you turn, there's a bit of history. Please pray for the friends and family of those wounded or killed, and those being affected by the manhunt.

I live in a little town in Texas not unlike West.  :'( It's just so sad to think something like the explosions could happen here, in a town like mine. Pray for West.



                     

                                                            ....do not be discouraged....

God's garden

Our church youth group is starting a garden. In the summer, when the plants are ready to harvest, we'll take fruits and vegetables door to door and witness to the people. Our youth group is pretty small, averaging about eight kids every Sunday. But the "Fabulous Five", made up of my brother and I, My friends JoGail and her older sister Grace, and my brother's friend Brandon, are the main"youth".  We attend all the church functions and help with the church garden. We get together almost every week to make rows, plant seeds or seedlings, water, hoe, and mark rows with string, and sometimes just to talk about plans for the garden. It's been really fun getting to watch the garden grow! After we finish working in the garden, we play games and talk . I  love my youth group and my church!

Book Review of Kiki Strike in the Shadow City

 I discovered a copy of Kiki Strike in the Shadow City  at my local library, and since then, my life has never been the same! No, really. This book is amazing!  Annika, a teenage girl living in Manhattan, is bored. As she looks out her window, she notices a mysterious hole in the ground, with a ladder leading down into it. She finds a secret, tiny underground room! Two construction workers digging a sewer discover her exploring
there, so she leaves. Then, her life changes when she meets Kiki Strike, a girl superspy. Kiki  wears all black, has an "army" of five talented Girl Scouts, and drives her Vespa all over Manhattan. She tells Annika that that little room leads to the Shadow City, a secret series of underground tunnels used as speakeasies and escapes for smuggler in the late 1920s - and it's up to them to protect it from falling into the wrong hands. Annika and Kiki, with the Girl scouts Betty( a master of disguise) , Luz,(an inventor) DeeDee(a talented chemist),and Oona,(a hacker and forger) form a group called the Irregulars, and they explore all over Shadow City. Annika and the other girls begin to wonder if Kiki has an ulterior motive for wanting to explore the Shadow City. Soon they find themselves trying to foil an international kidnaping plot- that could turn deadly for their friend Kiki, who isn't who she says she is....


    5 stars! This book was seriously awesome- like a combination of Nancy Drew and the Mysterious Benedict Society. I can't wait to download the rest of the series on my Kindle!

Vaya con dios, Jackie!

don't ask...  : )

Jackie and me being silly at the Food boot camp

*Vaya con dios is a Spanish expression meaning "Go with God"


(wails) "Well, our wonderful 4-H agent Jackie is leaving meeeee!*sniffles* *sobs*"


Okay, I'm being melodramatic. They don't call me Drama Queen for nothing! But, really. Jackie is moving  to a new job! Who else will explain the mysteries of 4-H to me? Jackie was more than an agent, she was a friend. In the year and a half she was here with  our 4-H Jackie taught the 4-H groups about Food Show, Fashion show, Roundup, and everything else 4-Hish. She also put up with lots of phone calls from confused 4-Hers and their parents. She loaned me her laptop for my PowerPoint on Roundup, she drove cars filled with us 4-hers , and she would come over to my house and cook with my Mom.  She's an awesome agent, and as my friend Anna and I say she's :"The best 4-H lady ever!" She's a great influence, has a good heart, and is simply a really fun person! I hope she has an amazing time at her new job and that everything works out for her! Good luck Jackie! I'm praying for you! Love ya girl!!

Volunteering @ the Special Needs Kids Egg Hunt

Hello! Long time no post! Sorry about that. I've been busy. But don't worry, darlings- I'll fill you in on every fascinating detail of my life. :-)
    Last Friday I got to volunteer with my 4-H group at the special needs egg hunt. Two school buses full of the most adorable l kids ever came, and as soon as they got off the bus we volunteers were paired with them. I was paired with the cutest little girl named Aleyah. The instant her teacher said "This is Laura Ashley. She's going to help you hunt eggs" Aleyah ran and gave me an enormous hug, then grabbed my hand and led me towards the big field where they'd hunt Easter eggs. She was so sweet! We had so much fun together, as she would carefully open each plastic egg, then hand them to me to be closed just as meticulously. She loved this! We opened and closed easter eggs for a good ten minutes! Then I got to visit with  a girl named Kylie. She was in a wheelchair, but that didn't stop her from gathering lots of eggs. My friend's little brother, Ben, was so hilarious! When some of the eggs the kids were getting rolled under a fence, he jumped the fence, handed them the egg, saluted,and walked off. It was very funny! I had a really good time helping the kids.I've gotten to do so many awesome volunteer opportunities that I never would have got to do without 4-H. This was amazing, and I definitely want to help again! Everyone was so nice. I can't wait for next year!

KITTENS!!

A video of the kittens and the mama cat.

One of the kittens!!

       We have five cats(6 if you count Socks, who  alternates between the neighbors' home and ours). With the exception of Socks, the others are all female.Saturday night, relieved the Henderson County Livestock Show was finally over, Christopher (my middle brother) and I headed outside to pen our chickens up for the evening. We were saddened to find our dogs had decided to use one of the chickens as a chew toy. Dad came outside and went to bury it. While they were attending to that, I noticed one of our five cats, Smokey, was back! She hadn't came to eat that morning,and she always comes to eat. We'd decided a few months ago that since she'd been spending a LOT of time with our male cat , Socks, and she was suspiciously fat, she just might be pregnant. I'd thought she was fixed, but it turned out she wasn't. I couldn't help wondering if Smokey had been off having her kittens. Then I saw that she was filthy. Dad and I followed her out to a little glen of trees behind the old goat pen and his workshop. We saw four kittens who look just like Socks! Since it was surprisingly cold and windy, we brought Smokey and her kittens into the workshop and fixed up a cute little box for them. They are ADORABLE!! Their eyes aren't even open yet.