Weblog

Monday, July 28, 2008

  • Alaska

    A beautiful piece of God's creation. Pictures just don't do justice to the sheer size of everything. My pictures certainly don't do justice to the beauty. I wish I could have taken more just to improve my chances of a great shot.

    The only thing that was truly disappointing in this trip was that the weather was generally foggy and rainy, with the mountain peaks only visible enough to tempt me with their majesty. It had that feeling of being in a dreamworld.


    It made me think of how God has a beautiful piece of art for each  our lives. Beautiful colors that reflect His beauty. But many times He allows the fog to hide it. Only He knows why. We get stuck thinking that all there is is fog. That there is nothing beyond that. That it is a solid wall. A dead end. Or that we must be doing something wrong if we can't see Him at all times.


    But there is God, on the other side of that veil, not only knowing all and seeing all but orchestrating all. He knows that right behind that cloud is a beautiful mountain top.
    That is a place where we are in the presence of the Savior. That place where we know we are walking in the will of God, heading up the trail He has set us upon. That place where there is no wall of separation between our souls and our God.


    It is a wonderful and glorious when He allows to be on those mountain tops. It is so encouraging when He even allows glimpses of those mountain tops through the fog. I think He does that just to lift us from our weary wandering so that we can continue on the trail. Even though the path is not always straight:



    To change to a totally different ( and shallower) subject:
    Tell you what: there is nothing like fresh seafood, straight from the water to the pot. Crabs until we were stuffed. Shrimp bigger than your hand. Halibut fried in olive oil and butter.Fresh Salmon Berry pie. The bad about being on a boat is that you don't have anywhere to burn it all off though!

     



    This one was taken with a borrowed camera!


    Travelling around the world has brought many an interesting menu:


    A little sunshine on our last day (taken from the hotel room):  

    I loved all the wildlife I saw:








    As close to the bear as I could get with my 85mm:







    The scenery was amazing:























    There were so many different colors and textures:







    This one is called "Acceptance with Joy." (from Hinds Feet on High Places)









    And just for kicks:















    And our faithful first mate: Riley

     

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Monday, July 07, 2008

Saturday, July 05, 2008

  • Got this from www.ylcf.org

    Living as a Witness

    This involves “just you, winning one person to the Lord each year, training that person to live a victorious, reproductive Christian life—then the two of you doing the same with two more people the next year. Continuing in this activated, applying the principle of multiplication, your numbers would double each year thereafter…you and the people you discipled…will see six billion people come to a vital, thoroughly-grounded knowledge of the Lord in the early months of the thirty-third year.” Pg 27 of Personal Disciple-making by Christopher B. Adsit, Orlando: Campus Crusade for Christ, 1996.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

  • Tyler...finally

    I finally made time to work on Tyler's pictures. I still have some stacks of boxes, haven't worked on my check-book and budget, bought groceries, or the myriad of other of life's to do list. The thing is I usually don't even think about xanga until everything else is done and I have spare time, but oh well. Time to break the mold I guess. All you photographers out there give me your imput. I have learned a lot from constructive criticism, but I am still a very beginner. I am excited that I got good ones though.


























Sunday, June 29, 2008

  • Torture.....Never Mind

    I was about to write an entire post on how torturous it is to move our family. We have so much stuff. SOOO much junk.

    How did we accumulate so much stuff in three years? Of course, its everyone else who has junk. All my stuff is really necessary or really cool treasure.


    Actually I have decided to go through all my stuff and throw out the junk. I had lots of things, some found, lots given when grandmothers moved that I kept hanging on to, thinking that I would have my own home some day. That I would need it when I was setting up house. But, for whatever reason, God has not brought that into my life. I will just get rid of lots, not needing to hold on to so many material objects. I will just trust that God will provide for me when the time comes.


    I was about to go on about how tired I am. As I tried to get some sleep, sharing a mattress with my sister on the floor of the living room, all kinds of things woke me up. My brother, who evidently encountered a large scorpion. My mom's dying cell phone. People going to the bathroom.
    I was about to complain of how I can't find my clothes. How tomorrow is Monday and I now have an hour drive to work.

    BUT GOD......has intervened.
    I am listening to a sermon that I have a podcast subscription to. It is about life in the word. Of not wandering from God's word. Of hearing the Spirit of God. Because His word is truth. Because He is so good to give us grace. To give us His word. Because His grace is sufficient to carry me through all these little things.
    Because GOD IS GOOD. And all things work together for the good of those who love Him.

    Helping us move makes our friends lose their minds:



    Houses always look so big before we move in:

Sunday, June 22, 2008

  • Movin'

    Journeys.
    Not always fun.
    Sometimes extremely challenging.

    God is taking us on a journey right now. None of us are exactly sure why or what the end result will be. But, here we are  moving back to our old house. We have had it on the market for several years now. It is in a great location. Has lots of potential. We, nor anyone else has a clue why it never sold. God has a reason. But only He knows right now what that is.
    We had renters in for a while. They tore the place up. We had to replace so many things. Every surface had to be painted. Even the trees. Yes, the trees. We had to spray-paint them brown to cover the graffiti. They broke the stove, several windows.  This was all by people who claimed to be Christians. Sad. That those kind of people are sometimes what the world judges us by.
    So my family has spent the last couple of weeks working their fingers to the bone getting it ready for us to move back in. We are so sad to leave the little town we live in, that is so conveniently located to the city. Closer to the lake. Closer to many of our friends. Closer to the mall. Closer to Whole Foods. Closer to work.

    Wondering.
    Wandering???

    Just for the record, I haven't pitched in all that much, with my work schedule.
    Moving day is next Saturday. Most of the people we know are busy with things they can't change (weddings, trips etc) so it will be interesting to see how we will get a household of eleven people's stuff moved out of our 3-story house in one weekend.






     
     
     

    Oh, and throw in a couple of car problems for good measure. This one didn't even make it home. It had to stay at the "old" new house. Maybe she'll be fixed up for the big move. She may not be pretty, but she's big.

  • Photo Shoot

    I'm a couple of weeks behind, I know. But I just had to put these up. A couple of weeks ago we had such a great time hainging out with this person. I learned a lot of great new photo stuff, and thoroughly enjoyed the great talks.
    "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
    She posted a lot of great shots here, so I didn't want to put the same ones up. Here are a few more that I liked a lot.



















Saturday, June 21, 2008

  • Senior Shots of Tyler

    My first photo shoot. A real photo shoot!
    I will  post some more when I have time to really look through them and edit them a little. I'm excited because I think some of them are pretty good. Tyler was such a good sport. He was so cooperative even though it was SO hot. 
    We did these here in town, and then we are going to do some out at the lake. Then I will really capture Tyler. He is an awesome wake-boarder. I think that will be a lot of fun.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Wednesday, June 11, 2008