25 Things

Feeling a bit bloggy this morning. I found myself mentally blogging in the bathroom while I was doing my hair and makeup earlier. Just realized it's been a while since I've really caught you all up. Got to thinking a 25 Things list might be a good way to do it...

1.) I'm ignoring the task at hand for the moment (extremely uncharacteristic) and choosing to blog instead. I should be researching Christmas card templates for the staff card. We are taking the pictures tomorrow. I just finally found the last article of clothing needed for our 'coordinated' outfits this morning. whew.

2.) The 90th Anniversary is approaching with light speed! I'm excited, but a little nervous about all the details. Ready to unveil the cookbook already!

3.) We are having 2010 Calendar Planning today, tomorrow, and then again 2 days in the beginning of November. I really struggle with this annual meeting because it's a bit redundant and drawn out. The good part is, at least it's away time with Pastor and Linda. I'm grateful for that.

4.) My best friend, Lori, is selling her house and moving after 4 months in it. Her husband suddenly lost his job and it has been so hard to watch this happen to them. We are praying for a quick sale and a good new job for him. I believe, from the depths of my being, that God is in control. It is the only way that any of this life is tolerable. In the words of my good Bible buddy, Job, "Though He may slay me, yet I will trust Him." God is to be trusted, in all circumstances. Rob and I have ridden out our share of storms, and even right now there's one on our horizon, but God HAS NEVER failed us. And Lori and Jay serve the same God, who has never failed them either. Please be praying for them though, it's a trial for sure.

5.) Ironically, that being said, it's raining right now. I'm in the sanctuary (on the Mac) and I hear the rain pouring on the roof. One of my favorite sounds in the world, right next to the sound of my husband's voice and my children's laughter. What a blessing.

6.) Speaking of rain, our subdivision flooded massively last Wednesday. To the point that we were trapped, all our entrances were covered in water. Made me feel a bit claustrophobic. One of our friends flooded their car and ruined their engine. They need a new vehicle now. So very sad. Pray for them too!

7.) And last, but not least, on the subject of rain... God reigned in our services yesterday. He just showed up and it was awesome to behold. I say services because I really felt His presence in me in Sunday School even. I've been teaching on worship the past few weeks. We were talking about authentic worship and I just really felt His presence and leading in my teaching. Very cool. Then our students went on to 'push in' during service and you could tell! Rob lead a strong set of worship songs and Pastor gave a wonderful message. They also had Pastor Appreciation, which we appreciated!

8.) A bunny trail of Pastor's message was about Noah and how he wouldn't leave his household behind. Rob and I talk with our children continually about their walk with the Lord, but this was a good solid reminder to check in on our progress in that department. I'm finding myself lacking and it's an area I'm going to commit to working on. If we've spent our lives (and I mean spent; used up every last ounce of strength and effort) in ministry and yet lost our kids in the process, then we have really missed the big picture!

9.) Photography has been awesome lately. Not that I'm just busting out with bookings, but it has been steady. More that I've been taking a class in Houston on Monday nights and it has been terrific. I'm feeling so much more confident - that being said there is still a TON that I know that I don't know how to do yet, but I'm learning! And that is really cool. I can see so much growth in my work and that's very exciting. I absolutely love what I do, it's completely satisfying and uniquely mine and I am completely grateful for it.

10.) Eli's going to be Jesus and Sarah's going to be a bride for Halloween. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

11.) We are doing a Trunk or Treat for the first time at Trinity this year. I've been asked to volunteer a trunk and ours is going to be "Deep in the Heart of Texas" complete with stars hanging from the headliner and everything. I'm borrowing a saddle and bales of hay and having a horse shoe toss. All the the strains of "the stars at night, are big and bright" from the speakers. Should be a lot of fun!

12.) I had an amazing conversation with my sister yesterday. I'm so excited about the direction our relationship is heading in. God is in the restoration business. Don't ever be convinced otherwise.

13.) Speaking of being convinced. Rob spoke about 'Satans' Favorite Lies' last Wednesday night and it was great. I wish I had recorded it. Wow. I need to at least share part of the pamphlet he passed out. It's a list of 55 lies that Satan tells us and it is VERY eye opening. I got a lot out of it, so did our students. And he was funny! So cool to see him come into his own with preaching. Pastor is going to be on vacation here in the near future, so Rob will be speaking in big church and I am excited for him!

14.) I am completely in love with my Nikon d90. It has been such a good camera for me. Perfect size, perfect ability, just right for what I'm doing. This was such a good purchase for me, I have no regrets at all. It's been so neat to grow into my cameras, and neat that this business has been self-perpetuating.

15.) My kitchen really turned out fabulous. It's so fun to work in now. In fact, I go home and walk in to that room and just feel refreshed. It's so cozy and warm, just a happy place to hang out. Now I just need to get back to work on the trim. But I haven't been home at all lately, so that makes it hard to get any projects done.

16.) Rob and I are good. Probably even great. I love this season in our marriage. Can't believe we are coming up on 12 years this May. But we are just happy, building each other up, not tearing down. Filling in for each other's flaws. Hand in hand in ministry together. Wow. So good.

17.) Eli and Sarah are rocking it in school. We got their report cards a week or two ago, and they are doing awesome! That has to be a God thing, because Rob and I aren't putting the effort forth that we should be. Eli is working on a huge project for school though, and we are going to need to find some time to finish that puppy up. So hard to do that kind of thing for some reason.

18.) I miss fall. It's been a lot better here the past week or so with the weather cooling down a bit. Today I'm wearing a sweater. (woohoo!) But I miss the changing colors. But I love that it won't get bitter cold, so it's a trade off.

19.) Pastor and Linda have been in ministry for 45 years. Trinity gave them a trip to Israel to celebrate. Isn't that the coolest?? They were completely shocked, it was awesome!

20.) That's all I really have time for this morning. Now I need to get to work. I have a huge week and shouldn't have spent the time, but sometimes a little self-care is necessary. Happy Monday!!

Sarah's Day

Eli has been away all weekend at a Royal Rangers Pow-wow type thing. Sarah has had mom and dad to herself and has been eating up every minute of it. Last night we had a bonfire with theLOFT and it was a huge success. The weather was perfect and the fire was beautiful, only to be outdone by the sunset. It was incredible. Sarah really enjoyed that. Then today I had a photo shoot in the morning, so she spent that time cleaning Eli's fish tank with Daddy, and then loafing about the house until I got home. Once I got home we went out so Daddy could finish his sermon. We hit Bath and Body works at the mall and Penny's. Ran a few errands and shared a starbooks (as she says it). Redboxed a copy of Hannah Montana and came home to snuggle with Daddy while Mom did her previews. Then it was back out for dinner at Double Dave's (kids eat free) and home for an extended bath and then a book and bed. It was a lovely day. I had a happy family shoot, that's always a plus.

A will is what we leave TO our children, a legacy is what we leave IN them."

Saw this quote on FB this morning, from Dr. Ivan Satyavrata a missions professor at AGTS. Makes you think hard, doesn't it?

Pumpkin Patch

Rob and I are horrible parents.

We haven't taken our kids to the Pumpkin Patch since we lived in Illinois. But you have to understand, our last trip was to an amazing patch, with corn mazes, mini golf, a petting zoo, a live band, and an apple orchard. It's pretty tough to top all that.

But this morning Jennifer called and said they were going and I said we'd love to go with. What a great opportunity! The kids had a blast and I had a good 45 minutes to practice some of the photography skills I've been fine tuning for the past two weeks of class. Very fun!

I loved that Sarah took the time to change and bling herself out for a trip to the pumpkin patch. Both kids were pretty psyched about the whole experience. :) I love how she has at least 3 rings on this evening. Eli was pretty into it too, but was far more intent on finding the perfect pumpkin over posing for pictures for Mom.

Rob was pretty cool with the whole experience too, very patient. I just love this family! :)

Jen and Bart's kiddos were pretty stinking adorable as well.

Things are going well. I'm tired, it's been a long day. I'm recovering from a sinus issue and I spent today cleaning house for a support staff meeting this evening. I've got quite a few shoots to edit and I'm hoping to catch up tomorrow. I also have a few detailed blog posts partially written in my brain, but am too tired to attempt anything that deep right now. So sharing photos and then calling it a night. It was a very good day.

Eli took this last shot for us. ;)

Just Shoot Me

I've been messing around with my camera at home lately. All brought on by a photography class I've been taking in Houston. It's been really fun, and I'm super excited about it. These pics are SOOC (straight out of camera) and shot without a white balance check. Normally, I shoot in RAW and adjust white balance in post-processing, but for the class I'm taking it back a notch to JPEG and not doing any photoshop/color tweaking. Need to take the time to set my white balance next time, it's a just a little old school for me. Our house lights are extremely yellow because they are those swirly flourescent ones, irritating as a photographer, but brilliant as a frugal pastor's wife. :) All of these were shot indoors, no flash.


Pretty impressed with my hubby lately. We've been putting a lot of effort into our house the past few weeks. Seems like we go in tangents. :) Hadn't done a whole lot since our roof last November and I'm always of the mindset that the house needs to be a priority (financially and timewise) because it's our greatest financial investment. Houses left to themselves move towards chaos, especially in our climate! So, we've been doing the big cabinet rehaul in the kitchen and baths, I just finished the final touch ups on those yesterday. I'm slowly (ever so slowly) making my way through the house repainting the trimwork. Such a process. Seems neverending, and our house is only 1288 sq ft! Today Rob worked on switching out the guest bathroom faucet. I found a deal on 2 brushed nickel faucets at Walmart the other day, so he's graciously putting them in for us. Meanwhile, I'm replacing the hardware (tp holders, towel racks, and such). We are still searching for new light fixtures (brushed nickel) for both baths. But they are really coming together! I'm so in love with my kitchen after all this work, it's a joy to work in. Yesterday I deep cleaned the living room carpets, I need to do Eli's still. Our hope for our next stint of cooler weather is to go ahead and start painting the outside, since we found that 20 gallon bucket of our precise color on clearance last year and it's been waiting in the garage since just after Ike. We still want to clean out our flower beds as well. Our final major project is replacing the living room carpet with pergo-type woodish flooring. We entertain so much that white berber has proved to be a terrible choice the previous homeowners have saddled us with. :) I'd really love the hardwood knock off in our main 'living' area. The tile has been such an amazing choice in the kitchen and baths, I guess I have to give them the crazy white carpet choice in the other rooms. And really, it's very comfy in the bedrooms. I'd be very open to anyone's recommendations for brand... We have about 5 or 6 vacation days left in 2009 and are thinking that would be a great use of it at some point here before Dec. 31.
Other than that, got a couple shoots coming up this weekend. The cookbook came in and it's awesome. Hoping to sell all 550 of them. (gulp) Maddie's been fighting fleas and I'm really sick of it. She licks off her medicine so we helped her out with a little muscle shirt. Rob and I are having lunch with one of our graduated students tomorrow, so that will be fun. That's about all that's new and exciting and fit to print. Thankful for a lot right now.

New Scrapbook Pages

Have a few pages to share tonight. Four of them are from my time with Lori, and the rest are from last night's scrapping session. Finishing up the journal on one last page and then I'll post it with my next batch. It's so good tor relax and scrap. Sarah and I went to Hobby Lobby today to pick out some paper and stickers for her to scrap with, so we should be doing that soon.

Fun pictures from our summer. We really enjoyed Pastor's pool this year! :)
A very simple page, but oh so true!
This was my favorite pic from the start of school session. These kids just crack me up. I keep thinking I should enter them in the GAP casting call. I'd totally be doing it for the clothes, you know.
This page is funny because when Eli was a toddler he would say "I'm feeling video gamey" and I think I did a page years back, but it's still true!!
Some fun with those old-camera picks Rob and I took on my cell phone a couple months back.And I love the idea of scrapping our faith, so this lift of an 'almost famous' page totally worked for me with this picture.
My favorite set of pages from last night. Eli drew all those ships in his free time at school. He totally cracks me up!

School Pictures

Playing catch up. Getting ready for scrapbooking tonight with the girls. Going to bake cookies cause the weather is finally turning. Loving today's rain.

Decided late yesterday that I didn't want to buy the kids school pictures this year. Rob and I pulled out the equipment yesterday and did them ourselves. Got a couple extra shots too. :)

Oh dear.

I was blogging in my head this morning, and suddenly (and quite painfully) realized how long it had been since I'd actually blogged. wow. I'm sorry. I hate that.

So this morning, even though there are dishes waiting on the countertop, the laundry needs folded and put away, my Bible hasn't been cracked open yet this morning, and bills need to be paid.... (along with another HUGE list of to-do's) I'm sitting down to blog. My bible study will be next. Me minus time with Him lately renders me pretty much useless.

Rolling back, I need to cover the past few weeks. We had Missions Convention at Trinity. That was pretty spectacular. I love Missions Convention because there is such an emphasis placed on reaching the rest of the world. Especially this year, our theme was Every Way and it was about spreading the Gospel in every way, whether you are a construction worker, a shift worker, a teacher, or even a photographer. I always enjoy getting to know the missionaries during the various meals we share throughout the weekend. This year did make me really miss my friend Autumn, who is serving in Thailand right now. We wrapped up Missions Convention on Sunday night and then Monday morning I hopped on my plane to Iowa. For some reason it was an insane amount of work to get out of town, just making sure everyone's needs were met before I was out of pocket for 5 days. I left stressed for sure, but felt all my stress melt off as we soared into the air and Houston shrunk in the distance. I so thoroughly enjoyed my flights (both ways), I love to fly and I'm not sure why. The almost two uninterrupted hours of reading probably really helps! But then, when we began to slow and descend from the sky, the fields of Iowa unfurled below and I was choking back tears of homesickness. It was so good to see the familiar.
I spent that evening in Omaha with my Dad, Mom and brother, Andrew. Wow, it was so fun. We hit a antique(?) store and then went for dinner in a beautiful little french cafe in Old Market. We actually ate outside (which was freezing to my Texas self and I wound up unpacking my trench coat half way through dinner) and I had the french onion soup, which was amazing and the first of my wonderful Iowa-food. After dinner Andrew had a class, so Mom and Dad and I wandered around Old Market and thoroughly enjoyed an absolutely beautiful autumn evening. The colors were so pretty and the air was so crisp. wow. We also stopped at Perspective Designs, the new home of the jewelry shop I had worked in just after high school. It was so good to see Matt, my old boss, and his son Chad. We had a lot of catching up to do. He also tweaked my head on my ring, which had been crooked for over a year now. I was excited!Eventually we headed towards Correctionville (my hometown) but Mom and I detoured for breadsticks and white sauce at Pizza Hut in Onawa. We stayed up way too late that night and then I accidentally slept in until 10 the next morning. We had breakfast with Dad and then Mom and I went to Sioux City to see FAME and visit Younkers. We were only there long enough for Taco John's, the movie, HyVee and a quick run through Younkers. Went home for dinner (Casey's Pizza) and a walk with Dad. We stayed up too late a second time, but I set my alarm for the morning.

Wednesday came and Dad and I made a quick run to Anthon to renew some plates for his vehicles. Then I loaded up the car and headed out to Fort Dodge to see Lori and Jay. The drive was so beautiful! My only regret is that I was so anxious to arrive I didn't stop to take any photos, and that is sad because I'm old and I'm sure my memory will dull shortly. It was breathtaking though. I was so excited to see Lori and Jay's house and their kids and their church, but most of all Lori, of course. We spent hours and hours talking, hanging out, even a little scrapbooking. I have not taken pictures of my pages yet, but I will eventually. We did do their family pictures that afternoon, which I have only just begun to edit and need to work on today. I had 2 other shoots scheduled in Iowa, but both wound up canceling due to the weather which changed drastically on Wed. night. We went to Lori and Jay's church and youth group on Wednesday and it was cool to see how they do things, pull a couple ideas for our youth group, meet their students, etc. Plus it was just really nice not to have any responsibilities! :) Thursday we hung out at Lori and Jay's, did a bit more scrapping, visited their scrapbook store and eventually hit Younkers for a HUGE sale. I picked up 6 shirts (all so cute) for a grand total, including tax, of $25. I told Lori that Younkers was just happy to see me again. They missed my business. We also found a couple of super cute shirts at Target for $2.48 each as well. Very fun.
We ended up at my mom's that night. Stayed up way too late (again) chatting with her. Enjoyed a fantastic breakfast with her in the morning and then we were off in our seperate directions. Lori towards home, Mom and I to Early and then eventually Omaha, with a Kohl's detour along the way.

Overall the weekend went way too fast. The best parts were the long conversations, the time outdoors and the FOOD, oh my, the food. My only regrets were not doing the shoots I had scheduled when I first got there, because the weather was incredible up until Thursday, and not taking more pictures throughout the week. My purse camera is broken and I really miss it! I did take quite a few on my cell, but that's not the same thing. I need to send in my baby Nikon because life is not the same without it.

It was good to board my plane and go home. I missed Rob and the kids so much. Rob had subscribed to me on Facebook, but that's not the same thing as him being with me. We talked a lot during the week, but I could tell the stress of being me was getting to him. I was so thankful for his arms around me when I got to baggage claim that night. And thankful that he took over my suitcase, which was barely squeezed shut after that Younkers sale! I missed my kiddos a ton too, and it was good to love on them.

So now we are back to our normal life, our normal pace. Which is exhausting. Today I have a reprieve, Tuesdays are generally a catch up day for me and I'm in dire need of it. I came home to 12 loads of laundry and an empty fridge, so we've been working on that. It was good to go, but it always makes coming home so sweet.

Random pics from my trip...

my hometown, Correctionville, Iowa.
the view from my parents home. Gotta love waking up to a cornfield. :)
sunset on the way home from Omaha Monday night.
My favorite grocery store in all the world. Man, I miss this store. Such good food!! and friendly service!
a sunset at my parents home on Tuesday night.
tromping around another HyVee in Ft Dodge.
The view from my plane window on the way home on Friday...

I think the big thing I realized on this trip is how grateful I am for my roots. I love my life now, I love all that God is doing, but I'm keenly aware of where I came from, and the influences He used to set me on the path of salvation and ultimately a great plan for my life. I will always love Iowa because it is essentially where my story began...