Friday, April 23, 2010

"Mamma- I want to catch a bird today!"

It all began when my son woke up one morning on Grandma and Grandpa's farm...the first thing that came out of his mouth was "Mamma- I want to catch a bird today!"

He was very specific... " a Robyn or a Humming Bird."

So being the skeptic that I am...I replied..."Oh Honey...birds are way to fast to catch, why don't we stick with catching bugs!"


Little did I know God had other plans!

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14



Low and behold as I opened the door to let some fresh air in after moping the kitchen floor...this little fella found his way right inside the house and right inside our hearts.



Thank you Lord for hearing the desires of our hearts and answering our prayers in only ways that you can do. Thank you for teaching me and our children that you love us, care for us and are always with us. Just as I held one of your tiny creations in my hands, you also hold us.



And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Leapin Lizards!

Introducing the newest members of our family...
Spike- the little tiny Newt above and
Simon- the handsome green, sometimes gold Chameleon below.



These two little guys traveled home with us from Washington after a friend gave them to Luke as an early birthday gift. Nothing says, "Best Friends" like someone giving your kid some lizards. Thanks Kristine...They are so much fun!
Even our kitties are happy. One of our cats (Banjo) spends most of his time taunting the poor little fellas!


It's been a learning curve to figure out how to take care of these two new cold blooded friends. We are now a house full of all kinds of critters. The Lizards are just the tip of the ice- berg compared to all Luke catches in a day to keep them well fed. Not to mention the Meal- worms in the fridge and the live crickets out in the garage.


More to come about the HUGE Moth the kids caught last week. As of today at least half of the 150 eggs have hatched into little teeny tiny caterpillars.... Hummmm.... Lizard food perhaps?

Monday, April 19, 2010

Hand and Fingerprint ART



This is for all of you who enjoy getting ARTSY with the kiddo's.





Over the past several weeks I've had the pleasure of helping Makayla's 2nd grade class with an art project. The end result was six darling bur-lap bags covered with all kinds of critters.




The kids had a blast coming up with ideas and contributing to the overall design and theme of their groups bag.






Each bag had a definite personality of it's own...




As did each child!



Time to get creative.... Mother's Day is coming!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Spring is a..... Springin!


So grateful to see blue skies, billowing clouds and flowers in bloom.
Spring you really are a sight to see!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Capturing Conflict



Here is yet another Photography exercise I was working on over the past few months. The goal was to "capture conflict". I find that I often only photograph the things that I think are peaceful, memorable or beautiful. Through doing this exercise of documenting "conflict" I found that there is often an even deeper, more powerful story found beneath the surface. The conflict speaks volumes all on it's own and can draw us in to want to know more about the story.


In this first series of pictures, my son is doing a morning chore. He is on a mission to find some Night Crawlers for the fishing date he and his grandpa have for later that afternoon. With Tupperware in hand, his frustrations builds as the worms have escaped his capture. But not for long. It was "mamma to the rescue" to dig under some muddy buckets. At last, we hit the jack- pot. At first Luke didn't even want to look at the slimy gems I held in my hand. As I lifted a worm up high in the air, as if to feed a baby bird, it was to my dismay that my nature boy eagerly opened his mouth. The conflict was now mine!


HUNTING FOR WORMS




Now for the conflict that arose for the actual fishing adventure. This was no ordinary fishing date. As for a little back ground: My dad nearly died last year. First in a house fire then from septicemia, due to a major infection in his hip. Long story short, we are INCREDIBLY blessed to still have Papa Doug here on earth with us. It has always been my dads dream to fish with each one of his grandchildren, by the pond that he built, on the farm where he and my mom live. My daughter had already had the chance to fish with grandpa and now it was finally her little brothers turn. The images are very powerful for me to even look at, as I reflect on the past year and a half my family has faced together. My dad is lucky to be alive, but beyond that he has beat all odds and is once again standing on his own two feet. At one point in his journey, the doctors had told him he needed to have his right leg amputated up to his hip, to save his life. My dad has a lot of fight in him and he fought like mad to keep his leg. The end result, was removal of some of the infected femur bone. This left him with his right leg 4 inches shorter than the other. He found himself completely incapacitated and reliant on everyone around him for everything. It has been a long road to recovery and accepting a new reality of a life that is forever altered. He now wears a special shoe that balances his stance and has allowed for him to spend countless hours in physical therapy learning to walk again. From his death bed to a wheelchair, from a wheel chair to a walker, from a walker to a cane, from a cane to a special "very cool" shoe, to walking with his grandchildren toward his very own pond to FISH!


While I was taking these pictures I was capturing a dream come true for my entire family. They caught 4 fish that day and I caught forever images to cherish for a lifetime. Before the fishing adventure was to begin, my dad and Luke went to buy tack. It was my dads first "brave" outing toward facing the world with his new reality. This was so HUGE! As if this wasn't enough he then wanted to take the kids to the beach, to watch them play. Do you see my dad? He is walking out on the ocean beach...truly a beautiful sight to see. He has his binoculars in one hand and his camera around his neck. He is stepping back into life and I was there to captured the moment. What a gift! So Thankful for you dad and so very Proud of you! Thank you for working so hard to stay with us and live life to the fullest!


FISHING WITH GRANDPA




This last little series of photo's, I'll throw in for fun. I had the opportunity to go on an overnight with my daughters Girl Scout Troop a few weekends ago. The amount of conflict that arose while these lovely young ladies prepared the Saturday morning meal was PRICELESS!



GIRL SCOUT'S COOKING BREAKFAST