My Son's Photography

More pictures of a much loved dog.

Cowboy-dog

This is what happens when you leave an 11 year old boy alone with a camera and a dog.

Anyway...I thought it was time to write another blog although I haven't any ideas of what to write. Maybe I'll leave it at this and be done with it.

Springtime in PA

I'm back after a vacation to Pennsylvania. I went with my sister-in-law and children. The kids had off of school. Jamie did not come with us because he had to work. We stayed in Allentown and went over to Nazareth to tour the Martin Guitar factory. It was quite fascinating to see how they make such precision instruments.

The next day we took a tour of a handbell factory and then drove to Easton, PA where we took a tour of the Crayola Crayon Factory. The kids had a blast there. A lot of hands on things to do for kids. I would highly recommend it for very young and elementary aged children. We spent over 3 hours there.

The following day my brother-in-law Kevin met up with us and we went to the Mack Truck factory. I thougth it was fairly interesting and so did Kevin, Laurie and Allen...however, my 2 girls were not all that impressed. I was particularly amazed at how the Lord has allowed man to have such knowledge in order to know how to put together such big, powerful and technical machines. After we left there, we drove to Reading, PA to take a Pretzel Factory tour. When we got there, we were told that they no longer give tours. They suggested we drive to Lititz, PA and visit The Pretzel House. So that's what we did. The entire time I was there I was thinking and wondering about some friends of mine who happen to live in that town. It would have been fun to pay them a visit...but since it was unscheduled and a week day...I'm sure that they were busy...having work and school. (The PA schools were all in session) Not only that but my bro and sis-in-law don't know them. It would have been awkward I guess. I really liked the town. It was very quaint. I wanted to browse in the shops there...and I did a little but I got the feeling that no one else really wanted to.

The weather in PA was just beautiful! They are ahead of us in the Spring season by atleast a couple of weeks. All their tulips are in full bloom and the trees have bigger leaves. The next day we drove north to Bloomington, PA and spent the night at friends of Laurie and Kevins. They were really nice. By then the weather was just rainy and dreary. We ended up going to a mall and shopping a little and then just hanging at the house.

I will try to get some pictures up. I have pictures in my camera, but I don't have a way to download them to my computer unless I send them to work with my hubby...which I didn't think to do this morning. It was all so nice to get away...but what I really would like to do is get away with my husband. We just haven't done that in so long!

He Has Risen!

He has risen indeed!

Nice Kitty

Here are 20 arbitrary statements about me.

1. As a child, I loved my cat Jodo. (or is that orange kitty? Martha, help me out here.)
2. I have a red mark on the palm of my right hand and it's been there as long as I can remember.
3. I shouldn't read romance novels.
4. I started wearing glasses in third grade.
5. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was 14.
6. God rocked my world when I was 19...almost 20.
7. I recommitted my life to Christ when I was 21. This time Christ was Lord of my life...not just my savior(there really is a difference)
8. While I was pregnant...I often suffered from insomnia.
9. I love mexican food!
10. I don't drink alcohol...at all.
11. My shoe size is 8 1/2.
12. I'm 5'6" tall.
13. I've hardly done any traveling at all.
14. I can draw quite well.
15. During my pregnancies, I never suffered from morning sickness.
16. Sometimes one of my toes on my right foot comes out of joint and it is very painful!
17. When I was in elementary school, my best friend's name was Birgit.
18. I'm a core leader for Community Bible Study.
19. I hate using lead pencils.
20. Sometimes I write incredibly boring blogs.
    

Scones Anyone?

My son has been working on an immigration project for school. He's in 5th grade. Each child was assigned a person to be. The kids had to come up with a story as to why they were immigrating to America, come up with a costume, pack a bag of 6 items with explanations as to why they were bringing each one and they had to bring an ethnic dish from the country they were immigrating from. Today they set up their classroom to be Ellis Island. My son was a poor textile worker from England, seeking a better life in America in 1880. I'm happy to say that he was allowed into the country!

The other day we went to Salvation Army Thrift shop and bought a vest and suit jacket. We went to a junk shop and bought a $2 American History book that was printed around the turn of the century. He also packed old English currency that he printed off the internet, an old family photo, a Bible, an English flag, and a snack of crackers to eat on the boat. Last night, I supervised while he made English Scones. They smelled wonderful...so I decided that I'd better make some for the family as well. He returned from school with almost all the scones. The kids liked them...but apparently there were "80 million things to eat." That's what he said anyway.

I guess we will be eating scones for a while. It's funny that I found this picture of blueberry scones on the internet...because that is the kind he made and they looked pretty much exactly like this! Yum!

Doesn't Anyone Sit on the Front Porch Anymore?

Lately I just haven't had much inspiration for writing. Some people are very gifted blog writers...just check out Christine's blog link to the right for example. I've had a lot of fun reading other people's blogs...which puzzles my husband. He walks by the computer and says something like, "Now what are you reading? Who's she?" I'll say something like, "A Christian stay-at-home-mom who lives out in California. Aren't her children just darling?" He'll shrug his shoulders and walk away...bewildered as to why I spend time reading and sometimes communicating with strangers. But I am equally puzzled by him spending time working on web sudukos. I just don't get it.

Anyway...here I am again. I guess I just feel this strong need to connect with people. Yesterday was wonderful connecting over lunch with Cathy. I get lonely here. And so I sit....alone...in a room...by myself...in front of a computer screen. Sometimes I long for the "old days." When most people's relatives all lived on the same street...and most mothers stayed home with their children. And not only that but most families just had one car...so you were basically home. There were no computers. No one called ahead before they visited. No one carried cell phones or pagers. People actually sat on their front porches.

I live in an older section of my town. Many beautiful, century old homes with big front porches...but rarely do people actually sit on them. I sat on mine yesterday...but the other porches on the street were empty. What's wrong with this picture? Where is everybody?

Life is Good!

I am getting bored with my own blog...so I thought I'd better get busy and put up a new post. Today is an absolutely beautiful day. I also was thrilled to be treated for lunch by my friend Cathy. She was the friend I built the castle for. I had told her that I was not interested in earning any money on it. Last night she called and said, "How about I take you out to lunch?" So we had a nice lunch at a littel deli called Pepper's. I had a wonderful wrap with guacamole, tomato, turkey, lettuce...and I don't know what all else. It was very tasty. We had nice and meaningful conversation. It's wonderful to have good friends.

I got home and worked on filling in the pits and cracks on the blanket chest I am going to paint and hopefully sell. In 2 hours it should be ready for me to paint and put primer on.

"Lord, I just don't get it."

I was unable to go to my ladies' Bible study this morning because my son isn't feeling well. I sat down to have a devotional and thought, "Now what?" You see... my routine had been interupted. I usually do my homework for my devotionals. But I had completed all the homework and I don't have the next lesson. So I opened the Bible and found John 13. Sometimes I admit that when I read the same passages over and over again I think, "What new can I possibly get from this?" And then a verse caught my eye.

John 13:7 Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

I was intrigued. I must admit that a lot of times God leaves me scratching my head and thinking, "Why?" I pondered that and thought there must be a devotional somewhere written about this specific verse. So I searched on the net and found

This

The author of the devotional cross references to Rev 4:1-3, where God takes John to see "what must take place after this." It is there that John sees a complete rainbow encircling a throne. Here on earth we don't see complete rainbows. Did you know that rainbows are not arch shaped? They are circular! While on earth we are not able to see a complete rainbow...just part of it.
Someday, we will understand. We will see the complete picture. On that day I will say, "I get it, Lord!" And then I will fall down and worship him and shout his praises!
I'm looking forward to this...because here on Earth, I just don't get it. But I will trust Him when He says that someday I will.

Castles in the Wind

It's late and I shouldn't be blogging. I should be sleeping...or at the very least laying in bed, trying to go to sleep. But this time change is still not natural to me. I don't feel tired, therefore I must not be. Isn't that a famous saying?

I finished the castle I was constructing and my friend just loved it. I have no pictures of it at all. It was quite an adventure trying to get the castle to her. This morning I opened the back of my minivan...only to discover the castle would not fit! As I was struggling with it, in the wind, I might add (keep in mind this structure was made out of foam board), my friend, Blake pulled up in her SUV. "She will save the day!", I thought to myself. Sure enough, Blake offered to transport it for me...but not until later in the day, as she was late for a meeting and still needed to stop at the store and pick up a desert for brunch.

At 1:00 she faithfully returned. Much to our horror, we discovered that the castle would not fit in her SUV! Luckily, "All things Art" is not located far from my home( the drop off point). I decided I had no choice but to carry the thing all the way there. Luckily it is not heavy. So there I was, carting a large styrfoam castle down the side walk. I could imagine what my neighbors must be thinking. I saw my mailman, Dennis...who gave me the raised eyebrow. "Don't ask!" I called across the street to him. "I won't," he assured me. Just then a gust of wind came up and whipped the castle around, practically wrenching it from my hands. And then, the cloud came off! I had already rounded the corner onto Niagara Street. Could I make it another 2 blocks? I became very doubtful. Had I constructed this thing in vain?!

Oh, my dear friend Blake! What would I do without her? She had circled around to see how I was faring. Seeing that the structure was somewhat smaller now that it was missing the cloud, she pulled over to see if she could now be of some assistance. We tried again. It barely fit! I can still hear the squeaking of foamboard against glass as we put it in the back...with one of the castle towers hanging out the back of the doors, that were not quite shut. I got in with it to keep it from blowing out the doors. We drove sloooooowly and painfully to "All Things Art." Made it!

Several pieces of duck tape later, we were in good shape! It looked almost as good as new, and praise be to God that all the ladies there gushed over it! kathy said she would make sure I got a photo...which I will try to add to this post a.s.a.p. I just wish I had a picture me struggling with it in the wind!

Clean up

Well I cleaned up my blog a bit...getting rid of some useless posts that were just taking up space...but in doing so, I accidently deleted"church planting"...the post encouraging you all to check out Chris and Liz's adventures as missionaries to Melbourne, Australia. Their link is to the right.