a little sad...

Because I'm starting to realize how it's totally fall back home. The leaves are turning, the apple orchards are beckoning, the air is crisp and cool and I'd be pulling out the sweaters.

Not complaining. It's just going to be a mental adjustment for me. I have always adored the change of the seasons, as one wraps up I'm always ready for the next one, kwim? I loved the distinction of the seasons (esp in Iowa) and I have missed that for some time now. But seriously people, it's still like 89-92 here on a daily basis. My yard is still massively growing and the tree in the front looks like it's never going to let go of any leaves. It's just strange.

I will say I am thankful that I've always had an appreciation for fall and I don't think I've ever taken one for granted. I've taken time to enjoy long walks with bright blue autumn skies and smelling the harvest. I didn't anticipate leaving the Midwest, but I enjoyed my seasons there to the fullest. And here, well I really appreciate the ocean and the seagulls in the parking lot at Target. And we have so much rain here, it's so pleasant to awaken to the sound of rain on your rooftop.

just sentimental tonight. needing some sleep.

out for the count.

So I'm taking it easy today, per my husband's instructions. He left me carseatless in an effort to get me to take chill. And since I have no voice today, I couldn't really argue. :) ds
We had a great day yesterday, taking in time with my cousin John and his lovely family, Amanda, Abigail and Lily. I felt bad though, I was not myself at all - just really coming down with something I guess. But we still had a good time and the girls got along famously.
So today I am expoing and taking it easy with Sare. Hoping to go to Clear Lake tomorrow and discover a new resale shop, Sarah is in dire need of church clothes and I haven't found anything I remotely like lately. Maybe I'll look around online today. I'm getting a little desperate.

Missions Convention Recap.

Whew.

We survived the weekend. (and the people rejoiced!) It sounds like a small task, but I garauntee you, it was insane! We literally ran from 7am to 10pm Saturday and Sunday, dragging the kids behind us all the way. :) Sadly, Sarah woke up in the night coughing, so we are laying low today. She's perched in front of 'The Little Mermaid' right now.
So missions convention was awesome. We really enjoyed getting to know the missionaries, the services, and just all the church wide socialization was great. So often Rob and I are busy with the youth (in a seperate building) so our time with the rest of the church seems pretty limited! We had no youth services or sunday school the past two days, so that was cool. Oh, and Pappa's was amazing. I really jumped out of my comfort zone and ordered Cedar Plank Salmon - it was delicious! The best part is that the church pledged $47,000 to missions. Isn't that amazing??
I'm just super thankful to be here. What a blessing.

In other news, I got an email from Janet Hopkins (works for Heidi Swapp) and she's going to let me photograph her beautiful family in November. I'm sooooo excited!!
This week should be a little slower. (whew) My cousin John and his family will be visiting on Thursday, I'm looking forward to that! And staff meeting. Beyond that, just the usual. And catch up on my house. Good times.

can't tell you..

how insanely busy it's been this week. Man. I know my blog has suffered and for that I'm sorry. But everything else is going great! :) Makes you feel better, right?

Today we went to Houston for the Kids In Ministry contest. Eli loved it and did pretty well, except for using the words and never looking up, once. So sad, cause he practiced so hard and was so ready, till they gave him the option to use the words. fatal flaw. But he got an excellent and a fun medal and he's happy.

Then we scurried home to the Missions Banquet. Wow, that was awesome. After three months here, I'm still pinching myself. Love the people here, love our job, love the freedom and responsiblity we have. It's all good.

And right now I'm ready to love my bed. toodles.

(oh, and tomorrow we are eating at Pappadeaux's. Yay! Seriously, Yay!)

Plod On, Plod On, Plod On.

Heard a sermon once. Dr. George O. Woods. Pretty sure he's our General Superintendent in the Assemblies of God now. Great man. Anyhoo, he talked about an overall rule of life. "Plod on, plod on, plod on." It really stuck with me. That's kind of where I'm at this morning. Buried under a pile of work... some of it busy work (expo uploads) and some of it fun and exciting work (children's ministry room overhaul ideas) but all of it overwhelming and I'm kind of tempted to ditch work for the day and scrapbook instead. :) Tempted, but I probably don't have the guts to do it! Maybe I'll work this morning and play this afternoon. That sounds like a plan.

Crop

Wow. I had so much fun last night. First of all, it was just amazing to get away and have some down time for me. No children, no church stuff, no family. Just little ole me. It was good, I was starting to forget what I look like on my own. :) I totally wasn't in the mood to go scrapbook until about 2pm yesterday. I literally had to force myself to pack my stuff into my tote. I'm just kind of running on exhaust fumes lately, and taking time to scrapbook just sounded like more work. Gee, if that's not a red light, I don't know what is?? But cause I paid for the crop already, I followed through. And I'm so glad I did. I needed that six hours of mass creativity. Plus I got to meet Janet Hopkins of Heidi Swapp Advantus. Incredible. She's super sweet and incredibly creative. She was featured a lot in 'Just for Looks' which is one of my favorites and it never even occurred to me to bring my copy so she could sign it! duh. Anyhoo, I had a great time talking to her and listening to her and admiring her beautiful work. The photographs of it really don't do it justice. Her style is very different than mine, but awesome, just the same. I did get quite a bit of work done, five pages, which is impressive considering I was only there 6 hours, we ate and I did quite a bit of perusing in Tracy's awesome store. I love working in the store because any creative binge you might take is right there at your disposal. Some new products I played with last night included the American Craft Thickers and the Marah Johnson Velvet Brads. Oh, and I had to buy these crazy rubons because they inspired me every single time I walked past them and by the end of the night I figured I could come up with something to put them on!! So nonetheless I had a fantastic time. Oh, and the owl is totally Janet's inspiration. She put that together and I had to lift the owl, it was soooo cute!

so yesterday...

I had the awesome opportunity to photograph this couple. Incredible experience. I so love working with engaged couples, it's just really fun. I'd love to branch out and do some other people groups too (especially families, I'd love to shoot some families). But we left late yesterday afternoon for Galveston to take pictures on the The Strand and the beach. Incredible. First of all, the lighting was amazing, cloudy and a beautiful sunset. Secondly, this couple was just a blast to work with. We took about 280 photos and could have done more, but we lost our light.

I think Galveston is my new favorite photographic haunt. There are just a ton of cool spots to take pictures, lots of architecture and crazy colors and of course the beach. So Kim, you know I'm going to have to drag you down here when you come. :)

surprise!

Ok, so remember when I said I had a really fun blog post coming? I haven't forgotten. It's just been a little insane here. imagine that. :)

So the big deal is that I threw Rob a surprise birthday party on Wednesday night at church. He turned 30 (gasp) on Sunday. (I can't believe I'm sleeping with a thirty year old!) He's handled it really well though, probably about a million times better than I will! So I'm sharing some fun pictures from that event. We had a cookie cake and balloons and our students all brought gag gifts. It was fun. We also played I game that I made up called 'Buggy Boogie' - it's kind of like Mario Kart only with shopping buggies instead. Pretty cool.

Then on Thursday Rob and I spent the day together, it was amazing. Both of our kids were in school, so we just spent quality time together. Oh, and he bought me this little beauty. And I bought him one to match. :)