He is clearly seen.

I did a shoot with the nicest couple:  Nate and Diana.  They met in college and were friends for a long time before becoming a couple.  Being around them made me remember how sweet the time of engagement is.  They just enjoy being together and while they are excited to be getting married, I got the impression that they are more interested in spending their lives together.  They are laid back and really enjoyable to be around.  Here are few from our time together:

For some time now I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what this blog is.  Because as I mentioned when I first posted it, I had been blogging as a way of journaling for a long while.  It appeared to be a good idea to begin blogging to display the photographs I take and so I undertook that challenge.  The problem is that I soon discovered that I was self-editing what I wrote, probably because there are people who take a peak at my blog that don’t personally know me and most likely are just interested in photography.  I love that.  But I have to tell you something – it has become impossible for me to maintain this blog without journaling what is in my brain and heart.  I understand that if you are interested mainly in photography, you might not appreciate and may even be offended by some of my views.  I guess I’m just putting this out there as a way of saying this: you are welcome here.  Really, you are.  But please be advised that I can’t try to be politically correct in an effort not to offend.  I have to maintain who I am and that means that I have to jot down what I think.  I’m kind of a here-is-what-I-think girl.  So, I understand if you unbookmark my site!  But if I do have friends out there that want to continue to take a peak, I look forward to hearing from you

Last night Bill Clinton was introduced at the convention with the following words:  ”one of the greatest Presidents of the United States of America”.  What has happened to us as a nation when tens of thousands of Americans applaud wildly for a president who not only did extremely immoral things in the oval office but lied to Americans about it?  The admiration and elevation of this man is beyond my understanding.  We all make mistakes, some seemingly worse than others, but to hold this man up as some kind of hero doesn’t make sense to me.  I think about the definition of a hero – of a great person – and how I would describe that to my children.  And this man doesn’t even come close.

I watched approximately 4 minutes of the historic speech tonight.  The one question I have from the 4 minutes I watched is this:  How exactly is the entering into horrible mortgage terms by some Americans and the astronomic credit card debt sustained by Americans President Bush’s failed economic policy?  It seems to me that most people have no one but themselves to blame for the economic circumstances in which they find themselves.  Yes, there are exceptions to that statement.  However, let’s take responsibility for ourselves, admit when we make mistakes and bad decisions and stop trying to blame someone else.  Let’s stop trying to find someone to fix it for us and dig in and fix it ourselves.

My baby has a real hero.  This pooch comes running the moment this little one begins to cry.

The dictionary’s definition of [Dog-ma-tism]:  unfounded positiveness in matters of opinion; arrogant assertion of opinions as truth.

My example of [dog-ma-tism]:  2008 Democratic National Convention

I know some of you reading this blog will disagree with me.  But the truth of the matter is that I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not.  And the convention is getting to me.

On a much more beautiful note:  My littlest in both black and white & color.

There is so much swimming around in my head this week with the extra big sixth grader, the new-school-everyday kindergartener and well, to be honest, with that convention going on in Denver.  I won’t even address the last thing on my list until I have it flushed it out in my brain.  And to be quite honest, it may take a while for all of that nonsense to get flushed.  In the meantime, I’ll just make photos of my girls.

Second day of school:

The big one has volleyball tryouts later this week and we’ve all been practicing:

School.  Began today.  My littlest entering Kindergarten.  She was excited and so was I – even if I did shed a few tears (out of view of everyone, however).

Last night in anticipation of the first day of school, I began planning the breakfast meal.  Every year, on the first day of school, we make Oreo shakes.  Only on the first day of school.  And we eat on a special day plate.  However, we only have one special day plate.  We’ve only needed one on the first day of school – until now.  So, I was stressing last night about the special day plate and the fact that I only have one.  And then I decided to pull out my china and use that – we’ve got enough place settings!

So, we had oreo shakes in the beautiful china coffee cup:

And, well, there is ice cream involved – hence the ice cream headache:

We went outside to take some photographs of the first day of school.  Sometimes the children get too “posy”…..meaning their smiles are contrived and they look really unnatural.  Has that ever happened to you?  Here is a tip:  if that ever happens, have them walk toward you.  It takes their mind off of the photograph and you’ll end up with something much nicer:

Another one to start the day:

This is the first year M walked up to her classroom by herself.  She was all “bye mama”, with a big smile, taking off without me, Papa or little sis.  I’m telling you, she’s going to sprout wings pretty soon and take off.  And then I’m going to have to hire a helicopter pilot to go and retrieve her…..’cause I’m just not ready for the flying.  Wandering on foot a few feet from the nest I can handle right now – the flying, not so much.

The little one tried to take off on us too, but we can still tell her to slow down and she listens.  So she never got too far ahead.

And then there is our sweet little Kindergartener.  She walks right up to a little girl and proudly says, “Hi, my name is ….”  The little girl promptly ignored her but she was unfazed with a smile on her face the entire time.

A few days ago I stopped at a fast food restaurant & the most delightful young person helped me.  She was working very hard but had a smile on her face and after she had given everything to me, she said, “do you need anything else, miss?”  

I left thanking God for her because she made my heart happy.  Why?  Well, let’s just say that she had a wonderfully sweet demeanor.  Plus she worked hard.  I was determined to call the shop and tell her manager about how hard I saw her working and her sweet attitude.  However, I got home and little ones came running and time got away.

This morning, on my way to take M to the ice rink, I saw the same delightful young lady riding her bike to the fast food restaurant at which I’d first encountered her.  And it was early.

That made me think that God wanted me to call her manager or to do something.  Because what are the odds that after I had forgotten to call about her I would see her?  Close to zero I’d have to say.  So I began to think about how I could make her day.  I really wasn’t sure how, but I was determined to do something today (in between all of the school supply gathering that needed to happen!). 

After we ran all of the school supply errands, I took the girls to this restaurant.  I was really hoping that the young lady would be there.  I asked God to just present an opportunity for me to do something for her – even if it was just a kind word.  She had made an impression on me, after all.  We sat down to eat our food and the manager walked by.  I said, “excuse me, sir,”.  He stopped and smiled.  I continued, “that young lady right there, do you see her?”

“Yes”, he looked at me and he was worried.  I’m certain he thought I was going to complain about something.

“She is a delightful young woman.  She has a constant smile on her face and she works very hard, sir.  Well, she is just very smily.”

He was shocked.  ”Oh, yes, I know.”  I wasn’t surprise by his response.

“What is her name?” I said.  

He told me her name.  And now I will pray for her.  I’m not sure why.  I just know that’s what I’m supposed to do at this point.

And then the man across the aisle leaned over and said “excuse me maam”.  

I looked at him and he continued, “you are a gem of a customer.  I just heard what you said to that manager.  I once worked in the food service industry and, well, you are a diamond because most customers don’t look for the good.”

He made me smile.  That was God saying thank you.  Just so you know.  

And then, ten minutes later, a lady sitting just down the aisle from us stopped at our table as she was leaving.  ”Well, you complimented the worker and I’m going to compliment you!  You have the most well behaved children.  They are very well behaved and very kind.  I watched them before you came with their drinks.”

And there you have it.  That is how our God works.  Blessing upon blessing upon blessing when we listen to His direction and obey.

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And now some photographs.  The following photographs were taken of the children in this world (except two other little boys) that will have my heart forever.  By the way, they are all very smily – like my new friend at the restaurant.

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And now the clubhouse.  Built by the most amazing Papa ever.  This little girls couldn’t ask for a more amazing Papa and uncle.  Uncle Jimmy came up this week to help Papa build this clubhouse.  Don’t you wish you were 5 or 11 again?  It’s not completely finished, but who cares about trim and shingles when you have a place to conduct clubhouse business?

Little girls LOVING their new clubhouse:

They even have guard dogs protecting their new digs:

The clubhouse has just the right kind of reading material for creative little girls:

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And one last one.  I couldn’t help myself.  We went to the farmer’s market this morning and snagged these for $6.  Can you believe that?  Order these from a florist and you are sure to pay over $30.  Right?

In anticipation of the new school year beginning, I won’t be shooting much over the next few weeks.  If you are interested in booking a photography session in September, please do so quickly as there are only a few dates available.

Just a few from around here today:

Tonight I read to the children from Acts 5, which has some really wonderful things to discuss.  The second half of this chapter describes a time when the apostles are put in jail for talking and teaching about Jesus.  ”v19, But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, ‘Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.’  And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.”

The children began talking about the angels freeing the apostles from prison.  And O says “I know another way to get people out of jail!”  My ears perked up at that because I wasn’t quite sure where she would go with that and, more importantly, why she knew anything about getting people out of jail.  She went on, “Scooby Doo was in jail once and they put a piece of gum on the key and the dog helped them and then they got out of jail.”  

Isn’t that something?  The way children connect things together?  She heard “the angels got the apostles out of jail” and she goes right to Scooby Doo, the gum and the key.  I just LOVE it.  I love, love, love the way her mind works.  And I love, even more, the fact that she blurts it out and doesn’t feel the need to filter it.

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We are enjoying the few remaining days of summer. School begins shortly and there is no time to waste. The new clubhouse is being built at record pace (I’ll have photographs to share once it is ready), bike parades are being planned and innovation and imagination are being employed to the hilt around here. You’ll love these snapshots of how we’ve been using our electric scooter:

There is something about the water…..that makes me relax and slip into a joyful state.  Lakes, oceans, rivers – any body of water does it.  I know I’m not the only one drawn to it. Last night we found a little dock by a lake and took these: