The Large Story

Country Fair, Summer Fun, Earthquake!

2011-08-24T15:00:00.002-04:00

Last week we went to the county fair and it was SO MUCH FUN. The girls loved the animals. We almost saw a live birth of a cow. We (my friend and me) waited 30 minutes (with 5 girls 6 and under) which is no small feat. But alas, we had to break for lunch. And as we're chomping on our pizza, Chloe the cow birthed Curtis the calf. We missed it by minutes! Sad! I've secretly wanted to be a doula because I've wanted to witness a live birth when I'm not the one doing it...I thought this might have satisfied that for me, but it didn't. We went back to visit Curtis, and he was adorable. We did at least see him stand for the first time.

We also rode some rides. Get there early and there are no lines...and no one there at all actually. That didn't stop Eloise. She rode her ride all by herself and had a great time.

Here's a shot from our RV trip to NC. I love these piers. I think this would be a perfect place to get married. I've been going through some old photos because I'm really behind on personal stuff. Now that my photography blog is settled and I've got a better sense for my work flow, I hope to be blogging personally at least once a week. With my point and shoot in my pocket, my family blogging will no longer suffer. Or, just suffer less.

So we went to the fair, enjoyed a summer weekend, biked around the neighborhood, hosted a church cook-out, and rode out our first earthquake.

Earthquakes are loud. Did you know that? At first I thought it was the dryer, then a flash mob in my basement, the house they are building up the street must have exploded, then our house was about to blow! AH!, I thought about how Jesus said we'd not know the time or place of his second coming and I thought "He was right, I didn't expect this today..." and after a long 45 seconds, while Eloise and I stood in Cordelia's room watching her sleep, I thought, I think it's over. That must have been an earthquake. And we are ok.

45 seconds is a long time to shake and think.

Jesus did not come back yesterday, but we did have a once in a century earthquake. Just like that once in a century snow 2 years ago. When Jesus comes back, I will be ready.

Have you read "Heaven is for Real?" It's a great book, especially for those of you who have children and have experienced a death recently. Or, for anyone who is curious about Heaven. Or anyone who has lost someone and are curious. It's a really comforting and faith strengthening book.

As the little boy says to a dying man, "It's ok. The first person you will see is Jesus." Praise God. I can't imagine a more beautiful face.

August 1-7. Not so bad!

2011-08-07T21:03:00.000-04:00

Can't believe we've worked our way through 7 days of August. This summer has flown. I was nervous, very very nervous, about this summer. Me, the girls, and a lot of hours to fill. What were we going to do? Too much freedom is scary. I need a schedule!

But guess what. It's been pretty awesome so far. I'm learning to relax and enjoy. As I think about Eloise going to school 5 days a week next year, all the activities, my new business, the church studies, the committee meetings, etc, etc, etc, I remind myself to sit back and soak in the boredom.

Come September 25, I'll be longing for summer again.

Want to see what cool adventures we've been up to this first 7 days of August?
Click here: http://emilylargephotography.com/blog

That's my business blog. And it's personal one, too. So follow me there.

Pictures and Personal catch-up

2011-06-22T14:29:00.000-04:00

Want to see what my girls were up to yesterday?

See on my new blog: emilylargephotography.com/blog

Want some simple tips to make your photos better?

See on my new blog: emilylargephotography.com/blog

Want to . . . just kidding. :-) Here are some personal updates, though.

After 3 days of Vacation Bible School, we are tired and easing into the home stretch. It's been a wonderful year with 175 campers, 60ish teen counselors, and lots of moms working off their rears. It's been a blessing to many and we thankful for the smooth scheduling and safety of the children.

I'm keeping more than busy with photo shoots. Alex is keeping more than busy with funerals, births, preaching, VBS, and a new rector who will be called shortly. Eloise is keeping busy with her VBS friends, sprinkler play, and Delia is the queen of the nursery this week.

We're tired, and I'm busy, and I'm going to watch some Yo Gabba Gabba with Eloise.

Facebook

2011-06-16T14:57:00.002-04:00

Emily Large Photography is on Facebook now.

I want you to want me.

I need you to need me.

I'd love you to love me.

I'm beggin' you to beg me.

Is that tune stuck in your head now? Oops. Sorry!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Emily-Large-Photography/205407696161061?sk=wall

My Girls

2011-06-12T21:08:00.000-04:00

These are my girls! I'm a proud mama.

Happy Belated Alex

2011-06-10T00:30:00.000-04:00

I'm weeks late in saying Happy Birthday to my sweet husband. All your ladies love you!

We didn't celebrate much, but we did have a fantastic night tonight. We went to the Mumford and Sons concert, loved the energy and music, and made it home in time to watch the final minutes of the Mavericks win. Completely awesome.

Vacation Bible School is coming up--175 children with us all week at church. Our whole family will be involved. Pray that it's a blessing to all who come and participate.

We have a new purple sprinkler and a big box of popsicles and that is what we do most of the time these days. Cordelia calls Eloise "Wee-Weese" and it's adorable. Eloise even will call herself "Wee-Weese" from time to time. Cordelia calls herself "Ya." It melts me.

I'm switching my blog time to emilylargephotography.com now. I just don't have enough time for both these days, as you can tell. This post is completely disjointed, but isn't that photo great? Happy Birthday Alex. We all love you!

My other blog

2011-06-06T17:19:00.000-04:00

That's right, friends, I now have another blog. A less wordy and less personal blog, a more photo-rific blog (technically "blogsite").

Here she is: emilylargephotography.com

Check it out. It's been taking a lot of my time and energy but is turning out to be fantastically fruitful. I'm in "summer business" mode and am quickly becoming accustom to shooting sessions, editing, and mailing off my images. I'm still shooting for lots of friends but have also started meeting and shooting for new friends, references. Did you know that a large percentage of business success comes from references? People, friendships, relationships are what drive most consumer choices.

Speaking of that, my friend Stacy helped me tremendously with design. Check out her creative card business at bumbleberryink.com She's an awesome woman with great vision in the DFW area.

I'd love for you to check it out, check me out on Facebook, and spread the news if you want.

Like I said before, I hope to keep the Large Story up and running with family news and photos but for the time being, it'll be playing second fiddle to my newest venture.

Thanks, y'all, for being such wonderful blog friends to me!

This Blog

2011-05-26T17:17:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure what my future holds as a personal blogger. All the time I used to devote to our beloved Large Story is now being spent on my new photography venture. I'm booking sessions, editing photos, adding and editing my website, ordering business cards, looking into tax requirements, etc. It's taking all my free time.

My once over photographed children are now under photographed. I didn't even post a Happy Birthday post to Alex. And I haven't even looked at all our RV photos yet. Instead I'm oohing and awing over this beautiful family with 5 children from Tuesday night and the little newborn I met in the hospital on Wednesday morning. I'm slacking on the personal blog front and that's just the way it's going to be for now.

I'm pleased as punch with my creative venture and as soon as I complete my new photo blog I hope you'll follow me there as well. But don't worry, Mom, the Large Story will remain, it'll just move more slowly.

And now I will tell you how important it is to know how to use the self timer on your camera. It's very important. And, eating smores on an RV trip is crucial. There's no right way to eat them, just do it. Every night.

Will we go RVing again? Absolutely. We loved it. We were gone for 4 days, 3 nights and that was a wonderful amount of time. I should have brought a broom though. We never used the potty in the RV. I wish I had been more organized. We loved Topsail Beach and can't wait to get to the beach again soon. Raleigh is an awesome city but seeing Aunt Molly was even better.

Do we recommend it? Yes.

Next up: Beach photos and Eloise's recital. So cute!

An RV art show

2011-05-21T23:15:00.000-04:00

We are home from a quick RV trip to see my sister in NC.

It was awesome.

There's not more to say than that. We loved the adventure of driving out of the crowded city in a tacky Cruise USA RV, the nature and beauty that the campsite offered, the flexibility, the coziness. Alex said he felt thousands of miles away from the office. We've come home refreshed.

I have lots of details to fill you in on--our beach day and Eloise's ballet recital in particular. But I can't get to everything tonight because we have a house guest. My close from the big D is here and that time is precious.

So I'll post a few photos from the art exhibit we experience. It's a luminary created by "Architect of Air." So very cool. If you have a chance, go visit your sister in Raleigh and then go to this art show.

These photos are unedited so that you can get the full effect of what we were feeling. Look at the photos, imagine the natural colors from the sun, the cool air against our skin, and then play some groovy music in your mind. That is how it felt.

A Family Photo Shoot

2011-05-15T22:52:00.000-04:00

Nothing is getting accomplished tonight except going through these beautiful photos--laundry to be washed, dishes sitting out, toys strewn around me. I usually care about these things (well, sort of care about these things) but after a photo shoot I have to get to work. I have to see what I treasures I got!

And this family is a real treasure to us. In seminary, they were members of our dinner club, no wait, there were rules, right? The first rule was "there is no dinner club..." So never mind about that. :-)

So long time friends, a fellow clergy family, a stylish mom who is a mama extraordinaire, and 5 lively little ones running around. I loved coming out to see you guys tonight! Thanks so much for your friendship, encouragement, and love.

Today

2011-05-10T19:47:00.000-04:00

Surprise, girls! The school inspector didn't think the trampoline was such a good idea, so guess who gets to enjoy it now? There are some great perks to having your dad be the pastor. A free trampoline (score!) and a leftover church lasagna (double score!) in one night?! Thank you very much, we love it.

Here we are at 7:30am this morning, jumping and playing on the back deck in blissful 50 degree weather while Alex and I sip our warm coffee. I love Spring time.

And I hope they never get tired of our new tramp. (And never stop wearing all pink.)

The fairytale day came to a screeching halt for Eloise. Cordelia had to go to the doctor and get 2 shots. It hurt her but it hurt Eloise even more. The sweet girl's empathy is enormous. Stage crying will be a cinch for this little lady. I know her spot in Les Miserables is sealed.

But home we came from the doctor. We made a pitstop in the front yard. Picked some dandelions. Watered our new bushes (thank you to our neighbor who gave us 4 of his azaleas) and our vegetable garden (tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, basil, and "fairy flowers").

And then through the house to the back porch to jump some more.

Thank you Mr. Preschool Inspector man!

A Family Photo Shoot

2011-05-08T21:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to my good friend and mother to these beautiful children. She's been my friend from Bible study for several years. She's faithful, thoughtful, and has a shabby chic style that's perfect. (Can you come help decorate my home?)

Here are her little ones from tonight. They are loads of fun and full of life! A set of twins and a little sister following, or leading . . . I think the baby is leading the way. :-)

Thanks to you all for a fun evening. And again, Happy Mother's Day!

Garden

2011-05-06T10:04:00.000-04:00

My Cheerleaders.

2011-05-03T19:52:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to share something else I've been working on. She's a doll!

I also want to thank everyone who has been cheering me on in my new endeavor as a photographer. Without your words of encouragement, I wouldn't have the confidence to keep moving towards my goal. I've been dreaming a lot about my high school days. I've been dreaming about cheerleading try outs. About the courage it took to tumble across the gym floor in front of my school and have them vote for me. And I've been drawing upon that same well of courage in the last month or so, and my well is full because of all your love and support.

So, thank you. And also, thank you to my sweet adorable models.

But don't be shy friends, if you have any pointers/critiques/a thumbs up or thumbs down to let me know. I know I have some very artistically creative people reading this blog (especially Alex's family. good gracious you guys are artistically talented. my family is pretty talented too...when it comes to dancing...)!

If you phrase it nicely, I'll accepted it fully. :-) And it'll improve me.

I Heart Faces

2011-05-02T11:39:00.000-04:00

This super sweet little girl in from Saturday's photo shoot. It's one of my favorites and thought it fit the "soft and sweet" theme at I Heart Faces perfectly.

A Family Photo Shoot

2011-05-01T21:12:00.000-04:00

We had the perfect day for family photos. A warm sunny afternoon with a beautiful family perfectly dressed. The little girls were so proud of their new high heel shoes.

Unfortunately, I think the shoes left scuffed and their dresses a little dusty because these girls were all action. All the children were all action--running, climbing, posing--they did it all.

Unlike most of my past photo shoots, I did not know this family previously. We have a mutual friend that put us in contact, and I'm so she glad she did. What a fun family. And the parents are the perfect mix of loving gentleness and athletic courage. (Every child was high in a tree at some point!)

It was fun. Thanks again for the opportunity to capture your gorgeous family! Enjoy.

All Natural

2011-04-28T21:46:00.000-04:00

All natural photography is refreshing. My friend Emily of Willa J. Photography wrote a nice post just about this, read it here. She's a great photographer living just north of Pittsburgh. If you need some family portraits, Christmas cards, wedding photography, etc, check her out.

Here are some of my all natural photography today. It's freeing to put forward a photo that is full of emotion, full of a moment, and full of imperfections.

I'm also going to use this opportunity to teach about aperture. If you can, shoot on manual, always. It brings so much creativity to photography. If you shoot with a very low aperture (f/1.4) it opens up your lens and light comes streaming in and you get all kinds of blur going on (bokeh--is that how you spell that word?) A very small part of the photo is in focus and the rest out of focus. (click on it to see it better)

And this photo shows it perfectly. All natural.

It is also all natural childhood.

Self Timed Portraits

2011-04-27T07:36:00.000-04:00

I love the self timed portrait. This is us today on the back porch playing Tinkerbell. I got tired of flying around in circles, so I ran inside and grabbed the camera. Set it up and snapped away. And I loved how it turned out.

Go find your camera, set the timer and let her rip. It's always fun to see what you get.

Family Photo Shoot

2011-04-25T21:50:00.000-04:00

I had the pleasure of chasing this family around Brookside Botanical Gardens on Saturday evening. (Have you been to Brookside Gardens? It's fantastic! Go!)

Rebecca has been a dear friend to me. When I need a laugh, some healthy parenting perspective, or an empathetic ear, I know I can call Rebecca. A sweet friend and a special family.

You might remember little baby Caelyn. She was my first photo shoot of all time--those are future bragging rights, you know :-). Well, here she is all grown-up with her 2 big brothers. Almost grown-up. Kinda but not really. :-)

Enjoy!

Easter Monday

2011-04-25T09:08:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter Monday!

We had a joyous day yesterday full of many Alleluias, many eggs, many friends, many chocolates, and many fun. Alex has today off so I told Eloise that today we were just going to "chill." She looked at me like that was the worst possible news she could hear at that moment.

Eloise was really cute yesterday as she tried to understand the Easter egg/bunny concepts. We had several egg hunts and at each one she asked, "Can I take the eggs home with me?" Aww... and when we opened the door to go to church, there was a beautiful gift pack on our doorstep from our neighbor. It was signed "the Easter bunny." We were all surprised, but Eloise didn't care as much about the gifts as she did the bunny. "But Mom, what color is the Easter bunny?" Her mind was working overtime with all the concepts (and her body was working overtime to keep up with all the sweets!).

Cordelia found a few eggs too. She was one proud little girl when she put them in her basket.

A quick story told by Bishop Salmon yesterday... He was at a mall and a little child is crying because he's been separated from his mom and is scared. He and another lady come to help the boy. The woman says "Don't worry sweetheart, we will look and find her." Bishop Salmon says, "Son, we will stay here because your mom is looking for you." And there's a major difference in that. The mom is desperate to find her son and is no doubt searching high and low for him. The boy needs to know that. Same thing with us. We don't have to chase after God to find him. He is coming to find us. He has come to find us. And that's a great thing about our God.

Happy Easter Monday. I hope you have a chill day, too.

Life this week

2011-04-21T07:01:00.000-04:00

It's Spring break and we're having a solid week. I'm having to sneak downstairs early this morning to write this, though. That means I'm busy parenting. Me + Girls = All Week Long. And when the girls are playing during the day, I can't open the computer for long. They come running....Eloise wants to type letters and spell words and Cordelia wants to destroy the keyboard, like any healthy 17 month old.

We are declaring this spring and summer the seasons of the bike. The girls love the bike trailer, so Alex and I suit up and take the girls for a ride. The only challenge is finding a route that is not too hilly (we're still biking wimps) or dangerous (I hate traffic in my car, definitely not braving it on my bike.) I think our route to Dunkin Donuts is working out well for us. :-)

It's Holy Week. And we are preparing to celebrate the death (Good Friday) and resurrection (Easter) of Jesus. This is the most important time of year for the church because this is what it's all about. Jesus died for us. For 3 days. Then we rose again. It is also a very full week and weekend for Alex.

So, to occupy my time in the evenings, I've started a photography blogsite trial. Wow. It is fun, tricky to learn, and full of choices. But seeing my images full screen on a fading slideshow is pumpin' me up. I'm eager to start my business but there is also still a lot to do before I can. So I'm plugging away. This week I hope to accomplish the following towards that goal-- buy a new computer screen, improve at another practice session, and open a business bank account. I'm working hard but having fun and praying that I'm doing the right thing.

Here are 3 more from my last session. I'm loving these sisters' eyes.

And one more. Our favorite "woof woof" friend. Cordelia hearts animals. We are destined to get one in the future, and when we do, I want a Puggle. Pug+Beagle=Puggle.

I took some shots of "woof woof" real fast one afternoon. Uploaded them, edited my 4 favorite and emailed them to my neighbor. They loved them. My heart swelled. Sharing beautiful images of a loved one is such a blessing to the receiver and the giver. And that's why I'm enjoying my photography internship so much.

Yuck

2011-04-19T09:47:00.000-04:00

Was your 1 year old playing with the toilet plunger?

Because mine wasn't!

That's disgusting.

Family Photo Shoot

2011-04-17T22:48:00.003-04:00

Some more close friends of ours. These photo shoots are starting to feel like a friend parade! It's a sweet way for me to introduce you to all the loving supports we have in our lives. For example, Annemarie and Greg took us in when we lost power for a few days, took Eloise home when Cordelia and I went to the hospital, helped us when we had a flat tire, and more and more and (I think we owe you one :-).

Without friends like these, I'm not sure how we'd get through life.

I love these precious girls. Not only are they BFFs with Eloise and Cordelia, but I love watching them grow up. They're smart, spunky, and a whole lot of fun! Raising children is crazy and it is much easier when we can do it together. Thanks for doing it with us.

We'll be seeing you soon, I'm sure!

Daddy, Daughter

2011-04-16T17:15:00.000-04:00

There are few things cuter than a daddy playing dollies with his daughter. We did a lot of this today.

Forecast: 55 and raining all day. Lots of indoor play!

Photos from tonight

2011-04-14T22:58:00.000-04:00

What a sweetie.

This is a short post because I'm off to bed. Another week ends. A sunny weekend ahead. A photo shoot with a special family and spending lots of time with this little sweetie.

As I write this, Alex is taking photos. So I'm not going to bed as early as I thought.

Let's take a look at what he has done. Do we see a potential second shooter in the future?

I don't know about potential, but what I do see is that Cordelia smiles a lot like me. We use our entire face in a smile. Is it still alright if I think she is the cutest toddler ever?

Well, she is.

Good night.

this week in photos

2011-04-13T15:01:00.000-04:00

Baby Photo Shoot

2011-04-10T17:24:00.001-04:00

I journeyed across the "Potomac ocean" to see another seminary friend. Our seminary friends are going to be represented well in my portfolio! And I couldn't be more proud to have them there.

These friends recently moved from Pennsylvania to a church in northern Virginia. They are settling into their new church life well, and their little gem is making it much more fun for them. She is a perfect delight. Happy and beautiful!

Enjoy this sneak peek of my pretty friend A and sweet baby C.

Newborn Photo Shoot

2011-04-08T22:36:00.002-04:00

Meet baby E. I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with him and his neat parents. This little guy is the perfect gentleman. He never fusses. He loves his parents and they love him.

After a photo shoot, I'm always anxious to upload the photos and start editing. I think the mood and excitement of the shoot is fresh so it's great to tackle them right away. As I edit, the girls jump on the couch and I tell Alex how my favorite part of the job is meeting the people.

Making the relational connections is always best, and capturing beautiful moments for a family is second best.

Flower Petals

2011-04-07T12:22:00.000-04:00

It's blooming magnolias and snowing cherry blossoms.

We're enjoying Spring between the rain storms. I also read that to become an expert at something you have to practice for 10.000 hours. Or maybe it was more, or less, but either way, you have to practice all the time. (It has to be perfect practice right?) And while I would never strive to be an expert at something--it's just not my personality type--I am trying to get better. So clicking and editing I shall go. Tomorrow I'm meeting another newborn. This kind of practicing is really a lot of fun...maybe I'll become an expert after all.

Life Here

2011-04-06T17:18:00.002-04:00

A day in the life with 2 spunky girls.

(Doesn't her scar look amazing?!)

Weekend Recap

2011-04-05T21:06:00.000-04:00

It's the Tuesday after the Mockingbird conference. So much happened in such a small time frame that I'm having trouble digesting it and sharing it. Old friends, new friends, thought-provoking talks, helpful break-out sessions, and some outstanding food (and clearly drink as well).

With dear old friends.

So I will describe what Mockingbird is in the words of Dr. Paul F. M. Zahl. Mockingbird as a ministry illustrates the following points on their blog. We are helpless people in need of a savior.

Paul Zahl

1. We do the opposite of what we're told.

This is true. In fact, on Sunday night Alex and I had dinner with a friend and her 27 year old son. He attended a religious school growing up that included mandatory chapel. I asked him if he liked going. He laughed and said "it made me want to go even less." Direct quote.

It's a human condition (read: rebellion). That is human nature.

2. We have a bound will. We do things we don't want to do. We can't do what we want.

I want to get up early to read my Bible but I can't get my rear out of bed. I want to have patience with my daughter at bed time but most often I don't. I don't want to be short with my husband after a long day, but I can't help myself. I can't help my selfish self. I'm helpless when left to my own devices.

And knowing this about myself, I can have compassion for others because they can't help themselves either. As Paul Zahl said, "you can't have compassion on someone who has a free will." Do you get that? Amazing insight.

3. God speaks to us through the bad junk in our lives and in this world. He resides in those dark places offering a way forward.

Life doesn't get better, then God shows up. We don't create a neat, orderly situation and then invite God there. We don't just have tea parties with God.

You know those feelings of inadequacies, the fear of losing your husband to another woman, the paralyzing situation of not knowing what your supposed to do with your life, that is where God is and that is where he comes to the rescue.

I once heard that "God meets us at the end of our rope." And "The obstacle is the way forward."

Hey Ethan. Thanks for posing for me. The Rangers are winning in the background.

So, that is Mockingbird. A group of Christian people who believe that we are rebellious, depraved, shackled people who worship a God who meets them in the darkness. And when you meet God in that darkness, it tastes so sweet. The embrace is warm and secure. And light shines.

Check it out, if you haven't already. Check out Mockingbird's blog. Next year I plan to be taking some of you with me to NYC.

More dear friends, Mary, Liza, and Aya with our speaker Mark Galli, the senior managing editor of Christianity Today in the foreground.

My good friends' children

2011-04-02T21:06:00.000-04:00

We're home from a nurturing trip to NYC. Alex and I went to the Mockingbird conference where we heard some insightful speakers, caught up with some old seminary friends and met some new ones, enjoyed some delicious food, and stayed out as late as possible.

I'll give more conference details later, but for now I want to share some special kiddos with you. Some dear friends' children. 2 sets of siblings. Big sisters and little brothers. And it was fun and they are precious.

Good Morning

2011-03-31T06:09:00.000-04:00

The Grands come to visit

2011-03-29T06:40:00.000-04:00

We've had a great visit with our Neena and Pops.

We've really enjoyed having them here. They bring us so much excitement, good food and cheer, but they did not bring their Florida weather this time. No, nope, it snowed on Sunday morning.

Snow or shine, though, we had to see the cherry blossoms. And even in the strangest picnic conditions, the blossoms are awe inspiring.

The monuments never disappoint. It really is sacred ground.

And strong winds, cloudy skies, and blocked roads were not going to keep us from enjoying our brie and prosciutto, crackers, and chocolates under the magnificent blooms.

Thanks for coming to visit Neena and Pops! It was a fantastic weekend.

Newborn Photo Shoot

2011-03-27T22:59:00.000-04:00

Meet this little 5 day old. She's perfect in every way. A sweet spirit, gorgeous features, and a snuggle bug who loves her Mommy and Daddy.

I met her Mommy, Kristina, 6 years ago when she came to interview at Wears Valley Ranch, a Christian children's home where I worked and lived for a year. It's a powerful ministry that I love dearly. And as I left the Ranch, Kristina came to work in the same house as I did. We share a strong bond that anyone who has lived at Wears Valley Ranch shares. So this shoot was very special to me.

Every life is a gift from God.

Lots to say

2011-03-27T15:53:00.000-04:00

We have a lot going on over here at our house.

This little girl in on the mend.

Neena and Pops are visiting.

I'm editing a beautiful newborn family photo shoot from yesterday that is beautiful. Did I say beautiful? because I meant beautiful! Here's the sweet new mom rocking her baby to sleep like a natural. More photos to come soon.

And I just awoke from a Sunday afternoon nap. (Thanks Neena and Pops!) I think I'm tired from all that's going on.

I hope you're having a peaceful Sunday as well.

8 stitches later

2011-03-24T21:02:00.001-04:00

Eight stitches later, she's going to be okay. What a warrior!

It was just a bizarre accident. We were at a museum today and she fell and hit a step and gashed her sweet little head open. My friend went running for some towels for the blood that spewed everywhere. Eloise screamed at the top of her lungs "I'm scared! I'm scared!" Her little friend just stared with her mouth wide open. And I wrapped Cordelia's coat around her head to try to stop the bleeding.

From there we quickly went into the museum office where the staff was incredibly helpful. They called 911 for us and called Alex for me. A police man came in fairly quickly and stared into her eyes and said he hoped she didn't pass out. Thank God she didn't! She is so strong.

So off in the ambulance we went. Poor Alex didn't know what was going on and his heart was beating so fast until he met up with us. The museum director forgot to tell him we were ok, he just told him we were in the ambulance.

8 stitches and we're as good as new. Or will be soon enough.

We love you, Cordelia! You're the strongest (and smartest/sweetest/cutest) cookie we know.

Mother's Helper

2011-03-23T14:13:00.000-04:00

I have a mother's helper so I'm hiding downstairs and being productive.

NOT! No, no productivity here.

But I am having fun.

Monday Morning Inspiration

2011-03-21T10:42:00.000-04:00

It's Monday morning which is the the most peaceful time around my house. I only have my littlest with me. It's a time for me to regroup from the weekend. Do some major laundry. Look at the week ahead. And of course, blog.

My sister visited us for 5 days and it was splendid. We went downtown to the butterfly garden and the carousel. We enjoyed the animals at the zoo--especially the octopus and Gibbon monkeys. We enjoyed a of outdoor time in beautiful Spring weather. My sis went to a bridal shower and then church with us. She consulted with me on my photo editing. And we watched a lot of nonsense tv at night. It was lovely and relaxing and we wish it was Spring Break forever and she could stay here longer.

And then, to top off the weekend, Alex and I had the distinct pleasure of dining with some of the most inspiring and encouraging Christian leaders. For the past year and a half, we've treasured our time with our interim rector (which means senior pastor) who is also our overseeing bishop who is also the retired bishop of South Carolina and his wonderful wife. Then, yesterday, the archbishop of the Southern Cone came to preach and teach at our church. And he and his beautiful joined the clergy of the church for a nice dinner at the rectory. (Anglicans/Episcopalians have bishops.)

And it was inspiring because this wonderful Chilean couple is leading a so many South Americans to Jesus. They are planting churches like crazy. They are leading the mission field. I shared with them about my time in Bolivia. I spoke some Spanish. And asked them a lot of questions. And yet to be in a such a gathering, it was not pretentious. It was normal. And bad jokes were told and people laughed and talked about movies.

I was inspired to continue to reach out to my neighbors. To continue to be a missionary in my neighborhood and in my church. A global perspective is so healthy. I'm just a tiny tool in a giant project.

And to top off all this inspiration which is "beyond inspiring" which is what I told Alex this morning who is keeping a tally of how many times I say "beyond" because it's a little annoying and I agree... is the story of Anthony Robles. The NCAA national champion for the 125 pound category Anthony Robles. He is the best wrestler in our nation at that weight today and he was born with 1 leg.

It reminds me of a camp t-shirt I received in high school. On the front is an image of a river winding through rocks and reeds. On the back it says The impeded river is the one that sings.

I had no idea what that meant at 14 but I liked it because I loved canoeing at camp. It's like the lyrics of Amazing Grace. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved. As a teenager I thought about this phrase and didn't get it.

But now as a 29 year old, I'm starting to understand both of those more. The impeded river is the one that sings. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.

Congratulations to Anthony Robles. You are an inspiration to me!

What a great way to begin a week.

A Newborn Family Photoshoot

2011-03-20T12:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had my second photo shoot of my "internship." (That's what Alex calls it.) I'm not sure what I loved more about my visit with this family, capturing this special period in their lives or meeting them as people. Both were wonderful!

They have a 1 week old baby boy and twin 3 year old girls. It's truly a family full of love! I came home from the shoot and quickly went to work editing them after my girls were in bed. I was full of anticipation, like opening a present, uploading the images and seeing what I got. I think I have some pretty ones to share and can't wait to finish going through them all.

Enjoy!

Inspiration

2011-03-15T17:51:00.000-04:00

My love for Mumford and Sons continues. Eloise can carry a really nice tune and sings phrases of their songs all the time. When they use the f-word, we just say "mess" so no need to worry there. I can can no longer go without printing their lyrics here. But where do I start?

Let's start with track #1.

Sigh No More

Serve God love me and men

This is not the end

Live unbruised we are friends

And I'm sorry

I'm sorry

Sigh no more, no more

One foot in sea, one on shore

My heart was never pure

You know me

And man is a giddy thing

Oh man is a giddy thing

Love that will not betray you,

dismay you or enslave you

It will set you free

Be more like the man

you were made to be.

There is a design,

An alignment to cry,

At my heart you see,

The beauty of love

as it was made to be

I've been lacking in inspiration lately when it comes to the blog. What to write when our routine is becoming too predictable. There isn't much to say when I'm just putting one foot in front of the other going through life.

But right now, my husband came home and then promptly took the children to our neighbor's house to see all their wild animals. And I've been given a window of time to listen to M&S, upload some new photos, and tell you that I'm dreaming a lot about photography. I'm reading some good books, developing and refining a vision, and hoping to take some gorgeous photos of many of you this Spring and Summer. (I'm always confused as to whether Spring and Summer are supposed to be capitalized. And I'm too lazy to look it up. I always capitalize them because they play important roles in my life and I love the different seasons so much. I'm a Christian. Don't worry. No mother earth worship here. Just lovin' on the seasons.)

Serve God love me and men

This is not the end

Live unbruised we are friends

And I'm sorry

I'm sorry

Sigh no more, no more

One foot in sea, one on shore

My heart was never pure

You know me

And man is a giddy thing

Oh man is a giddy thing

Love that will not betray you,

dismay you or enslave you

It will set you free

Be more like the man

you were made to be.

There is a design,

An alignment to cry,

At my heart you see,

The beauty of love

as it was made to be

It's Lent, you might know. And it's such a great time to get back in touch with our divided natures. The self that wants to do good but can't or doesn't. And then to remember that blood was shed so that we can be freed by a pure love that does not enslave. A love that frees us from the evil inside that ensnares and traps and destroys.

And that's inspiring to me.

I Heart Faces

2011-03-14T07:49:00.000-04:00

This is our little buddy N. I just love how the sunburst is framing his sweet face! It leaves a magical aura that is perfectly suited for a child.

To see other great sunburst photos, check out I HEART FACES today.

Always keep our camera handy

2011-03-13T12:40:00.000-04:00

This is what happens in the span of a minute.

So I always have my camera ready for when the headband is actually on her head.

Parenting is tiring

2011-03-08T20:37:00.000-05:00

Starting at about 9:30am, Eloise starts asking when is Daddy coming home.

And I say, you know when, you tell me when Dad is coming home.

I'm clearly not enthused by the repetitiveness of the question. It's about 5 times a day and it's usually asked when she is not happy with something we're doing. Being the mom with the children all day means I'm more often the bad cop. I'm the meanie who makes my children eat food, put their shoes on, and take them to ballet class, swim lessons, play dates, park dates. I know, I know. Such a meanie.

But the irritation of the day washes away when he walks in the door.

Eloise goes crazy and Cordelia is quick to follow.

And then I come running after them, slap a kiss on his cheek, give his neck a big snug, and then I sigh because reinforcements have arrived.

Photo thoughts

2011-03-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

It's Sunday evening and we've had a great day. Church in the morning and then another young adult lunch here at our house. The menu: Chicken Spaghetti, Salad, veggie appetizers, brownies and coffee. It was a fun time getting to know some new friends who have found our church. The majority of the young adults sitting around the table said they checked out our website and thought it looked good to them and then came to our church. So, what that tells me is that an up-to-date web presence is important to newcomers. And then, no doubt, good food helps too.

I've been thinking a lot about my photography dreams. Do I want to try to be professional? Or, not? If so, how do I get there? What steps do I need to take next. If not, what's holding me back and why?

Why have I fallen in love with photography in the past year? Then I remembered, it actually started long before my grand purchase of my beloved Nikon D90. I took two years of photography in high school and one course (the first course ever offered) at my college. I've loved it for a while.

I love capturing an unsuspecting moment in ordinary life. While I definitely want an image to be beautiful, I think a time and place is very important.

That is why this is the new favorite photo of my family. We have some double chins going on. We have a messy desk and a printer in the background and Alex and Eloise are out of focus. BUT, I love this moment because it was Eloise's birthday. It's a pretty photo in a special context. We are in our home and on our couch. Hopefully it will bring me back to that time and place when I look at it in the future.

That's one reason I love newborn photos taken on a the parent's bed or in their nursery. It's in their home. It's personal. I love that.

And I want to do that more. So, that's why I'm starting to practice on other children and family. I've booked some upcoming shoots for this Spring and I'm giddy thinking about them. If you want to book something or know someone who might, let me know. Especially little newborn babies. I'd love to capture some itty bitty ones. It'll be a free service; it'll be mutually beneficial, I know.

In other news, Alex and I are watching Les Miserables on PBS. It's been my favorite musical since the 7th grade when I traveled to London and saw it. Then in the 8th grade I nerded out and did a heavey duty extra credit report on the novel by Victor Hugo. I did so much extra work for that English class, I got a perfect score that year in that class. Nerd alert!? Or Les Miserable fanatic?

I have a photo of me and my 4 best friends in middle school standing outside the theater in London. And then I have that same photo in that same spot of the same group of friends at the age of 18. Truly a special and formative point in time. It was such a memory. And Les Miserables is such an incredible story.

I Heart Faces

2011-03-04T19:55:00.000-05:00

Fix It Friday at I Heart Faces. Dana Suggs took this great photo. I love the young man's connection with the camera. It's not forced. He looks comfortable. The colors of the chairs are really cool. And the lighting is beautiful.

I didn't do much to the photo. Using PSE-8, I adjusted some lighting, contrast, luminance, white balance in the Camera Raw mode. Then, I sharpened the photo and used the CoffeeShop "Color Pop" vignette at a 22% opacity. That's it!

"When you take a great photo, it doesn't need a lot of editing." I've been repeating this to myself lately. If I find that I'm spending too much time editing, I'm usually forcing it and it won't look nice and natural. I toss the photo and try another one.

Before

After

A Revision

2011-03-03T17:25:00.000-05:00

So yesterday night I said I was looking forward to doing "nothing" today, "nothing" except for what I wanted to do.

I had the best intentions to have an enjoyable day with my girls. But we were struck with another stomach bug. Same girl. Same miserable state. I think her fear of throwing up is now worse than actually throwing up.

And this is parenting. Being flexible because when things go wrong and they need you, they need you big time. So inside we stayed all day. The best part of the day was talking with an old friend for over an hour and the worst part of the day is that I'm still wearing half my pajamas and feel gross all over.

This is my baby. She is a good example of how things can change at a drop of a hat.

Sad Delia.

The next frame.

Happy Delia.

Chillaxing on the couch.

Sister photos are really hard to achieve.

The good news is that I think we are already on the mend. This was more of a 12 hour bug. I really love 12 hour bugs.

Sunday through Wednesday

2011-03-02T20:53:00.000-05:00

Sundays through Wednesdays are always crammed packed and hectic for me. I kick into get through the day mentality and always need my back cracked at the end of the night.

Then Thursdays come and there's nothing planned. Nothing obligatory for me and the girls and it's a breath of fresh air. This is when my inner introvert reveals herself to me. After 4 days of face time with friends and teachers and people around town, I need a break. A day of some quiet alone time (alone meaning me and the girls). It doesn't mean I don't plan outings and play dates and do chores, it just means I don't have to if I don't want to. And that feels incredibly nice.

I'm super excited about photographing some of you and your little ones this Spring and Summer. All you local people, I'm serious. I need guinea pigs. I need you and your friends.

Alex is watching C-Span 3 and I find it incredibly boring. Snoozer. How many C-Spans are there? He also just went out for a quick trip to Safeway for some Haagen-Dazs (that is a correct spelling) vanilla ice cream. Oh, that's Heaven. Oh, how I love my man. And Oh, how I wish we didn't have such expensive taste.

I keep trying to get Cordelia to wear headbands but she won't. They are super cute, though.

Eloise loves her sister but Cordelia doesn't like to be squeezed quite so tight. And neither would I, really. After being squeezed for a few days, it's nice to be let go. And breathe.

Bring on the children

2011-02-28T13:26:00.000-05:00

I've been dreaming about starting a photography business. And while I'm not close to opening my doors, I'm ready to take the next step and start practicing. Practicing on children who have a different last name as me. :-)

I'm moving to the practice portfolio building stage of my dream and I need volunteers. Guinea Pigs. I need little people models starting this Spring and Summer.

If you or a friend in the area would be interested in a photo shoot, contact me. We can put something on the calendar and I can start clicking away. And hopefully you'll get some great photographs in the process too.

A weekend and a pastor wife

2011-02-27T19:00:00.000-05:00

Our weekend started in earnest at noon on Friday after Alex finished a funeral and Eloise was home from school. It was off to a great start until about 3:30 when the power went out. No shocker here. Considering it has gone out 4 times this month--3 nights during the snow storm, an afternoon a couple of weeks ago, a 4am stint last week, and now Friday night.

I knew it was going to go out. Maybe it had to do with the large limb laying on our power line and the predicted 60mph winds. But it doesn't really matter how I knew, I just knew. It was going to go out.

And it did. So we headed out for dinner, some errands. We brought home some fire wood and a large bottle of wine. We were going to make the best of it.

And it was a fun family indoor camping expedition. Fun because the power came back on at 9:30. PTL. (Praise the Lord!) So we had heat again and our groceries (and money) were spared.

Saturday we enjoyed chocolate chip pancakes, a second hike in the woods, a trip to the farmers market where we bought Girl Scout Cookies--ironic, yes, and some game playing time with Eloise while Cordelia napped. A sitter came and off Alex and I went to a church couples dinner. It was huge and awesome and the week as a pastor and pastor wife began again.

I had an interesting encounter this week as a pastor wife. Most weeks go by and I don't notice that I'm a PW, but from time to time, I remember very well. A met a woman for the first time. I introduced myself and gave her some background information about me as we met. When she pieced together that I was Alex's wife, her gut said out loud to me, "oh no, I'm so embarrassed. I've got to be really good now..."

Then my gut said out loud, "No you don't. Please don't think that. I'm normal too."

And that's how the interaction went. From there, we connected and laughed and forged a little friendship, and our interesting beginning was forgotten....I hope.

I actually enjoy people who are a little late or say something silly or inappropriate because then I know they are normal. They are in touch with their downfalls. I can relate to them.

It's the people who live in a realm of perfection that I have trouble connecting with most.

The lesson to me--Be real. Be candid about my imperfections. And be extra gracious because some people are scared of pastors and their wives because they feel judged. And that's really sad... not only for them but also for me. Because if people feel afraid of me, they won't be my friend. And I really love having friends.

Now, let's hope True Grit wins best cinematography tonight. And let's have a great Monday. What do you say?

A walk in the woods

2011-02-25T13:43:00.000-05:00

"A Walk in the Woods" performed by C.F.L. and brought to you by her doting mother who was trying to take advantage of a break between rain storms.

In Charge

2011-02-23T13:14:00.000-05:00

Just in case I started thinking I was in control over here.

We all know who is driving this ship.

(And yes, our little baby is wearing a princess dress.)

Thankfully, the sun is shining, the air is crisp, and we are all healthy. The windows are cracked because we are in need of some fresh air in this house. I've just returned from our Wednesday morning Bible study and it was wonderful. You should never underestimate the power of spiritual nourishment. It feeds my soul and keeps me moving each week.

Today

2011-02-21T19:59:00.000-05:00

You know your child is still sick when you give her a cookie and she doesn't even take a bite.

She is doing much better today and we're hopeful she's finished puking her guts out, but only time will tell. If she makes it through the night, then we're done. (Yea.) If not, then we're not done. (Boo. In case you had any doubt about how I feel about that or puke in generally, really.)

I gave her some food today but she didn't eat a bite. But being in good spirits, she played with it.

And while dodging the puke, Cordelia has managed to keep a good attitude. Because that's what she does. She rolls with the punches and has the most incredible eyes all at the same time.

I love my girls. But I don't love puke.

Lysol, laundry, liquids

2011-02-20T09:07:00.000-05:00

Or, "Puke, Poop, and Pathetic"

Or, "Germs, Gross, Super Gross"

But no matter how we describe it, the day has begun. And we are up with the sun.

I'm hoping this bug is fast, furious, and finished!

(Since I'm clearly house bound all day, I think my alliteration descriptors will continue to go through my head . . . )

Fix-It Friday

2011-02-18T14:36:00.000-05:00

Another Fix-It Friday at I Heart Faces. I love doing these. It really helps me practice. This one was a challenge for me because I don't usually shoot photos with a lot of black. I typically find that I like shooting with a lot of bright whites and colors. I love the drama of this shot, though!

Original

Edit 1

Edit 2

I'm not usually a big black and white fan, but I couldn't not do this in B&W. I tried and tried to do a color shot but couldn't seem to do it. Which edit is your favorite?

In other news, we're enjoying a full Friday with Alex home. I cleaned the car, finished some unfinished business, and am heading to the park next. Truly a de-stressing type of day around here.

It's time to face the music.

2011-02-17T16:24:00.000-05:00

It might be time to come to terms with the fact that Cordelia is no longer a baby.

Babies don't walk around the house in high heals while reading a Valentines Day card to you.

Around these parts . . .

2011-02-16T14:21:00.000-05:00

. . . we are hanging outside.

Can you make us out? I'm standing, taking the photo. Eloise has her wings out ready to take flight. She didn't want her photo taken today, so this is all I got.

It's warm and sunny and a nice break from a cold winter.

Around these parts, we are also spending a lot of time up at school taking photos of the children. Roughly 60 photos of 60 children needed.

I wish I could show them all to you. They are turning out really great. I'm trying to capture the children in their school environments, like Eloise rolling in this donut. Isn't school awesome?

That's a little bit of what we've been doing around these parts. We've been doing that and listening to Mumford and Sons.

Love

2011-02-14T12:54:00.000-05:00

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

I hope you can at least get a glimpse of God's love for you today.

White House and Auction

2011-02-11T13:06:00.000-05:00

Today Alex and I toured the White House. We were like little kids giddy in a candy shop. I wish we could have stayed longer and photographed the experience, but just as you would expect, we were not welcomed much longer than our tour lasted. And we were most definitely not allowed to bring a camera, or anything else for that matter.

Now if we had cooler cell phones, we could have at least snapped a shot as we were leaving...10 feet from the last column, officially, but we don't. So no photos taken.

Only a fun experience that Alex and I shared together. And that's pretty special.

Plus we got a guided tour, which we did not expect. Thank you Mr. Secret Service Man for all the funny, amusing information. And thank you also, Mr. Robo-Cop Not So Secret Guards with Enormous Guns that Could Kill a Crowd in a Second, for protecting us while we were inside. I'm not sure if that gun made me feel more safe or more scared. Either way, I stared a long time at that gun you had. I think Alex has a video game with that gun in it.

So we crossed the White House tour off the list. Doesn't mean we are going anywhere anytime soon, but we have done this "to do."

In other news,

I've been busy photographing the children at Eloise's school. Have I told you that? The school is having an auction and we are using photographs of the children as decoration for the event. It's been a time consuming but very fun project for me. The photos are turning out to be adorable and I think everyone will be pleased to see them. It's also been fun working with other children not named Eloise or Cordelia. And practice my mad editing skillz on different skin tones and eye colors, etc.

And as part of the auction, our family has to donate something. At first we thought we could donate Alex's spiritual services...marriage counseling anyone? Need a house blessing? A wedding, a funeral? Funny things we joke about but definitely not serious. You don't have to buy those things...he'll do them all for you, just ask him. Or go to any church and ask them.

So back to what we will donate. Alex suggested I donate a children's photo session. 4% of that suggestion encourages and excites me. 96% terrifies me. So I'm thinking I'll just put together a "newborn essentials basket" or a "Princess Perfect" basket of all kinds of goodies.

What do you think we should give? It can't be expensive so it has to be creative. And I hate soliciting people, but maybe somebody I know has a service they would like to donate? I guess my biggest fear is that it will be lame. I hate being lame.

And with that, I'm off to Target. Alone. Life is grand! Have a great weekend.

Happy Birthday to you, Cha-Cha-Cha

2011-02-09T13:16:00.000-05:00

Cha-Cha-Cha! Eloise is 4 today. What a sweet little lady you are becoming, our little Miss Elo-Squeeze.

Tonight during dinner, while Eloise was messing around on the bench not eating, I turned on some music. On the first chord, Eloise shoots up from says "Can I be excused?" And she went to dance.

She danced and danced and danced until we carried her upstairs (she made it clear she preferred dancing to sleeping) for bed. The girl moves to the music. She's got it buried deep in her soul. And it's really no surprise to us. During our (very many) ultrasounds with her, our doctor would say "she's break-dancing in there. I've never seen a baby move so much." That's no lie. That's what happened and she hasn't stopped since.

So to help her celebrate, we threw a dance party with John Henry on the guitar and Eloise leading the congo line. And we all had fun.

It was old school simple and it was fun. And then we took a family photo to document us all on this special day.

Happy Birthday, sweet Eloise! I can't imagine my life without you here!

Baby Caelyn

2011-02-07T22:12:00.001-05:00

Meet Baby Caelyn. She is the sweet little gift to my friends and their family. The younger sister to 2 older brothers. I can relate. I too am a little sister with 2 older brothers.

So, Baby Caelyn, you are in for a treat! You will be one tough little cookie and definitely well protected.

And guess what....I also have a sweet little sister. But that's a similarity we won't draw just yet...

Caelyn is perfect in every way. And I am honored to know this little, little girl.

What an angel.

For me, it is scary how much fun I had doing this photo session. I learned loads. And I might be addicted. Oh. No. First coffee. Then blogging. Now photography. When is laundry going to make that list?

Which is your favorite? I'd love to know!

As Fast as Ligtening

2011-02-06T22:47:00.000-05:00

Do you know what this is?

Look really closely.

You're right! You get a gold star!

It's a lot of little children spinning as fast at they can on our floor while Cordelia stands and watches.

This is a photo from Eloise's birthday party on Saturday. And it perfectly captures our weekend and how I feel about the fact that tomorrow is Monday.

"No time!! There's never any time!" Who says that on everyone's favorite childhood show? Two gold stars at stake this time.

I just asked Alex if he could take tomorrow off. He laughed. Oh well, I tried.

Nap Time, Play Time

2011-02-03T06:55:00.000-05:00

Nap time is a sacred time of peace and quiet and efficiency and productivity.

Well it used to be. These days Eloise and I are playing too much during this time. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" is how I think the saying goes. It's fun, it's bonding, and it takes everything in my being not to run down to change a load of laundry.

My friend had her little baby girl last week. All are doing very well and I have the privilege of visiting her this Saturday. And I asked if I could bring my camera to snag some shots of the sweet little thing. She graciously said yes. I've never taken photos of a newborn with my new camera and photography skillz. My poor children have terrible newborn photos--how I wish I had hired someone to take good ones of them! And I really couldn't be more excited to see this little baby girl. I've been looking forward to it all week.

I decided to get some practice when Cordelia woke up. I haven't taken many of her lately.

It didn't go very well. I hope baby C is more cooperative.

The basket didn't really work.

This is my favorite.

This is Cordelia talking to me. She trying to tell me that this was a terrible idea, especially because she had chocolate on her chin. She says, "Mommy, baskets are for babies. I'm a big girl. Sheesh."

After that exercise in futility, we decided to try to color with chalk outside. HA! Talk about more futility, but we had to just see if we could do it. So we went and just saw that we really couldn't.

I'm a big believer in experiential learning.

It's especially hard when dressed in your mermaid costume.

So inside we came and danced to Mumford and Sons. Am I the last one on the planet to fall in love with these guys? Have you heard their album...the whole album? Roll Away the Stone is fantastic. Please click on ITunes and buy the album and then listen to it and then comment here so that we can talk about it together. Thanks!

Boom went the transformer

2011-01-31T19:50:00.000-05:00

So the really wet snow fell and within an hour our trees were bending backwards. And then they started breaking. Tree limbs *SNAP* falling to the ground. On the cars, the street, barely missing the houses. And then, *BOOM* one hits the transformer in front of our house and out went the lights.

We get a D when it come to storm preparedness. We had no wood for the fire, no matches (I used them all over Christmas and hadn't replaced them yet), and 1 flashlight with low batteries. Thanks to Neena, we were saved. She bought us a really cool LED flashlight for Christmas and I knew exactly where it was.

I went to the basement and gathered extra blankets for my sleeping beauties. Then I curled up in my bed to call Alex.

He was in transit home from the hospital. And it was scary out there. The government had an early release that day, sending A LOT of people home from work at 3pm. The storm struck at 4pm. Everyone was stuck in gridlock on the roads. It took people hours...literally hours...one person reported a 10 hour drive that usually took 30 minutes. Cars were stuck, stranded. Traffic lights off. Total nightmare.

Alex finally made it home. The thunder and lightening continued and our transformer gave us a light show.

We went to sleep and woke up. Cold. Out we headed to our local diner for some hot coffee and pancakes. Then to the church because it was warm there. It was the perfect place to stay and play--friends came, lots of toys, movies, and even cribs in the nursery. And then a great snow ball fight on the play ground. Eloise was not afraid to get in the mix of it. I think she was trying to impress a certain 8 year old boy that day.

The lights did not come back on Thursday night so we headed to our dear friends for a yummy dinner and a family sleepover. In fact, we got to sleepover 2 nights. And it was a fun, bonding experience. We thank God for such hospitable friends.

I unfortunately didn't take but 1 photo of our time with our friends, the Ewings. We were too busy with the 5 children between us and chit chatting and laughing. At one point, the children were well occupied, so my friend Annemarie threw me a paper and said to sit back and relax for a while. We chuckled because when was the last time I kicked up my feet in the middle of the day to read the paper? Oh yeah, never.

So I did just that. I read all about the storm we had just weathered. One story struck me. A young woman (one of very many) was stranded on the side of the road in the middle of the night Wednesday. She desperately tried to hitch a ride to a safer location. She says, BMWs, Audis, Mercedes, all kinds of cars passed her until finally a very old and beaten up car pulled over. An older, ragged looking man told her to get in. He took her where she needed to go. He had apparently been driving around all night Wednesday helping stranded people. If that man wasn't an angel, he was divinely inspired for sure.

It was so nice to parent with my friend for the day.

And the girls loved it too!

Saturday at noon, the lights came back on. And our little almost-4-year-old screamed all the way home. She did not want to leave her friends. How sad the girls were that the lights were back.

And while I'm sitting cozy in my warm house on my computer right now, I'm a little sad too. It was so good to be together.

Next time we'll just do it at the beach, right? :-)

The moments before the thundersnow

2011-01-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday I blogged at 6am in the morning about being full. And I had been full--sick baby, lots to do, not much time to myself.

But Wednesday actually brought us a lazy day. School was cancelled for Eloise. Cordelia was still too sick to go to church nursery, so I couldn't go to Bible study. So we stayed home and relaxed.

Little did we know that the 4 inches of snow that they predicted for Wednesday night was going to come in the form of a "thundersnow." That's a thunderstorm with snow. It was the perfect storm...or not so perfect storm, really. It started out as a warm(er) day. Then some sleet and rain came down. And then that froze and all of the sudden, a very wet and heavy snow came crashing down. Thunder and lightening and ...

Well, I'll save that for tomorrow's blog.

For now, here we are on Wednesday. Pre-thundersnow.

Full

2011-01-26T06:28:00.000-05:00

Wow. I'm finding it really hard to blog these days. I've tried and tried but it is really difficult to type while holding a fussy 14 month old. While she is not still officially sick, she is one incredibly grumpy person. I think we've been slammed from both sides--a virus and a new tooth.

It seems I've had a buddy with me at all times during the day. With Alex working lots of hours lately, it's me and a lot of girl time.

This happened yesterday.

Me: "I'm going to the potty, Eloise."
Eloise: "Okay, we will come watch."
And then she grabs Cordelia's hand and brings her to the bathroom to watch. PLEASE, LITTLE PEOPLE. That is not what I intended.

From there I started getting some major whining for lunch. "I'm hungry Mom!"
"I know sweetie, I'm hurrying to get some lunch ready."
I start throwing food around, cutting, smearing, stacking, and in record time the food is on the table.
"What can I eat?" I think.
"Oh, sweet, leftover pizza."
I sit down and Cordelia goes wild. Of course she wants my pizza. But it wasn't my pizza she wanted, it was me. Me. Me and only me. At least all this hugging is keeping me warm on these frigid days.

So that's been my story for the last couple of days. Not a lot of hand free time. Not even at 5:30 this morning. My hands are full.

I Heart Faces: Innocent Wonder

2011-01-24T08:31:00.000-05:00

Nothing has brought more wonder in our house than our pet caterpillar this summer. Eloise was enamored by her.

And I really enjoyed browsing my summer photos while sitting in front of my space heater...It will be nice to get outside again to play!

Check out other "innocent wonders" at I Heart Faces this week. There are bound to be some great ones!

Sick

2011-01-22T21:11:00.000-05:00

Days like today are hard for me! It felt like a complete waste because I never left the house. I hardly spoke to anyone over the age of 4 (Alex was working) and I sat on my rear almost all day. Not only am I feeling unproductive which I hate because I'm a neurotic "doer," but I'm also feeling lazy. Double yuck. (But note to doctor--I did the "Shred" workout for free on Direct TV. BooYa! I'm doing my homework and working out.)

It's the 3rd day of this virus in our house. Alex had it Thursday and Friday. And now Cordelia has it. So I've been care taking for 3 days and tomorrow will be more of the same.

This is Cordelia on a Tylenol high.

Tomorrow is supposed to be my day for Kid's Church. I look forward to my Kids Church days because it reminds me of my days teaching Spanish in Pittsburgh. 30 minutes of educational fun. High energy. Games, songs, learning. But this is even better because Jesus is cooler than Spanish. So teaching Kids Church is the best.

And I have the most awesome lesson plan and game planned. That Alex is going to do now. Bummer! But there's no way around it. Cordelia can't be at church. Alex has to be a church. Oh well. If I had to pick a substitute for my awesome Kids Church, I'd choose Alex anyway.

Although it was bitterly cold today, the sun came out and it was pretty. No rain. No chance to wear these bad boys.

I went for the flower pattern because rainy days are usually dark and dreary so I thought something bright and cheerful would be better. Kinda like how I wear fun and crazy knee socks that no one can see. It just makes life a little more fun.

And finally, this is what happens when you stay in all day.

You get lots of little princesses rearranging and reorganizing the house.

Fix It Friday: PSE-8

2011-01-21T15:57:00.000-05:00

It's Fix It Friday at I Heart Faces. It's been ages since I practiced my skillz on one of these, but I got the editing itch during nap time today. I clicked on over to IHF and wow, I loved this hot. Why? Because it's fun and different and really cool. Thank you, Angie, for letting us play on your great image. And thank you to all the contributors for sharing your fixes and editing secrets. I learn so much from you all!

Original

Edit 1

Some exposure/vibrance/clarity tweaks, some boosting, a crop, and then PW's Homeland.

Edit 2

Same exposure/vibrance/clarity tweaks as above. With some more saturation/sharpening and then a crop.

Edit 3

Same tweaks as above, no crop--I love the full frame--and PW's Lovely and Ethereal.

A lot of photos have an edit that I think is "just right." This one, though, could be played with forever. It's fun. It's addicting. And it's hurting my parenting right now.

Which is your favorite?

(For those loyal readers, rain boot photos coming soon.)

Shoes

2011-01-20T17:34:00.000-05:00

We ladies went to Target today. I love that store. We all love that store. Because we buy things that aren't on our list. And while that can be dangerous, it's never that dangerous when you're at Target.

So we ladies bought 3 pairs of shoes because we wanted them.

Eloise picks her own clothes now, in case you didn't know that already. And she is a confident shopper. Mommy, I want those shoes right there. No second guessing. Those are what she likes, those are what the lady gets (most of the time).

I love that she is a little person with unique talents and gifts and style. I love that when I met with her teacher this morning for our conference, her teacher described the passionate girl I know so well. She is who she is. She LOVES the Nutcracker. And princesses. And lipstick. She is Eloise.

Then there is Cordelia. I love that I still have a voice in this house. I get to buy her bright pink converses because I can. Because she's only 14 months. And while her little will is emerging nicely and she screams bloody murder when you take away Eloise's lipstick (it's really just chap stick, don't get worried), I still get to dress her. She'll be dressing herself soon enough.

For now, though, I have the illusion of control when it comes to her shoes. Mwhahah...and I like it!

And for me, rain boots. I've been thinking about getting rain boots for years. Literally years. Would I really wear them? Or, would they take up too much space in our incredibly small closet? The last straw came a few months ago when I was standing in pouring rain buckling 2 children in the car. And I was soaked.

I'm tired of being soaked. Of being the last one in the car. The coldest, wettest lady in this family, so I decided to do something about that. I bought rain boots.

I guess the martyr thing was getting old.

Sisters

2011-01-19T13:37:00.000-05:00

For a moment this morning, our girls were matching. It was so lovely and nice and perfectly coordinating that I insisted on getting a photo outside.

Sisters holding hands. Eloise helping Cordelia on the icy grass. So precious.

Then, Eloise changed her clothes.

Perfection is fleeting, isn't it?

Ice Days

2011-01-18T12:58:00.001-05:00

It's an ICE day here. Not a snow day because there is certainly no snow on the ground. Just ice. And the stinky part about that is that there is not much fun to be had in ice.

Except, if you are Eloise who gets to go to swimming today. She is taking swim classes. I called to sign her up last week and the woman who took my information was not the instructor. I'm not sure who she is but when I described Eloise's dislike of water on her face--she doesn't want to get premature wrinkles--she commented "Well that'll be difficult for the teacher, won't it?" And I said, "That's why I'm coming to the best..." Geez...why do you think I'm calling?

Eloise couldn't be more excited. I know she'll do really well and overcome any fear she currently has.

Also, I went to the doctor a while back. The doctor lectured me on needing to exercise more. Doesn't toting 2 young children a workout enough? Anyway... I grew up and got over the lecture UNTIL I received a form letter in the mail. It told me the results of my blood work. Then, she crossed out parts of the form letter that said "exercise 3 days a week for 20 minutes" and instead wrote "exercise 5 days a week for 30 minutes." Is she giving me extra homework? I hate extra homework. Geez...

So I'm trying to be a good listener because I like doctors. (And Eloise reminds me of the importance of good listening skills everyday), so the entire family did the Billy Blanks Cardioke exercise routine from On Demand yesterday. Yes, all 4 of us moved and grooved. A family that dances together, stays together, right? It was a hoot.

So there we are. My first 30 minute workout this week. Only 4 more to go. (Haha...yeah, that's not going to happen...)

And off to swimming we go. Thankfully we are getting out of the house. Because the girls fought over a trash can this morning. A TRASH CAN.

We really need to get out of here!

The most beautiful name of all

2011-01-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

Portraits and Priest Things

2011-01-15T11:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we adventured downtown to enjoy some art. And boy did we enjoy some art! There is a British photography exhibit right now from the 1860s. It is amazing how incredible these photos are 150 years later. And did you know that the camera was invented in 1839?

These two ladies really caught my eye. I loved them.

Who painted this? I can't remember! Please tell me. Isn't she stunning?

Pablo Picasso painted this beauty. I love Picasso. I love these colors.

And finally, yes this is a very terse entry because I shouldn't be sitting here when I have 10 things I need to be doing, if you came to our house, would this surprise you?

What if the collars were hooked and the oval was more clear (like they are in our bedroom)?

Answer: They are priest collars. And we have them scattered all around our house.

I've had the pleasure of spending some time with new friends who do not attend our church. This is rare. Everyone I know here falls in 3 categories: church friends, neighbors, school friends. But this week, I've encountered some un-churchy people (which is so refreshing for this pastor wife). And as I was cleaning the house today, I wondered, "did they notice the collars scattered across the house? do they thing we're crazy? this is not normal..."

But I think they liked me anyway. I really really do so it must not have freaked them out too much. Or, this just didn't notice.

Snowdude

2011-01-13T19:48:00.000-05:00

So we didn't make a snowman. Or even a snowlittleman. He is more like a figurine. But he's wearing this cool peace lovin' hat that makes him most like a snowdude.

And that's where we'll leave it. Our little snowdude and his maker (Eloise!).

Alex's day off is Friday so although it's Thursday night, it's our Friday night. So I'm out of here!

Happy Weekend!

Yes, it did snow.

2011-01-13T12:04:00.000-05:00

Have I been keeping you waiting anxiously? Have you wondered if we got the snow I wanted so badly? Have you missed me so very much?

I know you have.

I keep you waiting no more. YES, we got our snow. It's beautiful, fluffy, and white. And Cordelia learned after some experimentation that it's best if our gloves stay on the hands. It helps keep your fingers warm, you know.

Eloise helped me salt the walkway. And she really really likes polka dots these days.

In other news, last night I stayed up late with some old college friends. It was fun and it made me feel young again. (Having an almost 4 year old is making me feel old these days!) And it was good for the soul. How does the song go again? Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.

C is taking her nap now and E and I are bundling up to go make a snowman. Probably a snowlittleman.

Waiting for Snow

2011-01-11T21:22:00.000-05:00

Right now I want to be in Vail. Imagine this: Just finished an amazing meal at Sweet Basil. Delightfully worn out from a great day in fresh powder. Breathing in the cold crisp air as we stroll through Vail Village back to our beds at any hotel there. Maybe the Sonnenalp or the Mountain Haus or really, any of them will do. Collapsing and awaking again to bright blue sky and a chair lift ready to take me up again. Just me and Alex. All day. Skiing together.

Okay, that dream is so unrealistic.

How about this one? All I want is there to be enough snow on the ground tomorrow that I can bundle the chicas up and sled down our sidewalk. And I can hear them roar with laughter. That would make my day!

For that to happen, I'm going to need it to snow more. Need more snow. Need more snow.

Dear God, please let it snow more than 1 inch tonight.

I really want it to snow. Like really really badly. It's time. I'm ready. Let's get the show on the road.

So what do you do when you are waiting for snow?

We take an afternoon bath and pour water on our heads and play like mermaids and splash our sister.

And I play with my camera settings. I'm practicing lots of indoor low light situations these days. Because that's what we've got a lot of....a lot of indoor low light situations. Ugh.

Then we cuddle in warm towels and run around squealing with delight and we never even pause to think that Mom tricked us into having a very fun bath time in the afternoon so that she didn't have to do a really difficult bath time at night.

I love it when that happens!

4 Thoughts Today

2011-01-10T22:12:00.000-05:00

I have had some thoughts through out the day. 3 funny and 1 touching.

First, never say never. My friends, the impossible can happen. My meatless child ate all her meatloaf tonight. I don't think she even knew what it was. I'm not sure I've served it like this before, she didn't ask, she just ate. Thank you, Pioneer Woman. Thank you!

Second, why does my Christian radio station talk about weight loss so much? They play a good song about needing God in this hurting world and then they come on and talk about ways to lose weight. I'm a far too faithful listener. I should have left them for my iPod years ago.

Third, Cordelia has a secret. Shhh....don't tell Eloise. Cordelia plays on the scooter when Eloise is not here. And I let her. And she loves it.

Now for the serious thought.

This morning, a news anchor covering the shooting in Arizona told the story of victim Dorwan Stoddard. The anchor interviewed a friend who recounted the sacrifice Dorwan made to save his wife's life.

I hope I'm getting all the details right. Dorwan's wife was shot and injured. He fell on her body and took the bullets so that his wife might live. She laid under his body and talked to him until he breathed his last breath. He died to save her.

The anchor starts crying on live tv because the story demands our tears. To sacrifice yourself is so against our nature that it has to be supernatural. We self-centered humans just aren't that way--we are really ego-centric, self-centered, self-preservationist....just ask Darwin...or read the book of Genesis...it's true.

And so a selfless act like this touches us from the outside. It's the finger of God touching our hearts, making us better than we naturally are, and gives us the love to give to others. It's Jesus on the cross. And it makes us cry because it's the supernatural acting in a naturally ugly world.

So the news anchor fought back her tears as her voice cracked and until her co-anchor took over. Beautiful.

I Heart Faces: Smiles

2011-01-10T13:21:00.000-05:00

The challenge at I Heart Faces this week is all SMILES. Like many of you, I've been going through all my photos of 2010 and picking some favorites.

This one of my youngest is one I love. It really captures her sweet little face and her little vampire teeth so well.

Happy smiling!

Hop on over to I Heart Faces to see some more shining beauties.

Right Now

2011-01-07T20:23:00.000-05:00

Do you have a Mac?

Do you play on Photo Booth?

We do. It's really fun.

Here we are in 2007. We are at a coffee shop in Colorado, and I'm very pregnant with Eloise.

Here are the children about half a year ago. They are wild! And very loud.

And here we are right now. The girls are asleep. My tea is steeping and it's peacefully quiet.

Have a great weekend!

Pause and Reflect

2011-01-06T14:44:00.000-05:00

I didn't think I had very much to say. Nothing really noteworthy to share. I have some photos but they aren't much different from previous photos on this blog. A cutie Cordelia and an Eloise painting. Just life going as usual.

But I thought to myself, I need to post on the blog. And that got me thinking and reflecting on the past couple of days. As my friend smartly pointed out, I'm an introvert. I don't process externally, instead I think in my head. In fact, a word hardly escapes my mouth without being adequately considered in my mind first. That's just the way I am.

The blog helps me reflect.

So here's my reflection.

Life as a pastor: We returned home on Tuesday. Walked in the door at 2pm. Alex showered and was out the door at 3pm. He had a funeral at 4pm. He then did the burial the next morning and another funeral that afternoon. His schedule is packed this weekend. Alex hit the ground running. So I hit the ground running too. And it's okay because I'm not stressed out because we had an excellent escape to Texas and were spoiled rotten. I'm refreshed and ready to go...I hope this lasts a while... :-)

And I love nap time. I didn't get it yesterday because we had a plumber here for 3 hours. That's a long and noisy time. No napping when the plumber is here.

Even though Eloise doesn't nap anymore, my arms and back need a break from our almost 14 month old. Eloise can do her big girl things alone and I can do mine. I get to blog and check Facebook and edit photos and recharge.

Vacation

2011-01-03T21:32:00.000-05:00

Alex and I were talking about our favorite parts of vacation. For him, it's all the things he can get out and do. Like jogging, eating out, going to the movies (True Grit is amazing). For me, it's all the things that I don't have to do. Like keep the house tidy and cook every meal.

We both agree that vacation is great because we can have so much uninterrupted time together.

Like this afternoon when Eloise did a photo shoot for her incredible parents. :-) She would aim and we would lean to try to get in the frame. It was silly, fun, totally unproductive, and completely perfect for vacation.

(edited version)

(unedited version)

I've been talking a lot about photography lately with lots of different folks. One conversation turned towards editing. How incredible editing can be. I know it's true for most photographers and bloggers. Every image you see is edited in some way. The object of editing is to improve your original and not make it worse. And that can be more difficult than you might think.

Eloise's favorite part of vacation is playing with her cousins and with other people's toys.

Cordelia's favorite part of vacation is all the love and attention she gets. And Gigi and Grandad's carpeted staircase. She can slide down fast on her tummy.

Our least favorite part is packing our bags to go back home. And that's why I'm blogging now. I'm procrastinating. Not packing. Just blogging. Because I'm still on vacation.

Pretty Animals

2011-01-01T16:32:00.000-05:00

The Dallas Zoo is so much cooler than I thought it was. It's just further proof that everything is bigger and better in Texas. (-:

I know you're out there rolling your eyes.

But give me a second and check this out.

This is the new Safari exhibit. It rocked our world. Elephants, ostriches, zebras, giraffes, and more shared this huge space. It was very cool to see all the animals together.

Eloise fed a giraffe. His tongue was AMAZING--strong, long, and blue.

This mandril was Eloise's favorite. Because his nose is hot pink.

These lions were my favorite. We got to eat lunch and watch these beautiful cats lounge. Really neat.

We walked by and this gorilla was just sitting there. Like right there, feet from us. Eating and looking at us.

Cordelia also sat feet from us. Eating her french fries. She's cuter than the gorilla, though, don't you think?

A carousel located by the exit is a perfect way to pry your eager children away from the animals and get them to the car. "After the animals, we'll ride the carousel and get a snack and get in the car. Okay?" "Okay Mom, you're so awesome." "Thanks!"

Okay, no this dog wasn't at the zoo. But he's so special, he should be! This special animal is our 19 year old pup Ricky. He's SO old and sweet and is tired all the time. He even wears a St. Francis charm around his neck.

So, are you starting to agree that things in Texas are bigger and better? Or, is all this Texas talk (the Bush books for my parents included) making you want to gag?

Never mind, don't answer that. I know what what you'll say. (-:

Christmas in Review, Part 2

2010-12-29T09:25:00.000-05:00

And Christmas may officially be over now.

1. Because Maggie, Alex's sister, and her husband Tim had their little baby! On the 26th, little Max was born. The perfect Christmas gift. It sounds like everything went according to plan and little Max, Mom, and Dad are all well. Resting at home. The little Christmas miracle.

2. The last of the celebrations ended yesterday with my family. Cousin time, yummy food (Texas sheet cake and Irish coffee...yes please!), and of course, of course more presents. Yee Haw.

3. We are headed to the mall today to pick-up the clearance specials. It's over, people. And we hope to find lots of cute cheap things.

4. Everyone is sick. My sister has strep throat. My niece has no voice. The Large clan all have colds. This always happens. So much fun, so much exhaustion, so much sickness.

And we've got the photos to prove it.

The Imperfect #1

2010-12-27T13:00:00.000-05:00

From the Wall Street Journal. Monday, December 27, 2010. Page B8. The Sports Section. Written by Jason Gay.

The top 10 sporting moments of the year.

1. The Perfect Near Perfect Game.

Sure, it seems cuckoo to declare a midseason start by a Detroit Tiger pitcher who finished the season 4-9 the Sports Moment of 2010. But Armando Galarraga's June 2 performance against Cleveland was exceptional not just for what he did- throwing 8 and 2/3 perfect innings until umpired Jim Joyce wrongly ruled that Mr. Galarraga failed to touch first and record the final out-but for his dignity and perspective in the aftermath. As an emotional Mr. Joyce excoriated himself ("I just cost that kid a perfect game") the hurler declined to roast the umpire, transforming a potentially anarchic moment into the feel-good sport story of the year. "Nobody's perfect," he said.

He's not kidding. If 2010 taught us anything, it's that no one's even close to perfect.

Cheers to Armando Galarraga and his grace to Jim Joyce. Because Galarraga is in touch with his imperfections, he is able to forgive someone else for their's. And that's a remarkably difficult thing to do.

And cheers to Jason Gay for recognizing the beauty of this moment to mark it as #1. It's so beautiful because it was such an unnatural move. Jim Joyce recognized his fault. And Galarraga forgave him. No one would have blamed Galarraga for being angry or lashing out, but instead, we were all surprised to see his grace.

The grace is touching because it's undeserved. And that's the kind of grace that changes people's lives. I bet Jim Joyce's life will forever be blessed by the kindness shown to him.

Reading that made my Monday. I hope you're having a surprisingly good Monda too. Am I the only one still recovering from the holiday?

Christmas in Review

2010-12-26T07:51:00.000-05:00

Elation was mixed with pure exhaustion and we enjoyed a wonderfully lazy day.

We started the day with sweet rolls from a can, bacon, and coffee. Lunch was peanut butter sandwiches and dinner was frozen pizza with a chocolate birthday cake for Jesus. Needless to say, I am finished with the kitchen. We are on the outs. Only leftovers or frozen, thank you very much.

We watched the snow and Swan Lake.

We talked with the family online. 4 Large families in 4 cities all talking in pajamas together. I love technology. Napoleon Dynomite, anyone?

We bundled up and scootered outside but didn't stay long.

We went to bed at 9pm. Merry Christmas to me, right?

Today is Sunday so we are up and at 'em again. Alex left the house hours ago. Christmas on Saturday is killer for clergy. Christmas on Wednesdays are the best!

It's been an abundant week. And God's presence has been very real to us. And for that, we are thankful.

Merry Christmas!

Hospitality

2010-12-23T13:28:00.000-05:00

It's been a full week. I'm treating myself to a seat on the couch and a blog post to share because I just cut my 10 pound pork tenderloin and it is marinading for the day. Protein accomplished. Time for a break.

My friend wrote a short blog post on the importance of community (click here to see it) and it really rang true for me. This week has been all about community.

I wrote earlier about 3 friends who need our prayers. I'm pleased to say all 3 are moving in positive directions and there's no doubt in my mind that the Lord is blessing them with peace and healing. And I also know they have been blessed by a great community of loving people. We are the hands and feet of Jesus and a lot of people are coming out of the woodwork to help.

It's incredibly touching.

Our friend E was in a car accident. So a mom in our mother's Bible study quickly devised a plan to bless her with food and cards and well wishes. She designated her house as a drop off point and arranged for delivery. And she told me that women she had never met were bringing meals to her house for E. This community of women went above and beyond the call of duty to help and it undoubtedly reflected the lavish love that God has for us.

The spirit of giving this season has been very real.

And I think giving is beautiful just like this little girl's smile. :-)

My friend Dorry wrote blog post this week on Christmas shopping (click here to see it) and it reminded me how much I dislike shopping. It's just not very fun for me. But, on the other hand, I love the grocery store. I love feeding people and entertaining and giving to friends in that way. And this Christmas week, I've had ample opportunity to do so.

We had a fabulous time Tuesday with our college friends. Lots of razzing each other. Lots of merriment. And lots of laughs. When we're together, we (for better or for worse) revert right back to our college days.

Wednesday, we hosted our Colorado friends for supper. Exhausted and drained, they are pleased to be safe in town and are eagerly awaiting their son and brother who should be meeting them here shortly from Germany (and previously from Afghanistan). It was a warm evening of community. And tomorrow, we'll do it again with church friends and staff resting between our 3 Christmas Eve services.

It's been a blessing for me to host so much this season. A yummy meal and a cozy home is such a gift to share. It's doesn't have to be the most creative food or have lavish place settings or be perfectly coordinated. It just has be authentic and people feel loved.

And now my break is coming to an end. Dora's Christmas show is over. Eloise is headed my way and I think we're going to knock out some brownies before Cordelia awakes.

(And don't tell anyone. Our pie for Christmas Eve is Sara Lee's frozen apple dutch pie. It's going to be awesome.)

Snow Fairy

2010-12-21T13:23:00.000-05:00

Our beautiful Snow Fairy is showing us the beauty of this week.

Thank you, Snow Fairy.

Comfort, Healing, Strength

2010-12-20T20:10:00.000-05:00

Even though this week is supposed to be full of hopeful expectation, baking, parties, last minute gift shopping, and late night toy assembly, it's already been full with a lot more.

A lot more disappointing things than holiday stress.

I ask for your prayers for our friend D. who has been wounded in Afghanistan. For comfort in his soul, healing in his body, and strength on his journey ahead.

I ask for your prayers for our friend E. who was in a car accident last night on the way home from our church pageant. Please pray for comfort in her soul, healing in her body, and strength in her journey ahead.

And, I ask for your prayers for our friend S. who is suffering from a brain tumor. Pray for comfort in her soul, healing in her body, and strength for her journey head.

I've been burdened all day with the troubling conditions of these three friends. They've been heavy on my heart and mind as I've stepped through each part of my day. And I wondered to myself, why Lord? this is Christmas. why so much sadness right now?

The answer came to me in my next thought.

This is why I came.

This is our Christmas celebration. Jesus came to comfort, heal, and strengthen us.

Our hope arrived in a manger, endured great suffering, knows us intimately, and because of this, we can all have a merry Christmas.

My Disordered Life

2010-12-19T12:53:00.000-05:00

Yuck!

For the next year my life is going to be disordered, unruly, and flat out dirty.

I've been spinning around the kitchen for the past hour trying to clean-up breakfast, prepare lunch for the girls and me, clean-up lunch, and get some meatballs in the crock pot of this afternoon's church pageant and birthday party for Jesus. Phew!

And I've been trying not to slip and fall on this thing that is right in my path. But typical me, I haven't bothered to bend over and pick it up. Instead I just avoid and get more and more annoyed each time.

Ugh! This house. No order! I really can't live like this.

Then I looked down to see what it was that I was actually cursing...

Do you know what that is?

That's a toilet paper roller.

The culprit--Cordelia. She absolutely loves to unroll all the toilet paper and pull out the roller and spread the love all over the house. And no, I don't let her just play by herself in the bathroom. There's usually a sister involved. A sister that is using the bathroom and a younger sister that is very curious and watches and then helps and . . .

Don't worry. Please don't be afraid to come to my house. I've put the bathroom back in order and I'm now, after looking at this photo, I think I'm going to mop too.

Yes she did!

2010-12-18T12:43:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry for my brief blogging delay. I know you are so eager to know the outcome of Friday's pageant, Mom. (-:

It was exhausting and wonderful. Eloise was blue dynamite. She wore her costume so proudly. Walked down the aisle hand in hand with Joseph. Cordelia let our friend hold her during the big show, and Alex cracked some great jokes which added some much needed levity. Preschool pageants should be fun and relaxed, definitely not to be taken too seriously.

Hopefully I'll have a photo to share soon.

But my biggest brag is that Eloise is now the proud owner of a new watch.

"Ask me what time it is, Mom."

"What time is it, Eloise?"

"It's four and two minutes."

"Thanks, sweetie."

Eloise bought her new watch with her paci. Alex and Eloise went to the toy store. We told her she could pick any toy in exchange for the pacifier. She handed the watch and the paci to the clerk, who was a little confused and not humored. Alex whispered, "just take it and throw it away." And Eloise was so proud!

Her pacifier is gone and she hasn't looked back once. We couldn't be more proud of our big little girl.

Like I said, hopefully some photos coming your way soon.

Oh, and if you can't find us in the next few days, we'll be at church. :-)

Pink Snow Grace

2010-12-16T19:41:00.000-05:00

Today it snowed.

It was beautiful, calm, and quiet. I think that's what I love most about the snow. It absorbs the outside world.

There's a magical stillness that comes with snow.

And I like that for a while. But I also love the fun that it brings. Being outside when it's cold stinks. It's just cold. But being outside when it's cold and snowy is fun.

So we suited up and headed out to play.

Eloise worked hard. She tugged and pulled and really leaned into the hill. And I just sat there taking photographs.

It was worth it though, because when we hit the downhill, both girls laughed hysterically.

Have you ever seen so much pink in the snow? I mean really. I think all this pink is making me sick. I wish I had taken a photo of myself. I was wearing my black ski pants and my black coat with a blue/green hat. I'm cool and hip like that.

Eloise gave us some early Christmas gifts.

They are pink too.

I am still worried that Eloise won't put on her blue Mary costume tomorrow morning because it's blue AND if anyone calls it a robe instead of "a dress" I know she won't put it on. She informed me today that Mary wears "a dress not a rope."

"You mean a roBe, sweetie."

"No Mom, Mary wears a Dress!"

"Yes, sweetie, a dress."

The pageant is going to be adorable and I won't take a single photo at it. I'll be kneeling at the front of the aisle coaxing the cows, sheep, stars, shepherds, etc to come down the aisle. Alex will be narrating. And Cordelia, well, she'll be giving my left bicep a workout as I try to hold her and kneel and coax the children down the aisle. I don't think she'll sit with anyone else while she watches her mom, dad, and sister up in front of the church.

Oh, yes, we'll all be in front of the church tomorrow. We better get used to it, I guess, because this is the way it's going to be, for a while at least, until the girls are teenagers and refuse to enter the church building at all.

Anyway, this post was really about snow and pink and playing. And by the grace of God, my girls will love coming to church when they are teenagers.

I love my girls

2010-12-15T20:43:00.000-05:00

I don't have much to say in this post. I think all I have to say is that I love my girlies.

And these photos melt my heart and tickle my soul.

And I'm officially very cold sitting in my own house right now and that makes me want to go to bed immediately.

Why do I blog when there is laundry to fold?

2010-12-14T17:12:00.000-05:00

Why do I blog when there is laundry to fold and a dishwasher to empty and 1,000 toys to pick-up and 2 sweaters that need to be hand washed that have been sitting on the laundry machine for 4 weeks?

That's a very good question!

My neighbor is a physician's assistant. And so she cares for lots of patients everyday. Her boss gave her an unusual assignment for tomorrow, though. She is to do a webinar (which is a new word for me) about de-stressing during the holidays.

I laughed out loud when she told me this today.

1. I love the term webinar.
2. She's never used power point and is now clicking away to figure the program out.
3. De-stress during the holidays? That's a joke, right? I mean, come on, what would the holidays be if there was no stress. Stress is what makes the holidays happen. We all know that if I didn't run around making gifts and cookies and decorating and touring the neighborhood lights and attending parties and chairing the pageant, it wouldn't be very fun....I know, I know, we could sit around and ponder the meaning of Christmas...but that wouldn't be very festive, would it? (I'm party kidding, I'm partly serious.)

So I laughed at her. And like any good leader, she enlisted my help. (When someone is against you, bring them on your team. Great leadership idea.) So I'm supplying her with some photos of Christmas and stress and my limited power point knowledge This is what I came up with.

So why do I blog when I have a billion chores to do? Because blogging is fun to me. And blogging is a de-stress for me. And I don't have to blog so it's naturally so much more enjoyable. Doing things that I have to do is really no fun at all.

I hope your holidays are stressful/not stressful/stressful enough to be full/stressless enough to contemplate the reason for the season.

And I hope my photos of my everyday life--chaos and beauty/stress and fun-- can reach some of the attendees of my neighbor's webinar. If nothing else, it's sure to make a few people smile, right?