Well, I never told you what we got Hudson for his birthday. Since we are big on giving meaningful, experiential gifts, we got him a 10 gallon salt water fish tank. We took a little field trip to the local pet store. I think it is so cute that Chloe and Hudson have their notebooks to take notes.

Last year, he received 2 Beta fish for his birthday, and sinse we are no where close to getting a dog, we thought a step up in fish life would suit our family well. So today is the day. You know, Carpe Diem and all that. We are taking the tank down to the beach and getting it all set up. Now before I get a slew of emails on why I shouldn’t do this because of PH etc. etc. Relax. I called our local salt water fish store and that is what they do for their very own tanks. If it is good enough for them, it is good enough for us, plus I don’t want to spend a bazillion bucks on this little ecosystem.

Once we fill it and add the sand, rocks and shells, we have to let it sit for about a month. Then the little fish and crabs can enter into their new home. A friend of ours has one in her kitchen and it is so pretty. I am calling her for pointers. I just had the idea but really didn’t know much about the whole process. Kind of like me to decide to do something before I really know all there is to know about something. I do a lot of things on heart, which is a good thing because if I knew what it may cost, I would of never taken it up in the first place. Good Gravy that is another post in and of itself. Now I am a little overwhelmed because the fish can be pretty expensive. Thankfully, it is a small tank and we are getting small fish at about a dollar a piece and a few hermit crabs for the same price.

Look at this little guy. They say they are super special because whoever catches them, tattoos them with little symbols or numbers. Imagine having a fish with a heart on it in your tank. Too bad these are fresh water guys.

I will keep you posted on our progress. I am just praying we don’t have a wet sandy mess in the car today…I mean other than the kids of course.

Peace to all fish enthusiasts today~

I wanted to make sure I got across the point of my last post on words. I was not intentionally calling anyone out on this blog, I was merely describing what a word or a few words can do in ether direction, with a story from my personal life. Just story tellin’. I was so blessed by that simple little email I couldn’t not share what it did for me. I think we tend to let the hurtful things out, thinking I have to get this off my chest..or I am going to die if I don’t, not realizing what they may unleash, and leave the helpful things in, thinking they are silly and not really a big deal. Maybe it is just part of the human condition. Again not calling anyone out, just stating a fact.

As I was saying a few days ago, it is amazing what happens with a well placed God inspired word. I wonder what our lives would look like, if we made it our mission to build into each other up with loving, life giving words. That we really thought about it. Instead of just thinking, “Oh that isn’t a big deal, I don’t really need to tell them that.” The Quakers have a tradition called “passing the peace”. They will gather together and intentionally tell each other what they love and admire about each person in the room. Why do we wait until someone is dead until we say all the things we love or admire about them?

I remember the first time someone said they liked my photography. I remember looking over my shoulder thinking they were speaking to someone else. Then a few others said the same type of thing, in a small space of time causing me to think a bit. First, I was shocked and perplexed. But those 4 little words sowed a seed that started to grow and grow and bloom and bear fruit in my life. Now, photography is my art of choice. It is something that challenges me and inspires me to think and create but most of all tell my story, one image at a time.

So a few well placed words set in motion something miraculous for me.

It is a gift that is slowly changing so many things in me. Now I get calls regularly, from people who want me to help tell their story. I have no pressure, no race to build a viable business, no stress to pay the bills, no quota I need to maintain, just me and my camera kickin’ it one image at a time. Just a few words ago, I didn’t even know what a manual setting was, and now just a few words later, I dream in manual settings.

Now I am praying and dreaming and asking God to give me those few words that would sew new life and vision into those around me. Just think of all those things not yet birthed that will be watered with a little gentle word. It doesn’t matter what age you are or what you have accomplished in your life, you could be just words away from a whole new you, maybe even a complete overhaul.

I think my next post on words will be a little word experiment. Maybe I will pass a little peace your way.

See you then~

I just finished editing the pics I took this weekend. I custom designed a Christmas card for them as part of the package and thought I would showcase it here as well. I gave them a few choices, but I like this one the best. I think I will do something similar for our own card this year. If you are local and want a Christmas card session. Drop me an email, I am running a special.

Peace to all those getting Christmas cards ready!

Oh to be four!

I’ll be back tomorrow after a little birthday fun.

Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Proverbs 16:23-25 (in Context) Proverbs 16

One well placed word, can spark such unbelievable life. This week, I am going to write a series of posts, maybe 2 or 3, on words and how the Lord has been teaching me about them. One can never know how another perceives ones words totally, but if you commit to allowing the Father to season your words and ask that He will flow through all that you say, you will be well placed to bless those around you. I actually want to challenge you to do a study on words, and see all of the things the Father says about them. You may be healed from the inside out and be totally changed in your thoughts on it.

This also goes for not responding to one in anger, or calling people out on their stuff unless you are completely sure the Holy Spirit is saying for you to do so. I try to keep this in mind with my children, with my husband, friends and acquaintances. Lately, I have had a few people say some unbelievably hurtful things to me. One of the things I have learned over the years is to separate the person from the words, and in all situations try to see them as Jesus does. See them as broken as I am broken, see them as needing healing as I need healing, having compassion for them instead of wanting to defend myself, allowing space for Jesus to be with them, and not throw my issues into the mix. Some times I retreat from certain people because I don’t want to say something that will derail them from what God is doing with them, because I know in my own flesh and pain, I may say something that would bring more wounding then health and healing. I will say this is not easy and I am not perfect in this. There are times in my flesh I want to nail someone to the wall, and call it all out. It is part of my training in Christ likeness to not respond until He sets it up in a way that is helpful on all fronts with His words not mine.

Proverbs 10:19
When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.

Some time ago I had a hurtful email land in my in box. Unbeknown to this person, it was a full on frontal attack to my very core. Our calling, our vision for church, our deeply held God called and inspired DNA that has been printed on our heart. It was so deep, that I knew it wasn’t about this person, it was about being sifted. It was about me going to God for all my healing, self worth and wholeness and not in any ones affirmation. Since then, a few closer people, have unknowingly, in their pain, done the same thing on different levels. It has almost laughable at a certain point. With each time, God has been calling me not to respond and to speak a blessing.

In all of these instances, God has been calling me and drawing me into him. Showing me His goodness to me and for me and our family and what he has spoken into being with our church here. Trust me people, we didn’t’ come down here and decide to do this because it was cool and hip. I have wanted to quit so many times it is embarrassing how little faith I have. If I had my way we would be someplace completely different, but His ways are so much better and I have grown to love being here, and have fallen in love with those he has called to be with us.
Last night, I got a gift. It was the gift found in my in box. It was very dear and sincere, from the originator of that email, asking for forgiveness. First I was stunned, and then I was still stunned because it was so unexpected. OF COURSE! Not only were those words life giving to me, I know that they were for the sender as well, in only the deep and abiding ways that the Holy Spirit can work with someone. Behind the words, I heard something more. I heard a gentle word from the Father, affirming me at my core. I have so many thoughts on all of this, and what the Lord is stirring in me, but I will stop here. This post is already too long…more tomorrow.

Peace to all~

There are so many things in bloom for me right now. Training for a marathon and really taking my health seriously. I think you really get on this train the older you get. Man, 34 has been a rough year on one hand and an amazing year so far on the other. On the rough side, I can’t drink anything with caffeine past 2pm or I am up all night, a small glass of red wine makes me sick, fried foods are no longer my friend, and I MUST take a vitamin everyday twice a day to keep up with this circus around here or I am so tired at 2 that I could cry. Yeap, we all do it…age that is, but I am hoping to do it as gracefully as possible.

On the amazing side, I am running more now than I did in college, I am enjoying developing deeper and deeper relationships here. God has really opened up a season of new life in that area for me. One of the new things I am doing is working “the steps” with a few girlfriends here locally and it has been amazing so far. I will write a little more on that later. I am also really finding my artist groove and realizing how much it makes me feel like a little kid, in all the good ways. We grown ups are WAY to serious at times…okay, well I am too serious at times. I am learning how to lean back into life a little. If you are a musician or a dancer maybe you understand that idea. Just leaning back into a piece of music, letting it breath, being just a breath behind the life of a song. I can’t explain it in words, but I know just what is feels like when I am expressing myself musically.

So, I wanted to introduce you to another blog friend/artist friend of mine who is learning how to lean back into life in new and exciting ways. Her name is Leah and she lives in Canada and she has started a new photography project that I think is smashing. You will want to link to it for sure. Maybe I will ask Beth in Prague to do this with me. But shhhh, don’t tell her:-) I want to ask her first myself.

So that is all for today. I am off to shoot some photos of teen sisters who want an “artsy” Christmas card to send out. I am glad their Mom booked me cuz I got artsy in the bag:-) (a good dose of positive self esteem is good before walking out the door to any paid gig) I will post a pic or two of them later in the week.
Peace to all those “in bloom” today.

I love composition with tons of negative space. It always draws my eye in, leaving a sense of mystery to most images. Next time you are out playing around with your camera, try thinking about negative space with whatever seemingly boring object you have at your fingertips. It may just become your favorite image. You will be amazed at how interesting it will become when you look at it a little differently.

Next thing you will know, you will want to try it again, then maybe try to get some depth of field action going or get really crazy and pull off bokeh. Be careful because at this point, you realize you can’t do that with a point and shoot and start thinking, this point and shoot doesn’t shoot fast enough and you will be buying a Nikon of course, cuz we Nikon folks stick together. Then hold on , because you will then realize the vast amount of things you can do with different lenses, and then post edit will become your new addiction, and before you know it, you will not leave your home without your 4th child your camera because every time you do, you say, “Oh look at that, I wish I had my camera.” Your kids will stop posing for you because you always are playing while they are playing, and you will be able to capture the true them and not the fake posy, posy them. Then stuff will really start to get fun, and you will need more RAM because your computer can’t hold all of the images you create, and you will start to get all antsy and junk if you haven’t thought artistically about your simple world and found some way to tell your story with art.

I don’t know, call me crazy but you might just relax, enjoy life, have a moment of time where you get to be a kid again, and play and get dirty and lay on the ground to get that one sweet shot. You might giggle at your self, and skip along like you are 5. Well the possibilities are endless.

Be careful peeps, be very, very careful. That is all I have to say about that.

It is amazing to me, to see how God gives you such wonderful things to think about with your own children. This one is my “mini-me”. God knew what he was doing for my overall formation, when he gave me the care of this little pixie. I see myself so clearly in her. You know those parts of you you don’t really look at or can’t see and those parts that you hope to be again one day? They are perfectly illuminated in our children, well they are for me at least.

Not just the things I need to work on, but the things that I have forgotten about me. Those child like, spunky, fearless things that this wee one hasn’t learned to stuff yet.  So right now, I am finding a deeper, more authentic me who feels really safe right now. Kinda like a kid, kinda like her up there playing.  I know most of you wont “get” what the heck I am even saying, but I know the shift that is happening in me and I am liking it a WHOLE heck of a lot!

Okay, I am not going to lie. I have been needing a new blog skin for some time. The old one was wearing me out and not giving me the visual affect I was after. When you spend time looking at amazing photographic images from all over the world, between blogs, websites and flickr, you aspire to put a better foot forward.

Would you look at these crazy, PHat, clear, crisp, images? I am out of my mind because I just figured out how to pull this off, with a few quick key stokes from my techie husband and a couple of pixel pointers from my new blog friend Lisa. The old template made me have to compress my images which made them look HORRIBLE.  I am now fighting the urge to go back and resize every image ever posted on this blog.

I am in a crazy bliss right now, I don’t think I will be able to sleep. I know, I know it is the little things in life that really get me going. So, now I can get back to writing. This whole visual thing has been throwing me off of my game.

I am back with a vengeance. See you all tomorrow:-)

Today we started work on our core subjects early so we could spend the better part of the day at the beach with homeschooling friends.

We really got some nature study under our belts today. It always amazes me how children will play for hours with nothing more then their hands and a ton of sand.

We found seed pods, and drift wood, and various kinds of leaves, and shells. It was a glorious day, and we all are better for it.

They dug so deep , the sand changed colors and water filled their holes. It was a fun day of discovery.

and so bit by bit, we move along in our great big homeschooling adventure. The amazing days far outweigh the hard ones. It is more fun then a barrel of…well you know the rest.

Peace to all and a little fun and the sun to all my northern friends.

I gasped in shock as our little family minivan made a slight bump-bump only moments after we saw a squirrel run across the road and turn back sharply to avoid an oncoming vehicle. It missed the other car and ran right under ours.

I put my hand to my mouth in shock, the kids asked “Mommy, why did you put your hand on your Mouth? and What was the bump bump sound?” We both remained silent. Mike then averted their attention to a kite flying off in the distance.

Poor little fella~

I told you earlier I would give you a tour of our kitchen. Well, here it is in the early morning light. All of the family are gone. I have a relatively clean and quiet house. It is always good to have a full house, and then have a quiet empty house. Both are necessary for happy, healthy home life.

Jack’s Mommy is going to help me work through a new blog skin. I am excited to get a few things weeded out, that I keep getting stuck on. She is super savvy with all of that stuff, and kindly offered to help me. What a great gal!

So look for a few changes around here in the next few weeks. In other news, I am moving along with my marathon training, and oddly have a crazy inkling to train for a mini-tri sometime next year. I enjoy working out when there is something I am shooting for. I am kind of wired like that.

So, I will keep you posted on all the outward and inward changes that are being birthed in me, our family and our community as we roll along.

Peace to all~

I am currently scowering all blog skin sites looking for a new blog skin. I am SOOOOOOO over this one. I want a larger phot blog all white type formate. I am tired of my images being all grainy and sqwinched up. I know what I want in my mind, but for the life of me, don’t know how to make it happen.

I am working on learning all the background inner workings, to pull it off, if….it….is….the last…..thing…..I…..do……….. ( said with an exasperated exhale) .

Painting walls and moving furniture is so much easier.

Peace to all frustrated web designers today~

This week we have the honor of hosting 6 of our out of town family members. Our kids get to spend some quality time with their cousins and Aunt and Uncle who they rarely see, and of course their Grandmama and Grandaddy.

I am shooting picutres like a fool and am even going to attempt to do a group family shot with a tripod and a timer. My girlfriend is gracious to come up and help me get at least one good image of 11 people, which trust me people, I know from experience is WICKED hard.

During my blog rest, and now my school break, I realize how many images I shoot a week. I shoot about 1000 images a week. I am always working on growing my ability to nail settings in manual, and learning the back end technical side of photography. I have found that composition is only half of the story with good photography. Connection to your subject matter and editing skills are the other half if not more of any piece of photographic art you are creating. I love the never ending challenge of photography. There is always something to experiment with and learn.

God is moving and doing really deep deep things in my life and the life of our faith community here. It is amazing to watch. I hope to flesh some of what is going on more deeply, when my life slows down a bit. It is in my head and heart, now I just need to get it out on to paper.

Grace and Peace to all~

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands….”

1 Thessalonians 4:11

So, I’ve been working with my hands today. I already determined not to school this week, because tomorrow, we have 6 family members arriving that we will efficiently pack away in our little space for the next week. We are all excited because we usually never have family in to stay with us. We typically go to them.

Like I said earlier, we have been cleaning and washing and rearranging. I love leaving for a good space of time or having people in for a space of time. Both situations cause us to deep clean, weed out, and organize. I have gotten some things done that I have wanted to do for 5-10 years now. REALLY….I am not joking.

1. See those candle sticks on the pass through? They were wedding presents, hand made by my great uncle about 75 years ago. Guess what, they don’t hold modern candles worth a darn, and I am not making my own for these bad boys. So, I finally dug them out, and re-purposed them, so I could use them and enjoy them. I attached (semi-permanently) little candle dishes on the tops of them and now they can hold pillar candles. (I’ve wanted to do this for 5+ years. Having nursing infants derailed my plans a bit:-)

2. See that hutch to the right of the photo. That was my husbands baby hutch when he was little. My dear father in law, refinished it and gave it to us. I love it, and it too has been in our bedroom collecting dust and junk. I moved it here by the dinning room table, and now store, china (that i never use) and cloth napkins, hand towels, our tea set etc. (I’ve wanted to do this for 2 years. I am just now getting to it.)

3. I rearranged some art in our home. Above the previously mentioned baby hutch is a new piece I just shot last week. On the pass through wall, is a collection of our art. Some made by me, some by the kids, some we have purchased on our travels around the world. I’ve always wanted a funky, eclectic gallery wall. Well, now I have it. You see the violin hanging? That was mine when I was a wee tyke. 10 years ago, when Mike and I lived in Gainesville, we were/are friends with a young/their kids are gorgeous well adjusted teenagers now, family about our age now, who home schooled etc. Super cool, super funky and non traditional that helped lead worship at our sending church. The wife had her violin hanging this way in her home, and I have wanted to hang mine the same way ever since. (To my Gainesville readers, can you guess who that is?)

4. We rearranged some area rugs, and I now realize after shooting this picture that the table is not centered under my light, so I will fix that. My dearest girlfriend gave me that light for my birthday present some years ago. I tricked it out with some trim and shells. It is just a little bit of me hanging right over our dinning room table. That dinning room table was given to us by dear friends who pastor a simple church in Michigan. They have little guys and home school too. When Brian left our home, he gave us a gift of money saying it was a blessing from their community to us and that we had to buy something made of solid wood. Well, we did and we LOVE that table. At the time we needed a dinning room table but couldn’t swing it and were eating off of plastic patio furniture. (Thanks Brian and Amy and your crew in Michigan. I promise we will get up that way soon!) I pray for them often when we sit around it. If you look through my pass through you can see into our kitchen and right out into our front walk way where it is windy and rainy today. I can take you on a tour of that tomorrow.

I lean towards a modern design aesthetic with a little bit of eclectic punch. I don’t like a ton of matchy-matchy things, and get a serious high on reusing what I already have, or things I find or have been given. I LOVE Amy Butler design and drool over her mid-west modern book. Did I say I drool over it? Now, I am thinking through a paint color for downstairs. I want something cool (because we have dark furniture) and a little unexpected. The original color I wanted isn’t flowing with this vibe so I am back to square one.

Any Ideas?

Last week, I’ve been cleaning up, organizing and getting ready to host tons of family for the next week. I’ve been painting, and playing with the kids, and fixing up holes in the walls (don’t ask) and touching up paint. I love doing that. Having fresh clean walls feels so gratifying.

Just a little FYI - I freaked on Monday, thinking I was totally messing up with all of this home school stuff, and I should just send the kids off to school, because I was missing the mark. My girlfriend calmed me down, and then showed me her second graders school work form the local public school. I calmed down. She joked with me and said I was just having a day. She was right. So I put a plan in place to just relax…thus the reason for no blogging.

Gracious, sometimes I think too much and I need to just go play. I went for some long runs and had Jackson ride his bike along side me. Talk about fun. He just talked and talked the whole way. I got to see a little bit of him that I don’t normally see. I felt like God gave me a million bucks in that one little bike ride. It is going to be our weekly date night:-) He said “Mom you don’t go very fast!” I said, “I am not supposed to go fast I am supposed to go far.” Wow that’s a metaphor.

So, now let’s see where we go this week. I am not going fast, but I am going to go far:-)

Peace to all those who need to remember to go and play!~

for about a week.

I need to rest and recharge…think bout stuff. Anyhoooo….

See you all latah~

Today I made something new for lunch.

Wilted Spinach with left over chicken. I am so sorry I have no picture for you. The pic I took was yucky and I was too hungry to adjust my settings and take a better one. So use your imagination:-) I did find an interesting version here that I may try tomorrow.

I cooked a crushed clove of garlic in some sesame oil in a frying pan, added some leftover chicken to warm it and then threw a bag of fresh baby spinach on top until it wilted.

Cheap, healthy and YUMMY!

In other news, our mail/pool key is missing….and we can’t find it. They are “spendy” to replace, so pray with us that we find them.

Thanks~

We had a lovely week outside now that the weather is so pleasant. We read In the Small, Small Pond and observed the pond near our home. This year I purchased the book, The Natural World Through Children’s Literature: An Integrated Approach.

It has really enhanced our nature study and gives me some great ideas for break out activities in the afternoons. One of the things it recommended was taking samples. So we did in some recycled baby food jars from a friend.

What has 2 eyes, a body like a dragon fly, feet like a duck, is the size of a tiny dragon fly, swims and yet appears to have wings? WE DON’T KNOW? We found it in our specimen and at first we thought it was just moving in the sample due to our shaking it. Now after a day we have found many living things in our sample. It is like a mini pond in a baby food jar.

Just a few fun things we are adding in this year. Enjoy~

or at least that is what they think. Let me explain.

Lately, I’ve been PULLING my hair out over the issue of food with our children. The reality is, if I let them, they would stuff them selves on goldfish and pretzels all day. We do not eat out a ton, and I don’t have tons of junkie snacks in the house, so I had the false idea that they were eating a balanced amount of all food groups. I was wrong. Now, I have 2 choices, roll over and give up saying what is the use, or rethink our previous plan so that our little guys start to get the reality of this. I will be honest and say, I was about to roll over and throw my hands up in frustration because the simple “Eat whatever is put in front of you” family rule, wasn’t producing the actions we wanted.

My friend uses a chart for her son, to keep track of his snacks during the day, so I took a cue from her, and modified it a bit for my brood and have come up with a mini science lesson all in one little task. I told the children that I was going to teach them how to manage themselves when it comes to food, because one day, Mommy wasn’t going to be right next to them to show them what to do, so they needed to learn a good plan so they could stay healthy and strong as long as they live. I sat down with the children, giving them a detailed description of what are good foods to eat, what they do for us, and not so good foods we can eat and what they can do to us, along with a little talk about what it can do to our teeth. I then presented them with a little experiment that we were going to conduct for the next 30 days, to see how we feel and how we act based on what we are giving our body for fuel.

We created a foods chart, that they must monitor what they are eating by checking off in each column, fruits, vegetables, proteins, snacks, along with any observations they discover about how they are feeling during the day. Now when they say , “Mom, I am hungry I need something to eat.” , I say “Go look at your chart and find something appropriate.”(I help our youngest with the chart but the older two work at it mostly on their own)  My daughter who is the picky one of the bunch, is eating everything with joy and a twinkle in her eye because somehow it hasn’t become a battle between her and I, it is simply a decision she has to make based on guidelines I have given her. (Note to self: remember this as life moves along with this one!)

I have noticed a huge change in their overall attitude. They are not as cranky or seemingly as hungry all the time. They are still required to try new things I make, and do the best they can to eat what has been put in front of them, but somehow a shift has occurred among them that makes the whole situation much more enjoyable. I know as an adult, for me, there is a HUGE correlation in my attitude and how I feel based on what I am eating, so it must be true for them as well.

Sometimes, it is just a little tweak, and a previously challenging family exercise becomes fun.

Peace to all “tweakers” today~

Driving home in the car after a discussion with the children about why we were not going down the Halloween isle at Wal-mart.

Hudson: Mom listen. God wants his people to clean the earth.

Me: Oh He does? How do we do that?

Hudson: We have to go and tell everyone the story.

Me: what story bud?

Hudson: You know, the story of the kingdom! (With great tone in his voice like he was perplexed that I didn’t seem to know the answer.) 

Hudson~ almost 4

I like his idea that telling this “story” is like doing a little cleaning. Isn’t it great to be a kid. Sounds like a good plan worth giving your life for.

Peace to all~

Mike and I have put our money where our mouths are.

Remember us on December 7th starting at 5am.