• North Carolina •

Ok so I FINALLY found some spare time to sift through and edit all my pictures from my North Carolina road trip this summer! My amazing grandmother told me I could pick anywhere that I wanted to go and we would go for a week just the two of us! So I picked Bear Lake, North Carolina, a private reserve that is so beautiful you literally cannot take a bad picture because everything is so breathtakingly beautiful. Nevertheless I sifted through these pictures and picked my favorites and edited them. So here are some of the pictures and a few stories to go with them! 

So during a hike up the mountain I took pictures in the same basic poss with the many different textures of the mountain. I was fascinated with how it looks like a different place entirely each time but all within walking distances of eachother! 

I became a little obsessed with flowers on the hike I will admit.... 

Gorgeous part of the hiking trail

There were these beautiful bridges throughout the trail. This is one of my favorite pictures but what makes this picture even more beautiful to me is the memory of the sound of this place. The rushing brook was the only sound you could hear. The silence was only broken by the water and the occasional sound of birds and the wind. 

This was a gold course at the veryyyyy peak of the mountain! 

UGHHH if only I could go back to this bookstore! This was a used bookstore and a large portion of the profits from this bookstore went to support the local library!!! 

So there's a few pictures! Hopefully I can add some more later on! 

{Sunday Funday}

Happy Sunday blog readers! 💗 here's some end/beginning of the weekend goodness to wind down last week and start this week on a good note! 

This is my current iphone lock screen & home screen! I love it!! 

This is a car I saw in Houston, Legos and action figures hot glued to this car!!! 

Yoo hoo!!! 

How adorable is this little boy?!?

One of my favorite TV shows ever, hysterical!!!! 

{AppCity: The Word}

So I already posted about this app "The Word" but it's just so awesome I have to post again, (and this might not be the last time either). It just posts such cool pictures (perfect for a wallpaper). These are the past few days! How cool are all of these??? 

{AppCity: Jesus Apps}

I love my iPhone, I am definitely one of those people that ALWAYS has my phone and uses it for everything. And I'm okay with that. I believe we should utilize technology, and that includes in our daily faith practices. I have a whole folder on my phone labeled JESUS. These are all apps that help me on my daily faith walk, so I would like to share those with you!

First is a devotion app called Daily Bible Devotion

This app is AWESOME, twice a day it gives you a devotion, once in the morning and once at night. (You can also back track to the day before if you miss a day) however, I really recommend not missing a day, they are SO easy to read, literally just a few minutes of your day. 

You get a verse and then a short devotional that is very easy to read and relatable. I definitely reccomend this app! 

Next- there is Verse A Day

This is an awesome app that is exactly what it says it is, a verse a day! You get a chunk of scripture every say to read and generally these verses spark your interest just enough to make you want to read further! 

The Word Daily Devotion-

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS APP. 

This app is AMAZING (if you're like me and LOVE wallpapers and cool pics to share on Facebook and Instagram). Every day you get a new pic (perfect wallpaper size, eeeek!) and then you press the arrow in the bottom right corner and it gives you a devotional. 

KLOVE

This is an awesome app if you're a music person! I don't catch KLOVE on my radio in my car so I end up on pandora, my own music library or this app! 

Olive Tree Bible

This is one of 2 Bibles that I use on my phone, I like having 2-3 different versions at any time. 

This Bible is super easy to read and navigate! You can pick which version you would like and search for keywords to find verses. It's awesome! 

Happier ☺️

This app is AWESOME! It reminds you every day to write down something that you are happy about! 

You get push notifications reminding you write down something that made you happy today! It is awesome! Definitely helps you to keep a positive outlook and grateful for your life! 

Back to the Bible

This is a really cool app that I recently discovered that is supposed to help you read through the Bible in 60 days! You get a portion to read every day on your phone and there's an area to journal your thoughts about your readings as well! 

{Lent: Reading my way through the New Testament}

So it's that time of hear again, Lent! Today was Ash Wednesday (although this will be posted the day after) and I have to say, this year Lent has taken on a whole new meaning for me. I don't know quite how to explain it but this year it is just so much deeper than a time of year where I give up cokes for 40 days and download a Verse-A-Day pop up app for my iphone. ((See which ones I reccomend below)) 

While I will probably still do both of those things because I do believe those are great practices (sacrifice and daily Bible Reading) I have also decided to do something a little more. 

I will confess that I am not as diligent in my Bible readings as I should be. Not even close to be honest. So this Lent I have decided to read my way through the New Testament. Why the New instead of the Old? Because, Jesus. I am going to read my way through His life, starting with Matthew. So today I read Matthew 1-5. This is extremely easy and interesting reading, do not let the genealogy at the beginning scare you off, it gets good. Some really awesome stuff happens right off the bat in Matthew, you run through Jesus being born, how the prophecy of the Messiah is fulfilled (this is really cool) and then you hear some of Jesus' teachings. I'm actually really excited to read more (tomorrow/today I will try not to start at 1:30 A.M. so I'm not so sleepy). 

Which brings me to part number 2 of this Lenten readings, making time for God. Confession number 2 is that I am guilty of not setting aside time for God every day. I know that I would be a much more balanced and happy person if I had some sincere Jesus time in my life every day. So tomorrow I am going to set aside some time, either in the morning before class, after class, or before bed to read Matthew 6-10 (or wherever I decide to stop).

I am also keeping a journal through my readings of important parts of the chapters I am reading, important lessons, and scriptures I want to remember! 

 I can't wait to see what awesome things I read and the amazing things God will do during this Lenten season.