Monday, November 30, 2009

Family Beach Trip

We want to thank our sister for all she did to pull together our family beach trip. It was so good to see everyone, and especially spend time with our sweet niece!

Thank you sister!

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Here are a few beach photos of the family.

My mom with her grandchildren:
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My brother, his wife and there baby (my niece!)

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Sunday, November 29, 2009

A Nice Birthday

This weekend my FL family came to Savannah GA. It was a halfway point for our family and my family. So my sister planned this wonderful birthday weekend for me in Tybee Island and Savannah.

The area is so beautiful, and we went down to River Street at least 3-4 times! There was a lot happening there on the waterfront...lots to see. We went twice during the day, and once at night. Wow, the streets are really alive at night!

Thanksgiving Day my sister made reservations for dinner at The Lady and Sons restaurant. This is Paula Deen's main restaurant in Savannah. While we were there, we found out from her nephew that all of the family had just been there the day before having lunch. Then, he told us that they would be at Bubba's on Sat.

We already had plans for lunch on Sat at Bubba's (Paula Deen's brother's restaurant). This is when they were supposed to be there...how neat is that! They had lunch on the back deck, and we were able to go and meet with them ON my actual birthday! Also, we met Paula's Uncle Bob, and found out that his family are all from our home town on FL. :) So neat!

Here is a photo we had made with Paula Deen's nephew. Then following are photos from our day at Bubba's, where we met the Deen family.


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Monday, November 23, 2009

Great Family Photoshoot!

Had a great time the other day with a sweet family. :) Such an adorable boy!!

Click Here to see a few from their shoot: Family Photo Shoot

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Our Tuesday

In between school lessons this morning, we had a little photo session. I've been working more with my 3-pc lighting kit. My friend Kristie came over to give me some pointers on positioning the lighting.

Before she arrived, I had done a lot of practice shots. (I'll post a few later)

This is one I snapped on the fly because it was just so funny to me. I caught DS grabbing his face saying, "Mom, my face hurts from smiling so much!!" heehee...

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This was spur of the moment, however I was so glad to play around with my lighting kit. My mother in law had spoken with me night before last. She said that our Aunt is working on something where she needs a photo of our children. We thought it would be great if it somewhat matched one of our nieces and nephew with a white background that they had taken last yr.

So, Kristie came over to play with the lighting kit with me! :) She was a big help, and then we took the kids outside and she snapped some fun shots of the kids with her 5d. :)

A few months back she had asked me to take family photos for her. I'd really planned to do my own of the kids, but since she was already here helping me with the lighting, she went ahead and snapped some casual shots. They look great! Love them!!

Such a nice, relaxing day of learning.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Toxic Relationships

Toxic friends repeatedly dishonor or betray you;play mind games;are unwilling or unable to see how their acts affect others;have an excuse and a finger pointing somewhere else.They take, but do not receive.They take, but do not give.They take you for granted.Their actions consistently reveal that they do not value you.They make you invisible.They refuse to name the beauty and love you bring into their lives- written by Maria Mar

Taken from this article...

Toxic Relationships-Stop the Toxic Dance

By the way...I do not believe in Karma...or a few spiritual aspects of this article. (I do believe in the law of sewing and reaping though) However, I do think the article has a lot of good points on toxic relationships in my opinion.

I've been giving a lot of thought to toxic relationships lately (and how I've allowed them to effect my life). I do not have to participate, or allow people to manipulate and mistreat me. I can love them in Christ/pray for them, but don't have to be their best buddy. ;)

Healthy Boundaries is my new motto!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Don't Forget to Remember!

We say Happy Veteran's Day - a day to be thoughtful and thankful for those men and women who gave, given, give their all; Who have lived, and died all for our country's freedom.

Yesterday, my DD asked me, "mom, would you really die for Jesus's sake"? This caught me off guard and honestly stunned me. I never think about it. We are so spoiled and have no idea what suffering for Jesus is. All I could honestly say to her is, "Yes, we must be willing to die for Jesus".

We say that we love the Lord, and we would die for Him to defend our faith...but would really? When it comes down to it, do we really know what we would honestly do in such horrific situations?

These men and women of our military DO know what this means. They have made the decided choice to be willing to die for our country; some have experienced great pain, and others have experienced death of loved ones from the battle.

It truly amazes me to know brothers and sisters who would purposely put their lives on the line. That is so major!!!

This has caused our family to reflect on the depth of what this means...and right now we cannot comprehend it.

So "Thank You" seems very trite to say to those who choose to put their lives on the line for our country. Every day, I want to be thankful for them, not only a few days out of the year. We still have brothers and sisters who are defending our freedom even today...putting their lives on the line so we can live out freedom in our country.

Wow! This video made me cry...What a beautiful tribute!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Don't Speak Jesus to Me

Some of my thoughts and writings of the day. By the way...Don't copy these words to use without asking permission first. Not that this is worthy of someone snagging...however, be respectful and ask first.

Don't speak Jesus to me if you aren't willing to love-love me where I am at, with all of my fears and failures; if you aren't willing to forgive-forgive me for all of my short-comings and struggles with sin; if you aren't willing to extend mercy and grace-the same mercy and grace you scream for in your trying times. Don't speak Jesus to me if you aren't willing to cry and rejoice-cry with me when I cry in pain, rejoice with me when I rejoice. Don't speak Jesus to me if you live without compassion toward your brothers and sisters who haven't (according to you) "gotten there" yet. Don't speak Jesus to me if you aren't willing to have staying power to see me through - written by Jennifer Kent

Monday, November 9, 2009

Moved

Well...we moved this past weekend. Only a few doors down from where we were. Yet, I think it is more work to move only a few doors down, than it is to load it all in a truck at once, and unload it at the next location!

However, we're IN. Now...we need to get organized. DD and DS are so thrilled to have their own rooms again!! What a blessing!

We gained more living space, but lost quite a bit of storage closet space. That's OK, though. Gives me more reason to give away and simplify even more! :) It is such a blessing to give away things we have accumulated...things we really do not need, and someone else can use.

We are thankful for every hand of help that we had during our move. My fibromyalgia has flared a bit, but it is manageable and at least I am not bedridden for days like the last move! Thank you Lord!!

Our niece is going to be in the Miss Teen NC USA pageant this weekend. We will be cheering our girl on; you will hear us in the western part of the state all the way from the eastern part!!! :)) It is going to be televised... I think on NBC. Thank goodness our cable guy came today...we're all set for the weekend pageant!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Monday Monday Monday

The morning did not begin great...with DD having nausea and vomiting. (thought the neti pot was supposed to wash those germs away. haha)

We really think it is from her eating too much candy, and junk over the weekend. The kids always pack it in at Halloween, and even Josh admitted to having nausea last night. We don't keep candy in the house.

She did look pale yesterday though. I never mentioned to husband that she looked pale, but she walked in from sleeping all afternoon today, and the first thing he said was that she looked pale. She slept a lot, and is complaining that her back feels hot. When I touch her back, it is not hot. So that is a little strange. She is able to keep crackers down this evening.

Husband had to go into the office this morning, but has been home all afternoon...still with us. :) We've gotten a lot accomplished with packing, but have quite a bit more left to pack up. I don't think it is going to be all that bad. We're not moving far, so we can make trips back and forth easily.

This weekend is our scheduled move. A few from our church family have offered to help, a few from a church we are partnering with, and a few neighbors have also offered to lend a hand. We'll definitely need strong hands for the largest furniture. Praying for a nice weekend with NO rain! :)

Looks like dinner will be turkey sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. :)

Halloween Costumes 2009!

DD was a Hippie:

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DS was a Braves fan. He had face paint on, but took it off because it bothered him. lol

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Nothing fancy, used items we already had. We did buy DD's jeans and tank, but she can wear those again and again because they are actually in style right now. haha!