Elderberry Bush

I'm not sure if this is an elderberry bush or not, but that is what a friend said it might be. If you know what it is, leave a comment.

FLW Tour 2009

Turtles

I've been trying to capture a family of turtles sitting on a log just down the road from me. Every time I get close they dive off the log into the water. I did manage to capture this one before he went for a swim.

Eagles

This morning I received a phone call telling me where to go to capture two bald eagles nesting. I am still in awe of these beautiful eagles. I know I will be making numerous trips out there to see them.

Aunt Ginnie

I'm going to be an aunt again!!! Okay, so it's not blood relative but who cares. My ex-sister-in-law found out this past week that she and her husband, Ron, are expecting. I'm looking forward to meeting this precious little one that God has created.

Your Will Be Done

Lord, as this nation swears in a new president, I ask that You bless, guide, and protect him. May he seek wisdom from You. Give him the wisdom to choose right and object wrong in all decisions. May he be the president of all the people. Give him the strength and courage to protect our country against all enemies. I pray the citizens would recognize that you have placed this president in authority over us according to your will. I pray that we would respect that authority and put differences behind us as we support the one you have appointed. I ask You to forgive those who have had any uncharitable thoughts about people who feel differently about political positions. The Bible shows that You work through leaders who follow You and through leaders who don't, so I know that You will is being accomplished. Amen.

Walking Away

Sometime ago I was reading a photography coaching series on walking away. The author gave suggestions on the 'walking away pose'. Yesterday while in Palm Beach with a group of Angela's friends we drove down to the beach to take some pictures. As I was snapping away this coaching series came flooding back to me. I enjoyed experimenting with the suggestions I had read previously and was pleased with the results.

Great is the Lord

and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. ~Psalm 145:3

For thus says the LORD,

Who created the heavens,Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it,Who has established it,Who did not create it in vain,Who formed it to be inhabited:“ I am the LORD, and there is no other. ~ Isaiah 45:18

You are Worthy,

O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things and by your will they exist and were created. ~ Revelation 4:11

The Heavens . . .

declare the glory of God: the skies proclaim the work of his hands. ~ Psalms 19:1

Beauty Gazers

A few weeks ago our associate pastor preached on the beauty of God. This week my blog will be dedicated to the beauty of God that is around us each day. So often we go through our day oblivious to the beauty that God has created.

Changes

Once the floors were vacuumed and mopped, laundry done, groceries purchased, bathrooms scrubbed, and furniture dusted; I spent the better part of my day making a new header for the blog. It took me hours and I'm still not 100% satisfied with the results. But I can live with it for a while. It is such fun learning and creating. You can see the results at the top of the blog.

After my adventure in creating the header I opened up Paint Shop and practiced with the object remover tool. In the picture below I actually turned everything to black and white prior to using the object remover tool. I'm becoming more confident in my abilities with each experience.

God's Providence

Earlier this week I was reading a blog of one of our friend, Jonathan Brooks. One post in particular caught my attention. The post was concerning how we will view God's providence in 2009.

Jonathan was using 1 Samuel 9 as the text. As Jonathan has so often done, he caused me to ponder heavily on this text. As I read his post I couldn't remember this account. I was actually shamed that I couldn't remember it, especially since we just finished studying 1 & 2 Samuel in Sunday School. In this account Kish, Saul's father, had lost his donkeys. Saul and one of the servants had been sent to look for the donkeys. Saul, growing tired of looking for the donkeys, began to complain and kept coming up with excuses as to why they should just return home (hmm. . . how like me to complain and think of reasons not to do it if it's not on my agenda). However, the servant convinced Saul to press on. About the time Saul and the servant are looking for the donkeys God is telling Saul , "About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him leader over my people Israel; he will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines. I have looked upon my people, for their cry has reached me." (1 Samuel 9:16)

As Jonathan points out in his blog post, what Saul thinks is a useless search for lost donkeys is actually God's providential leading of Saul to Samuel. Wow! God leads us. Whether we realize it or not there is a reason certain things happen. Here is how Jonathan put it:

God is a God of means. In this situation he chose to cause Kish’s donkeys to walk away. How often have we grumbled and complained when God is using means in our lives to accomplish his purposes? Of course, the difficult part of trusting God with the interruptions to our lives is that we don’t know the outcome. When we read 1 Samuel we have the advantage of knowing how the story ends. In our lives we may never know why things happen to us. And, it would often be a mistake to speculate. But, the one thing we must do is trust that God has his good purposes for all things that happen in our lives, even what we would call annoying interruptions (Rom. 8:28).

When our plans change by circumstances out of our control, God would call us to trust that they are perfectly in his control. The long line at the checkout, the fender bender on the way home, the lost keys that make you late for your appointment are all for the good. It could be that the house your car broke down in front of has been waiting for the gospel to reach their ears. It becomes difficult to think on such things if we’re kicking our tires and screaming on the telephone.

I've thought about Jonathan's post all week. And let me tell you, when you are looking at God's providence with this perspective you will certainly see it. Thanks Jonathan for encouraging me, once again, to trust God's providence in my life.

Water Drops

"Joshua, I'll be right back. I'm running home to get my camera. There is a picture on my desk that I want, but I don't have my camera."

Joshua is our associate pastor and he must have thought that I had lost my mind. But being the nice person he is he never voiced it. After showing him what I wanted to take a picture of he must of thought I was even more strange. Who wants to take a picture of a drop of water?

But when you have editing software and go from this. . .

and get this. . .


Am I hooked? Yes!

Then & Now

With the help of Corel Paint Pro Shop x2 we found out what Angela would look like with red hair and blue eyes. Here's a before and after picture.

Before

After