photo contest

Hi girls!  To make my giveaway more fun, I decided to make it into a photo contest with the prize being the headband.  The rules are the same (click here to see the post before), but you will also need to take a picture of whatever theme I decide on.  You can send the picture to my email (laurenduke123@gmail.com) and I will do a post of it once I get a few.  The new deadline will be March 1st.  So......the theme is Music!!  Here is an example:

But really, it can be anything music related...it doesn't have to be a person.  Do the best with what you have!  Be creative!  But most importantly, have fun!  Looking forward to seeing what kinds of pictures we can come up with! :)


p.s. editing is allowed :P

Giveaway!!

Hey girls!  Guess what?  I'm having a giveaway!!  I crocheted  a super adorable headband!  Anndd...my sister volunteered to model it for me :) WIN!!  It was even in the negative who-knows-what degree weather today! :P

sorry, this one's kinda dark

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.:Rules:.

You must be a follower of my blog

Comment below to show that you've entered

Post about this giveaway on your blog

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 The deadline is February 1st!  I will announce the winner then and will email them with the other details.  Have fun!!!

Book Review - Gladys Aylward

Oh dear...I apologize for the lack of attention to my blog!!  But the truth is that we've been super busy lately and I didn't really have anything to write about when I did have time! 

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I've been reading a LOT of fiction books lately...I love to read!!  My favorite author is Lori Wick.  She writes Christian romance novels, which I love!  A friend of ours just gave me a bag full of books by her so I've been reading tons!  Now, to start off 2014, my mom wants us to take a break from reading fiction, and read things like biographies and other non-fiction books.  I chose to read a book about Gladys Aylward, who was a missionary in China in the early 1900's.  I've read this book before, but it is so good that I'm reading it again!  It's by Janet and Geoff Benge...they have written lots of biographies about missionaries and I've read quite a few of them.  There is also a movie about Gladys Aylward called Inn of the Sixth Happiness but I haven't seen it since I was really little so I want to see it again soon.  The only problem is that nobody else in my family really wants to see it again because it's pretty graphic considering all the horrible things that the Chinese people used to do...maybe still do.  That kind of stuff has never really bothered me that much though, unlike my sister Carrie :P but I'm getting off the subject.... I highly recommend this book, but although not as much as the movie, it is graphic too.  I also recommend other books by the same authors...some of the ones I've read are Jim Elliot, Mary Slessor, Hudson Taylor, George Muller and Betty Greene.

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Thanks for reading!!  Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!
 

Recent Pictures

Hey there!  I figured it's been awhile since I posted recent pictures of my nieces and nephews (except for Lindsey).....

Janae Catherine 

Brady Wade

Lindsey Renae

Michael James

Beckett Leander

This one is just funny...notice Brady's new glasses!  :P

See ya!

New Look And Other Random Things

Hi Everyone!  What do y'all think about my new look?  I found the new name on Pinterest and thought it was perfect...and true!  Sorry that it isn't centered where it's supposed to be on the header...I can't really figure out how to do that!  So until I do, you'll just have to excuse it ;)

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I am getting so so so excited for Winter this year!!  

 

I love snowy trees...

and Christmas...

and wrapping up in a quilt with a good book and some Hot Chocolate...

and playing with my doggy in the snow...

and going out in the crisp morning to feed our chickens after the snow fell all night...
and (believe it or not) the cold weather...
and building things in the snow with my sisters...
.....I'd better stop before I get carried away though, but I love pretty much everything about Winter!

♫ ....I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.... ♫

Lindsey-da-Lindsey!

Hey!  Here are some adorable pictures of miss Lindsey-da-Lindsey (a nickname given to her by her cousin Brady :) ) when they were over last Sunday...enjoy!

She's such a happy little girl! 

I love her 2 little teeth :) 

Princess!!!! ♥

Sorry, the pictures are a little bit fuzzy....but she is just so cute!  :D

Heads Up!! :)

Hi girls!!  Just a heads up.......I am working on a whole new design for my blog!  I know I have been changing it a lot (sorry about that :/) but hopefully after I do this one I will be done for awhile!  I'm really excited about this...I'm going to have a whole new template and possibly even a new name :) can't wait to show it to you all!                                                                           
                                                                                                                                          

                                                                            In God's Love,

New baby girl!!

Hi everyone!!  We have a new sweet little baby girl in our family!!  Her name is Janae Catherine Duke and she was born yesterday (October 22) to my brother Joel and his wife Lydia.  Janae was 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 20" (which is kinda funny because when Lydia was in labor we were all guessing how big Janae was going to be and I said "she will probably be 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 20"!!!  And she was!!!!) we got to see her today and she is so sweet <3 <3 :) I can't wait to see her again!!

Photoshoot of Shannon

Hi!  Sorry, it's been awhile since I last posted... anyway, a couple days ago I took a photoshoot of my sister Shannon!!  It was a lot of fun (and cold)!  :) It's been getting pretty cold here at night and even in the day too!  I'm getting SOO excited for Christmas/Winter this year! :D Alright...I suppose I should show the pictures... :P

 I love taking pictures :)

Aw! 

 This one is by far my favorite!!  I love the lighting

 and how she is posed...I just love everything about it!! :)

 She's so cute :)

 Silhouettes!!!!

 I like this one!

 :)

Shannon loves this one...it's her favorite :) 

 so fun!

 This one was fun to take!

I just loved the sunset this night!  It was perfect for all the pictures we took :)

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures!  Some of them might be a little over-edited (if that's even a word...) but I just love them :) See ya later!!!!!

Life

Hi girls!

As usual, my life has been super duper busy!  I guess the biggest news is that I found out that I'm near-sighted and I have Astigmatism, so as of Wednesday, I have glasses!

here's kind of an impromptu picture of them....


In other news, we had Lydia's baby shower yesterday and it went really well!  I cannot wait until Janae is born!!!!  I am so extremely excited!  It will be the second niece on both sides of the family and I know the Seibels are just as excited as we are!  I can't wait until I can hold another little tiny newborn baby in my arms ♥ Even though Lindsey is only 10 months old, it seems like it has been forever since I've held someone that small!  We have 2 new babies in our church but I haven't been able to hold them yet.... :)

Thanks for reading and I will try to post more often...sorry about that!

Elegant Blogger Award

Rules

• When you receive the award, link back to you (keepcalmandsparkle1099.blogspot.com) and the blog that awarded you (http://www.myunsystematicjournal.blogspot.com)
• Display the award button in a blog post
• Answer all the 12 questions given in the post (Do not make your own questions)
• Nominate 5 bloggers
• Notify them that they have been awarded

Questions:

1. What made you decide to start blogging?

Mostly reading other blogs by my friends :)

2. What is your fashion style?

Hm,  I have a lot!!  Cute but sporty...tee shirt and jeans.

3. What is something none of your followers know about you?
I live in the middle of nowhere and I absolutely LOVE it!  We have to drive 15-20 minutes to get to the closest town and it's not even that big :) but I've lived here my whole life so I wouldn't be able to change very easily :D

4. What are some of your blogging goals?

Teach others about Jesus!

5. What is your favorite place to shop?

The Mall :)

6. What would your ideal amount of blog followers be?

Around 25-30 

7. What are your talents?
Singing, reading :), etc.

8.  Are you a leader or a follower?

I guess mostly a follower...

9. What is one of your favorite quotes?

"For God so loved the world that He gave is one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

10.  Do you have a favorite book or book series?

Favorite book is probably The Hawk and the Jewel by Lori Wick and my favorite series is the Life of Faith series.

11. Out of all the synonyms for elegant, which would you describe yourself with (smart - stylish - dressy - graceful - dainty - fine)?

Probably fine :)

12. What is your favorite flower?

Roses!!!!

Now I nominate:

Natalie

Bethany
Shannon
Carrie
Bettie

Busyness!!

Hey there!  It's been awhile since I last posted on here....sorry about that!  The reason is because I have been incredibly busy the last couple of weeks!!  I am only going to be at my home church once this month, and I haven't been there for the last few weeks either!  Around the start of July, our family sang for a Sister Church of ACC (Antigo Community Church, where we go).  The week after that, we were in Iowa for the Family Reunion that I wrote about in the post before.  Last Sunday, I was at my brother and sister-in-law's house where I spent the week with them and they live about 2 1/2 hours away from us so obviously I didn't go to our church then ;), and I was still at Joel and Lydia's on the 4th :).  Next week me and my sister, Carrie, and my brother, Nathan, will be in Milwaukee for the Color Run!!  The week after that will be the one week that I am home, and the next week will be Family Camp!!!!!!!  I am SUPER excited!!!!!!!!!!  This year it came up a lot quicker than most years, which is nice because usually it seems to ddrraagg, and then finally we get there!.......and it's over...  But the nice thing is we always get the next year to look forward to!  For those of you who don't really know what I'm talking about...sorry!  I'll explain.  15 years ago, my family started a Homeschooler's Retreat at a place called Silver Birch Ranch, about 30 minutes from us.  It happens at the end of Summer every year, and our family leads worship for it.  It is just one weekend (and sometimes I wish it went for a whole week :P), but it is SO much fun!!!  I'll try to post about that after we get back :).  The week after Camp, my brother Nathan is moving to Kenosha :'(.  He is going to Living Lights School of Worship and he'll be there for a year.  The good thing is that I get his room when he leaves (mwahaha!), but that is the only thing I'm looking forward to when he leaves.  I know he's going to have a good time there, but I'm gonna miss him a lot!

♥ Lauren Christine ♥  

The weekend!

This weekend was our Family Reunion in Iowa!!!  It was a lot of fun!!  There were people there that I had only seen once in my life and some that I had never seen!  My Mom's parents and her brother and his family live in Iowa.  We went down on Thursday and stayed at Uncle Steve and Aunt Kim's house and came back today.  Here is a list of people that were there......

Grandpa and Grandma Carlson (they live in Iowa)
Don, Chuck and Tom (Grandpa's cousins...this was the first time I had met them)
Uncle Steve, Aunt Kim, Alex and Jeff (my Mom's brother that lives in Iowa)
Uncle Dave (Mom's brother that lives in Milwaukee)
Us :) (Mom, Dad, Anna, Carrie, me and Shannon)
Daven, Ellen, Connor, Ben and Will (Daven is Mom's cousin and they live in Illinois)
Moira (Ben's girlfriend)
Wendy (Mom's cousin who lives in Texas)

Here are some pictures of the weekend.

 The cake...it says Happy Reunion Carlson Family

in Swedish because we are a Swedish family :)

 Top row from left to right- Connor, Carrie, Ben, Anna

Bottom from left to right- Shannon, Jeff, Will, Alex

and me laying across them :) :)

The whole group! (all except for Moira who was taking the picture)

Front row from left to right- Connor, Will, Jeff, me, Elsie the dog :), Shannon, Wendy and Alex

Middle row from left to right- Chuck, Don, Tom, Grandpa and Grandma

Top row from left to right- Daven, Ben, Dad, Ellen, Uncle Dave, Mom, Uncle Steve, Aunt Kim, Anna and Carrie.

Saturday was the main day, and we had a lot of fun!  We had Beanbag, Horseshoe, Bocce Ball and Badminton tournaments, and we did Water Balloon toss too :). 

Sunday, after Daven and Ellen left, we went to the fair in Monticello!  Jeff and Alex are in Boy Scouts and so every morning that the fair was going they would go at 6am and clean the fairgrounds for the day.  Sunday morning Carrie and I went with them and everyone who did that would get either a daily pass ticket or some free ride tickets.  So we all got do everything for free!!  At night was a concert by Capital Kings, Jamie Grace and TobyMac!!!  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!  I think it was one of the best concerts I've been to!  For Capital Kings and Jamie Grace we were way up in the stands but for TobyMac me, Anna, Carrie and Shannon got to go in up by the stage :D.  It was really loud, but it was worth it!  By the end of the night my voice was hoarse from singing every song :).  It was amazing! 

Shopping and Nathan coming home!

Hi!  Today me and my dad and 2 of my sisters (Carrie and Shannon) went shopping!!  I hadn't been (clothes) shopping in a long time so this was really fun for me ;).  I got some super cute clothes (that I love :)) at Maurices...here are pictures of them.

my shirt :)

my outfit that I'm wearing to Church this Sunday :)

I L♥VE shopping at Maurices!!  They have really cute clothes :).

In other news, my brother Nathan is (most likely) coming home tonight!!!!!!!!!  I'm so excited!  I missed him a lot ♥♥.  Their flight from Haiti to Miami, Florida got cancelled yesterday due to the Tropical Storm Chantal, so they didn't leave Haiti until this morning.  They're plane was supposed to land in Chicago sometime this evening then they had to drive to Fond du Lac and he wasn't for sure if he was going to drive all the way home tonight or stay over and come tomorrow morning.  I really hope he comes tonight!!!!!  I haven't seen him in almost 2 weeks!  Thanks so much for reading and please comment!! :)

♥ Summer Days ♥

I just love summer!  I think it might be my favorite season........ Last night Brady and Beckett got to sleep over!  We had a lot of fun :) we're going to Tyler and Jessie's house tonight for supper and the boys are going back then.  Today is beautiful!!!!!  It's warm and sunny with a little breeze.....I love it.  Playing with my nephews in the sunshine, the sound of the lawn mower in the background, bees buzzing on the flowers....♥♥  Here are some pictures of Brady and Beckett this morning :)

 Brady on the rope swing :)

 me and Beckett Leander ♥

 Brady and Beckett!!

And this afternoon Michael and Lindsey are coming over too!!  So we'll have all the cousins together at Grandma and Grandpa's house (except for Janae Catherine, Joel and Lydia's baby girl due in October :)).

And please pray for my brother, Nathan, who is in Haiti right now!!  Pray that they (everyone he went with) will stay safe and won't get sick from heat exhaustion or anything like that because it is really hot in Haiti in July!  Thanks so much!