Back!

I'm back! Over the last few weeks one of the last things I've felt like doing is taking pictures and blogging. But now, I feel like I've finally turned a corner and I'm ready to jump back into the blogging world. Here are some of the very few photos from the last 6 weeks or so...hopefully this will get me caught up. 

The cake I made for Easter....Chocolate Truffle Cake. And oh my, was it good. In fact, I had slivered off so many tiny slices that I realized it had to go. So in a moment of sheer will-power, the leftovers went in the trash. Then I cried. 

This has been my go-to Easter centerpiece the last two years. It's cheap and easy...and it helps to have a blooming azalea at your back door. 

This is the upstairs bath. It needed some color and in an intentional move to be "daring" I chose some colors a little outside of my comfort zone. I have to admit I was a little scared after the first coat went on but now I LOVE it. 

Bright? Yes. 

But do I love it? Oh, yes. 

We have the prettiest cheery tree in our front yard. The blooms have turned now, but it was so nice while it lasted. 

We had company over one night and I needed a simple dessert to go with the homemade pizza we were having. I totally stole this from a girl at church and these strawberries were a big hit.

So simple: strawberries, dipped in white chocolate, rolled in crushed Oreos. Perfect. 

I made some brownies to go with the strawberries....and I get a text that afternoon from my husband (and his friend who was staying the night), "Can we have a brownie?" I said yes, assuming they would cut the brownies like normal people. 

I was wrong. 

Bless the Lord

A friend of mine sent me a sweet email today listing several songs that she had found encouraging lately, all by Laura Story. What she didn't know was that on Sunday our choir sang a song written by Laura Story. When we started practicing this song in choir a month or two ago I could hardly sing the song because of the lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. 

The last few months have been hard. Like, the hardest times I've ever had in my life. I don't use those words trivially....I have had some incredibly dark moments of confusion, doubt, pain, sadness and times of anger where I have stood and shook my fist at the Lord demanding an answer to my questions. Through all of these moments...and I still have a "moment" at least once a day...the Lord never let go of me. He is good. He is faithful. I can still bless His name even when I don't understand Him. 

The Lord has used this song to speak to my heart during these last few months and weeks....Bless the Lord. 

You give and take away for my good
For who am I to say what I need?
For You alone see the hidden parts of me
that need to be stripped away.

And as You begin to refine
I’m learning to let go and rely
on One who walks with me
As hard as it may be,
You’re teaching me all the while to say:

Bless the Lord, O my soul
All that’s in me bless Your name
Forget not Your power un- told
not Your glory or Your fame
For You came to heal the broken
to redeem and make me whole
Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Though my faith may falter, my strength may fail

I pray for eyes to see

The riches of your mercy shown to me

Bless the Lord, O my soul.

The Forgotten Blogpost

 Lately, the last thing I have wanted to do is blog. There are photos on my memory card that need to be uploaded and edited and since I am so behind, I had totally forgotten that I had uploaded these photos to my blog over a month ago but had never published the post.

So here are a few forgotten shots, some of my precious students and a few events at the school, including a Cinderella Ball for the Kindergarten students....and a few from our snow day back in February. 

I wore those socks with those pajama pants all day. Matching is not a requirement on a snow day. 

Valentine's Dinner?

Scott and I have made a homemade pizza every Valentines Day since we've married. We're going to continue the tradition this year as well. But, we both have the day off on Monday and I have a beef tenderloin in the freezer...I'm thinking of making Monday night Valentine's Part 2 with roasted beef tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, and something chocolate for dessert. 

Do you go out or stay in for Valentines? And either way, what's on the menu?

Venice, Day 3

Well, the blog has really taken a hit lately. The truth is, there just isn't that much going on around here. Okay, that's not entirely true. Recently, while Scott was away a few nights, I figured out how to stream Netflix movies instantly through the his XBOX. It's revolutionized things in our household...come to think of it, maybe that's why I've neglected the blog lately. 

This weekend I'm headed to Birmingham for a few nights with the family. I promise to bring home new and exciting things to blog about when I get back. In the meantime, you will have to make do with another post about our trip this past summer....don't worry. There's only three days left in the trip after this post! 

So...our last day in Venice. We had crammed in all the main tourist attractions and all of our favorite things in the first two days, so on the last day we had a relatively "free" day to see some new things. Scott had decided that he wanted to see the "other side" of the island. We headed out to get to Lido, the part of Venice that doesn't belong to the tourists. It's actually much like a European Seaside, where European vacationers come to go to the beach. There's hotels and beach resorts a 5 minute boat ride from St. Mark's Square. Many of the native Venetians live on Lido because it's significantly cheaper to live on this side of the island. They simply ride the boat over to the main island for work every morning. 

It took us awhile to figure out which boat to take, but we finally did and it was well worth it in our opinion. We hiked straight across the little island to the beach. 

We saw how Europeans do beach vacations and since it was very hot and we had no bathing suits, we started back to the boat. The island has no historical siginificance and it doesn't even get a passing reference in our Rick Steves book, but it was interesting to see a modern version of ancient Venice. 

There are plenty of canals in Lido....but no gondoliers. All of the romance in Venice is found on the main island. 

We stopped at a lovely little cafe on our way back to the bus stop. Lunch was fabulous and our waiter even quoted some lines from Back to the Future. We also discovered that Lido has some pretty good gelato. 

This was the view from the boat stop. Since tourism is the main source of revenue in Venice, most people that live on Lido bike to the boat stop and ride across the canal to work. 

After Lido we rode the boat to the more "gritty" side of Venice. Ever heard of Murano glass? It's made in Venice, on the opposite side of the island from the singing gondoliers and museums. 

Rick Steves was right. There is no romance on the Murano side of the island but was so interesting. It was quiet, less touristy, and had shop after shop selling the world famous glass. 

It's more colorful too. Since these homes aren't "historical" and protected by law, the locals can paint them any color they like. 

After heading back to the main part of the island, we walked around St. Mark's Square enjoying our last few moments in our favorite city. We got engaged in St. Mark's Square so that was the last place we visited before hopping on the nigh train to Paris. 

Goodbye Venice! 

Next we hopped on this to spend the longest and most awkward night of our lives riding to Paris. 

But more on that later. 

Walk Thru Bethlehem

I don't have many photos from Christmas parties or family get-togethers this year. The truth is, I didn't even take my camera with me to many events....which is completely out of the ordinary for me. 

So instead of blogging about parties and presents, I'll write about the event where I actually did take some photos....almost 1,000 to be exact.

Walk Thru Bethlehem is not something easily put into words. Many Christmases over the years I've seen or participated in Briarwood's Drive-Thru Nativity back home.....and that doesn't even come close to a good comparison. 

It starts in the summer when volunteers start building--putting up walls, etc. They work every Saturday morning until December. The finished product is a 3 acre replica of the city of Bethlehem that took over 30, 000 man-hours to build. There are walls, buildings, gates--even electricity. 

The entire church signs up for specific jobs--everything from acting, to cooking, to childcare for the workers. People learn lines and go to rehearsal months in advance.  

When the Big Weekend arrives, people show up from all over the state. This year, over 8,000 people came, despite the fact that the first night was cancelled due to bad weather.  

Actors in the city sign up for parts--shepherds, spice sellers, fish merchants, etc. and have three hour shifts on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. That doesn't include the hours of practice and rehearsals and sewing costumes. This church LOVES this event and doesn't bat an eye at the commitment it requires. 

One lady told me, "We've been doing this for all 13 years and it wouldn't be Christmas without Bethlehem." Grown children bring their families back for the weekend so that they can participate in this event. I was amazed at how much people love doing this...it's very much an essential part of Christmas for our church. 

People come, register, and are assigned to a group number. They wait in the sanctuary for their group, many of them waiting up to 3 hours. So what do they do while they are waiting?

That's where my wonderful, amazing husband comes in. He is responsible for entertaining the masses and he did a GREAT job. He had some wonderful help too....and by the way, that's over 24 hours worth of music to plan and organize.

They bring in camels, doves, sheep, donkeys, wild birds, real fish, cows, goats, chickens, and turkeys. 

Groups are led thru the city by a tour guide...they stop at every booth and dialog with every vendor, the story line leading the group everywhere from the tax collectors...

...to the Roman soldiers...

...to the spice sellers, weavers, fruit vendors, the temple...

...and eventually to the part that matters most. 

It's an amazing experience and I am so thankful to have been able to photograph it...the whole thing was a photographers dream!

I was blown away by the time, energy, and commitment that the church dedicates to this event year after year. 

And while most of the people that come thru have heard the Christmas story before, to the church, it's worth it, even if only 1 of the 8,000 came and understood the importance of that little baby in the manger for the first time. 

Here's to many more Walk Thru Bethlehems! I'm already excited about next year. 

The Todd Reception

The Friday after Thanksgiving (was that last Friday? two Fridays ago? Last year? I don't know...time is flying and I can't seem to keep up) I had the opportunity to photograph the wedding reception of one of Scott's oldest and dearest friends, Adam. Adam and Scott grew up next door to each other. In fact, Adam's parents bought the house next to Scott's because of their friendship. Their families have traveled together, spent holidays and vacations together, and the kids have spent most of their lives as next door neighbors. 

When Adam and Blair got engaged, they decided to have a small ceremony in Jamaica and planned a home-town reception for the weekend of Thanksgiving. So Friday morning, we packed up and made the drive from Birmingham to Americus, GA,  Scott's hometown. 

I actually missed the first 45 minutes of the party because I was in the car, listening to the Iron Bowl on the the XM radio.  After a series of mild strokes caused by the last seven minutes of the game, I was finally able to go to the party that I was supposed to be photographing.

The venue was fantastic...it was simple but beautiful and the man that owns the property built this with his own two hands...I was very impressed. 

This was a FANTASTIC idea for centerpieces. They looked like something out of Southern Living and they were so simple and inexpensive. 

The Todd family rarely is all in the same place at the same time, if you can't already tell from their excitement. 

What a lovely family! Thank you Todds for asking me to be a part of this night--I had a blast!