josh & leah, and baby on the way!

I spent some time with Josh and Leah this weekend, taking pictures of baby#2 at eight months, they are easy to take pictures of! thanks for letting me take pictures of you guys. love you and can't wait to meet baby!!

sing of the Lord's goodness...

it's thanksgiving weekend
what a great thing, a long weekend to spend with family and friends and be thankful.

after work on friday i stopped by to visit a friend that had a hard day on thursday. i talked to her husband to find out her favorite drink. a skinny decaf caramel macchiato, extra hot. i discovered that you can have peppermint mochas ALL year long. i showed up on her doorstep and was greeted with no hesitation, but a hug and an invitation to stay. we talked and talked. the kids were home and were fooling around. i love this family. i could've stayed all night (the oldest boy said to me when I was leaving: are you leaving now? i thought you would NEVER leave!... i don't think he actually knows what that means, but it was pretty funny) i am very thankful for this family.

friday night it snowed, and it snowed and it snowed.
i took my camera outside on the tripod.
i played with shutter speeds, with apertures. i took pictures of light, and was lucky enough to catch a car driving around the corner at just the right time. i danced in the yard as the snow fell. i'm very thankful for fun and creativity.

yesterday I spent the whole day with Michael. just michael. i woke up and read for a few hours. we snuggled on the couch. we laughed over the Office. we went grocery shopping. we went out for lunch. we worked together in the kitchen. we cleaned. we talked. we laughed. we each made part of supper and we just enjoyed being together. i am thankful for a day like yesterday!

last night I talked with shauna on the phone for awhile. I have very few friends that call me anymore. Calling people just to talk isn't something that many people do. but Shauna and I do sometimes and i love it. it can be about something serious or nothing at all. i am very thankful for Shauna (and Matthew!)

today we had our caregroup over for lunch, michael and i made lasagnas, salad, dips, garlic bread, dessert, coffee... it was a joint effort, and i'm very thankful for Michael. and I am very thankful for our many wonderful friends.

this evening we will be going to have supper with my Dad. I'm finding it strange that we don't have a single family gathering this weekend. i'm feeling a little sad about it, like something is missing. My mom has only been gone (to Colorado) for 2 days, and I feel like she's been gone forever. Yesterday I just needed to call her to ask her a question and I felt so lost knowing I couldn't call her!! But we will go have supper with my Dad and enjoy being with him. My dad always makes me laugh. There is no one in the world that I love the way I love my Dad. And no one in the world loves me how he does. I am very thankful for my Mom and Dad. (both sets!)

i'm hoping to take some shots of my sister soon. I've never met anyone that radiated so beautifully with pregnancy. Pregnancy and Leah are just a beautiful pair. I am thankful for babies. I am thankful to be an auntie. I am thankful for my brothers and my sisters.

this morning I was blessed by the sermon (Pierre Gilbert spoke this week). i was blessed by the way that he talked about WHY we thank God. he chose to talk about suffering, and how we don't expect it, but when it comes it hits us like a 2x4 in the face. he talked about praise and thanksgiving in the midst of suffering. that we do not praise the situation or what has happened. that we don't sing a few songs or read a few lines to CONVINCE ourselves that we want to praise. but that we need to have a life orientation in one thing. GOD IS GOOD. so that no matter what is going on in our lives, peace and joy, or utter despair and chaos, we can still know that God is good, even when everything else is very much NOT good. i'm not doing justice to this sermon with my few lines on here. but I am thankful that God is good.

so we may not be getting together this weekend for "thanksgiving", yet my weekend is full of giving thanks.

oh snow, brown earth is hid from sight...

looking out my window today makes me wonder if i transported myself 2 months into the future!
only a few days ago it was still bright, sunny and warm. and today, the biggest fluffiest snowflakes are filling the sky.
it is blustery.
everyone around me seems to be shocked that it's snowing. i always think its funny how people who have lived here their whole lives are still shocked when the snow falls! but every year in october we are "surprised" by these delightful fluffy flakes. i'm not surprised. nor am i upset.

snow falling to me is like rain falling. peaceful. tranquil. fresh. fascinating.
what a cool creator we have. that he thinks of transitioning our world from season to season with changes in color, and sprinkles the season change on us from the heavens.

since April I have literally been holding my breath for winter. this part, however is not normal for me. I may love the snow, but fall is most certainly my favorite. and i do love the summer because it means wearing flip flops, drinking lemonade and being at the cabin. But this year is different.

one normal day in April I received a text from my sister who I love so much, saying that she was dropping by to drop off something with Josh. We were off to caregroup that night, but we had some time to have them stop by. Leah told me she had read some stuff on my blog and was thinking of me. i love how my family knows my heart. and we are together in the happiness and the deepest sorrow. my sisters heart and my heart know one another! She handed me a card, and I opened it and had to read it 3 times before i looked up at her and knew.

We were being invited to a birthday party in december. just less then 9 months away. i was going to be an auntie for the 2nd time. it was like opening a card with a fresh wind of hope. a little taste of our lives being restored. Jay is getting a baby brother or sister! and I am the most blessed auntie.

since then my heart has been longing for the winter.
since then i have seen ultrasound pictures of this little one. i've found out whether i'm waiting for a niece or a nephew (but i'm not telling you!). i've felt the kicks, the pushes, and the strokes of this little one. i like to think we're already friends, baby and I.

I love how God restores. I love that even tho we wonder why it has to be SO cold, He still knows what is needed for our land. he knows when to let the rain pour, or the snow float down.
and my favorite part, God knows how to fill this heart of mine with even more love. i think that the more nieces or nephews that come into my life will only continue to expand my heart. the piece of my heart that is Jay's will ALWAYS be his. and so God continues to grow my heart, open it up and fill all of those spaces with love. for each one.

some people see winter as bleak, cold, grey... this year I see it with eyes of hope, and restoration and anticipation for all that is coming.

*the subject is from this song we sang in WMCC. i never used to like it, but i really do now:

O snow, which sinks so light,

Brown earth is hid from sight,

O soul, be thou as white as snow.

O snow, which falls so slow,

Dear earth quite warm below;

O heart, so keep thy glow,

Beneath the snow.

O snow, in thy soft grave

Sad flowers the winter brave;

O heart, so soothe and save,

As does the snow.

The snow must melt, must go,

Fast, fast as water flow.

Not thus, my soul, O sow

Thy gifts to fade like snow.

O snow, thou art white no more,

Thy sparkling too, is o’er;

O soul, be as before,

Was bright the snow.

Then as the snow all pure,

O heart be, but endure,

Through all the years full sure,

Not as the snow.

(C. Alice Elgar)

a few shots from my last class assignment - shutter speeds