New year around the corner

Well the new year is about 8 hours away and I am very excited! New year, new goals, and new beginnings. But to finish out the year...I bought 2 new pair of shoes, deep cleaned the house, and got a phone call from a good friend I had not talked to in a while it totally made my night. Well whatever y'all are going to do to bring in the new year have fun and lots of it. I'm going to snack on party food with my family and my puppy stay up all night and I won't fall asleep in church tomorrow ( I'll probably have to have help from some coffee) and of course make plenty of noise with fireworks at midnight. Well have a Happy New Year EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

December!!!!!!

WOW it's been a long time since I have updated. A lot has happened.Growing up! finding what you want to do in life! I've played another whole season of volleyball.Well its December again I love and hate this time of year.(Yes I understand "hate" is a strong word) I love the trees, Christmas music,decorations,sweet potato casserole,the shopping environment, and a lot more stuff I don't have time to mention. I also hate this time of year for certain reasons I don't care to mention. I feel so much for Mrs.Morris and her family. Christmas is a hard time for them too.( If anybody truly wants a role model  who has been through a hard time go to www.weloveyoujoel.blogspot.com  Go to the very first post on her blog and read up to this present day you will cry your heart out).                                              Well lets block out the hard ships of our lives and just concentrate on the beautiful lights,wonderful music tunes,cute movies, and whatever else makes the season more wonderful for you. I am still alive if any of you were wondering! I want to thank the many people in my life that don't give up on me no matter how many times I mess up. I miss you big brother so much. Clay and Lydia I wish you the best and hope you have the most amazing time together as you start your life as a couple.Ellis and April hope y'all have a good first Christmas together. For everyone else I didn't mention I hope the best for all of you too.Thanksgiving week was nice this  year my dad's parents came down and my cousin got married. Well IDK if there is any pictures to upload if so I'll upload them. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!

 This is Elvis my new teddy bear very cute and loving psst he sings good too!! lol JK

 I cheated I picked up the baby goats.

 Getting dunked cause dad wouldn't quit singing a song wrong so I splashed him in return a dunk.

Buddy is totally a clown (sometimes an annoying clown) he gets the annoying part from me if anybody was wondering were he gets it from. lol We were jumping in backwards together and anything else goofy you can do in a pool we were doing it.lol

July 4th

Well it's been a while since I updated. I've tried to get time to update but other things have a bigger priority. I have added a new member to the Blackburn clan ( no not a baby ). A dog and he is mine, yes I love the though of having a companion. We already enjoy going for a 2 miles run/jog/walk in the mornings. I can say in  the summer it's hot. Every day when I get done with my run I am soaked with sweat. And poor Panzer (that's my dogs name) comes in the house, gets a drink, and throws himself down on the floor. Well, I have been having a bunch of summer fun going to the beach and playing ball outside with the little kids. We got to see our friends the Unger's we haven't seen in over a year. I went to camp, it has been a busy summer and it is not even barely started. Well, I will put some pictures below from the fourth and of my new puppy. Okay a little info about my puppy, his name is Panzer and no I did not name him he already had that name when I got him. He is 6 months old, he loves to play fetch with a tennis ball, Oh and he loves the beach we took him yesterday and he ran me till I was out of breath. I went up and sat on the sand and he just sat there looking at me like come in lets go play.

 Buddy feeding some ducks.

 Me and Buddy swimming.

 Buddy on the 4th.

 Levi on the 4th.

 Me on the 4th.

 Caleb and my aunt Karla.

 All of us
Yes, some of our eyes are closed
it is almost impossible to get a picture with everybody's eyes opened.

 The boys.

 J-bird working.

 Little Buddy he is so cute.

 I figured y'all should see a normal every day picture of me. 

 The pink floaty ring is mine he is just borrowing it just in case anybody was wondering.

Us watching a gator

.   My mom has this underwater digital camera and she took this cool picture. 

S.M.I.T.E.

SMITE stands for  Summer Missionary Institute of Training and Evangelism. It is a one week camp where you are taught how to effectively run a 5 day club. You go to a community and knock on doors inviting kids to come to club. Then, Monday through Friday, you hold an 1 hour club somewhere in the community. Whether its on the playground or under a big shaded tree. Everyday we tell them a Bible story and a missionary story (this year the missionary story was Mary Slessor). The kids that come sing songs, learn a bible verse, and win prizes for  bringing friends or being still during the Bible and missionary stories.We did bible clubs every day from 2pm till 3pm. We had about 4-9 children come every day. About 4 or 5 said they trusted Christ as their Savior. For us teens that went to camp our mornings started at 6am and ended at 11:30pm or midnight. We had to be up by 6am do our personal devotions, get dressed for the day, and clean our dorm by 7:00. Breakfast started at 6:45am we had till 7:45am to meet at the church. So, during that hour for breakfast we normally studied for our tests  while we ate. Then from 7:45am till 8:00am we had preaching. Then it was off to class. We had 3 classes with a few minutes break between each class to run to the concession stand which was 2 building away. So from 8:00am-12:45 we had 3 classes and a one hour demo of what we would be doing at our bible club that afternoon. Then we had lunch from 12:45 till 1:15pm. At 1:15pm all girl meet in the church and the boys meet in the lunch room. We were on a team which consisted of 2 or 3 girls and then a leader and a counselor. All boys and girls are separate except for meals and church and your so busy there is no time to get into trouble. So from 1:15pm - 2:00pm you study the bible story, missionary story and verse you will be teaching the children in your club that day. Then from 2 pm till 3pm you have time to drive to the location of your bible club get set up. Then at 3pm the children show up and you hold a club from 3pm till 4pm. Then we have till 5:30pm to get back to the camp, get a shower if needed, and get ready for church. At 5:30pm dinner is served till 6:30pm. At 6:30 groups start singing which means find a seat church is fixing to start. Then from 6:30pm till about 8:30 we sing, have preaching, and then have a 5 minute break at 8:35 we meet back in the church to sing and have another preacher. Church normally gets done at 10:30pm or 11:00pm. Then we have 30 minutes to an hour depending on how much time Uncle Jerry thinks we need to get ready for bed and study or if we want to visit with the preachers. We are back up at 6am bright and early the next morning. Below are some picture of the week I really enjoyed my week at smite. I went with my oldest brother and some other teens from my church. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed the week

 Becky, my pastors oldest daughter telling the missionary story to the club in the afternoon.

 Abby and her cousin telling stories to entertain the other little children so their parents could teach, cook, clean, and deal with us teens.

 Singing in church on Tuesday night.

 This is Uncle Jerry he runs the whole camp (with the help of others).And makes sure everybody is doing what they are suppose to be doing, and anything else there is to do.

  Snapshots of us in our classes in the mornings.

 Becky, our pastors oldest daughter, and a little Decker child.

 3 girls at camp. The one in the middle is Ashlen, we were on the same team.

 More pictures of us campers listening to the morning charge.

 Jesse from our church first boy on the end of the pew. And other boys at camp listening to our morning charge.

 Bro. Carr he preached are morning charge 2 days.

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 Bro.Bartlet he leads the singing and organizes all the specials people
want to sing and he does an outstanding job with it.

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 Adrian (with the dark hair) from our church in class.

 The little children again (their all cousins).

 Willy, in the orange belt, is from our church and some other boys during demo.

 Seth is leading a song for demo (looks like he is having fun).
Jesse from our church is in the background. Seth was also my brothers leader.

 50th Anniversary wedding cake.

 Uncle Jerry and Aunt Vickie renewed their vows because it was their 50th anniversary.

 Girls in class.

 Ben IS from our church, his brother is Jesse (pictured previously).
Ben graduated from smite this year and was also a leader. 

 Some boys singing in church one night.

 Mrs.Ross she is our girl teen leader.

 This is Hannah she taught 1 of my classes early in the week and did an outstanding job.

 All the S.M.I.T.E. graduates for 2011.

 One of the cooks and Bro. Decker in the back.

 Bro. Artist he did a lot of little things at camp that make things a lot easier.

The main cook.