Double trouble!

These two love each other. They love to play. They love to fight. They love to throw rocks...

We were at church Sunday night while the older children were in practice for their Christmas play. These two were being a little loud and just a bit disruptive, so I took them out for a photo session. They both love the camera.

Collecting rocks.

Almost ready to toss...
Sitting in a tree...
Playing peek-a-boo...
...on both sides of the tree.

We have a name!

"Passion" does not refer to love, but to the Christian theological icon of
the passion of Christ
on the cross. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish Christian missionaries
discovered this flower and adopted its unique physical structures, particularly
the numbers of its various parts, as symbols of the last days of Jesus Christ and especially
the Crucifixion. For example:
the radial filaments which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower
to flower were taken to represent the Crown of Thorns. The ten petals and sepals
can represent the ten faithful apostles. The top 3 stigmata
can represent the 3 nails and the lower 5 anthers the 5 wounds. The flower has
been given names related to this symbolism throughout Europe since that time. In Spain, it is known
as Espina de Cristo (Christ's Thorn). In Germany it was once known as
Muttergottes-Schuzchen (Mother-of-God's Star). Popular culture being what it is,
however, passionflowers and especially passionfruit are frequently
used with sexual or romantic innuendo, giving rise to such
uses as a one-time soft drink named Purple Passion.
In Israel they are referred to as
clock-flower (שעונית). In Japan, they are known as clock
plant (時計草, tokeisō?).
In North America
they are also called the Maypop, the water lemon, and the wild apricot (after
its fruit). Native
Americans in the Tennessee area called it
ocoee, and the Ocoee River and valley are
named after it. In Hawaiian, they are called lillikoi.

Thank you to Melody for giving me the link to the Wikipedia entry. Amazing that this little flower can represent something so incredible. And just to be clear~ The above explaination of the flower is copied from the Wikipedia page that is shown in Melody's comments under the Unusual Flower post. And thanks to everyone else who chimed in to tell me the name of it!

Unusual flower

My friend Cari told me about an unusual flower that she had seen growing along her road. But, every time we went out together, it was not in bloom. Until one day she called me to say that had bloomed. She told me where it was if I wanted to take a picture of it. IF, is she crazy? Of course I wanted to take a picture!!

So, I drove over and took a few shots. Here it is from the side and then from the top. If anyone knows what type of plant this is from, I'd be interested to know what exactly it is. (ps- it grows on a vine)


I posted this one for our 2nd photo challenge and someone commented that it looked like it had a starfish on it. I personally saw a thigh bone....

Photo Challenge Take 1

I promised I'd share the photos from the challenge, so here they are. Our first challenge was to find something abandoned, rusted or broken. I think I got all 3 in these photos.

Anchors seen behind the museum at the Bald Head Island Lighthouse. This abandoned building caught my eye because of its condition, but also because of the small white cross on the side.

Tag! You're it!

I knew one day this would happen. I've been tagged (asked to share a bit about myself). So, I hope you enjoy another pictureless post. More pics coming soon!!

Attached or single? Attached. Michael & I celebrated our 11th anniversary this past August. It has been an eventful journey, but I can't wait to see where God takes us next.

Best friend? I haven't had one of those in a long time.... However, I have been blessed with several close friends for the first time in years. Being a military wife and moving every year (except for 3) does not allow too much time to form solid relationships.

Cake or pie? Cake AND pie. I can eat an entire cake of the course of a few days. Just don't give me German Chocolate Cake or Coconut Cake. For some reason I've never liked those. But then again, I LOVE Key Lime Pie. And French Silk. And Village Inn has this Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pie (or something like that) that was really good too.

Day of choice? Hard to pick. I love Sunday because we can go to church to worship. I love Saturday because Michael usually lets me sleep in. I love Friday because we get to hang out as a family and stay up late. Friday is our family night. We usually eat pizza and watch a movie.

Essential item? Gotta be my camera. Michael & I went out on Saturday and we saw something that would have made an incredible picture. Where was my camera??? At home. My camera bag & a lens were in the truck with us, but they don't work too well by themselves.

Flavor of ice cream? Mint Chocolate chip. However, I must respectfully disagree with my sweet sister-in law. Blue Bell Ice cream all the way!!!

Gummy bears or worms? Ummmm....YUCK!!!!! Need I say more?

Hometown? I was born in Texas City, TX. We moved to Titusville, FL when I was 6. I have since lived in 9 other towns. This year home is in North Carolina.

Indulgences? Right now it is "The most dangerous chocolate cake in the world." See my previous post about this if you do not know what I'm talking about. I think I have just enough cocoa left to make some for breakfast...

January or July? January. I am not a hot weather person. And lots of really cool people have a birthday in January. Like my mom & my neice & my nephew! And a family friend who is pretty much an "extra" grandparent!

Kids? 2 beautiful girls here on earth and 2 I am waiting to meet in heaven.

Last movie seen in a theater? The Dark Knight. I didn't like it. So, in a couple of weeks, I'm gonna make Michael go watch Fireproof with me.

Middle name? Anna. My parents wanted to name me Juliana, but they could not think of a middle name that they liked so they split the name to be Julie Anna.

Number of siblings? 3. I have an older brother and 2 younger sisters.

Oranges or apples? Give me a good apple with a tub of caramel any day!

Phobia or fear? How many pages can this post take up?? Long lines at the bank start panic attacks. Being widowed. Having to get a "real" job. I admit it. I'm lazy. I'd rather read a book or take pictures than do house work.

Quote? "Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done." ~ CS Lewis

Reason to smile? Praise & worship! God has done so many wonderful things in my life. I don't know why I have had the experiences I have, but I know that God is making something beautiful out of them and that just makes me want to sing!!!

Season? Tough one to pick.

Tag 5 more? Well.... Since I don't really know too many people well enough to feel comfortable tagging them, I'll just say my sister Rachel, my other sister Sarah, and my sister-in-law Shery.

Unknown fact about me? I just recently started teaching the 5th & 6th grade Sunday School class at my church. Until now, the oldest children I have worked with were 1st grade. I also eat frosting right out of the can. And Laura is my SIL.

Vegetarian or oppressor of animals? Vegetables? What vegetables? Meat & potatoes are the way to go!

Worst habit? Eating and exercise. I have struggled with food since I was a teen and was allowed to make more choices about what I did & did not eat. I had been in situations where I had no control over what was going on and so eating was something I could control. There are still days where I eat very little and others where I can hardly stop eating.

As far as exercise, I used to be a compulsive runner until I had knee surgery. Since then I can not run without pain and so, exercise is hit or miss for me now. Which also explains why I weigh 60 pounds more than I did 11 years ago.

X-rays or ultrasounds? I've had both. X-rays when I broke my hand. Ultrasounds for both girls.

Your favorite food? Pastichio. My granddad came to the US from Greece. Somewhere, my mom got a Greek cookbook with a recipe called "Pastichio Simplified III." Now, I don't know what they simplified it from, but it is a challenge to make the first few times without a helper. It is also not a food for people watching either their weight, salt intake, or cholesterol. It contains 6 eggs, at least 4 tablespoons of butter, and over a tablespoon of salt. But it is sooooo good!!

Zodiac? I'm gonna skip this since, well, I am not a fan of astrology.

I'm late, I'm late....

But here are the final birthday pictures!!!

N & A before the wrapping is removed!

N looking at her beautiful journal...
Reading the card very intently...

Putting on the slippers...N wears the slippers every chance she gets. Each night before she goes to bed, she lays down and sits up to make sure her slippers are in the exact right place for the morning. She took the pencil bag to school & her teacher asked her to bring in the journal & slippers to share with the class.

Thank you for sending such beautiful things Mom! We love you very much!

The MOST dangerous.....

.....chocolate cake in the world!



A friend of mine who lives in Australia posted this recipe on a community forum we are both a part of. And this is word for word straight from my friend Kat!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour(that's plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
some nuts (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well . Add the egg and mix thoroughly.Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT!

(this can serve 2 if you want to share!)

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any timeof the day or night!

(and it adapts really well - we made it with spelt flour - we made it with a mix of gluten free flours - we are in TROUBLE!)

*****Tonight I sprinkled a bit of powdered sugar on top for the girls & went with the leftover buttercream icing for mine. YUM!********

Team Impact pictures!!

CJ shows off his strength by ripping phone books in half. After the show the first night, N was disappointed that she was not able to get a "souvenir" from the stage. CJ asked what was wrong & N told him she had wanted a phone book. Well, CJ picked up another phone book and ripped it in half just for her. Of course, A wanted the other half, so we have a complete phone book. A mostly complete phone book.

This is Shawn, though when he wrote his name, I really couldn't figure out how he spelled it. He took a small piece of cloth and wrapped it around a 16 penny nail. He then took the nail and drove it through a piece of wood. No hammer needed for this guy.
You know what a hot water bottle is, right? CJ blew up a hot water bottle like a balloon. Until it popped.
Shawn was asking the crowd for some encouragement. Driving a 16 penny nail through a piece of wood was not enough. Sunday night, he took another 16 penny nail and put it through a skillet. And then he rolled the skillet up to look like a burrito. N told me she wanted that skillet, but I was glad I could convince her a piece of broken wood was just as good!
And finally..... Lifting the telephone pole. Shawn bench pressed it and CJ did a clean jerk & press. (At least that is what Michael called it) When we were preparing for the storm, Michael & I moved this pole from the front of the church to the back. It is ridiculously heavy and for one man to pick it up is just amazing!!

Mom~ the pictures of N opening her gift are coming soon! I love you!

Quick Update!

Last night before the storm. (after it rained all afternoon)

This morning after the worst had passed.
Early this afternoon, I peeked out and saw these little guys bathing in the puddle that always forms on our driveway.
As you can see, the storm was over quickly. The only damage I noticed was our neighbor, Sara, lost a couple of small tree limbs.

This, that, and the other thing

We have had an interesting week. My friend Cari & I took a day to work on our Sunday School classroom. The next day, Friday, was dedicated to putting some partially finishing touches on the youth/ everything else under the sun room. That is a whole other issue that I will address only briefly...The youth meet in a room at Salem that is supposed to be just for the youth. Well, the Women's Circle, the Lion's Club, OASIS (senior adults), and several other groups also meet in the "youth room". So, the new paint job was done for the "youth room" in colors that the older generation approved. Cari & I cleaned, touched up the paint, and arranged the tables & chairs. Took us 6 hours...

Then came Team Impact... An amazing couple of guys!! There are 22 men who are a part of Team Impact, but they only sent us 2. They broke baseball bats, both wooden & aluminum. They crushed tin cans with their bare hands. One of the men rolled up a skillet like a burrito. The other ripped phone books in half. The crowds grew each night they were here. (Friday -Sunday) Finally Sunday night rolled around. After amazing the crowd with what they could bend, 1/2 inch thick cold rolled steel bars for example, they took a 300-400 lb telephone pole. And bench pressed it. Then one man picked the pole up to his waist, rolled it up to his chest and finally pressed it up over his head! YIKES!!! The love they have for our Lord just poured out of them. Many decisions were made over the 3 nights. Praising God for how He just draws people back to him. We even had a Muslim attend the first night. While I am not aware if he ever came back, the Gospel was spoken loud & clear. Sunday night, our next door neighbor came with us. Please pray for Sara. She is Jewish, but she also has books about Zen, Buddhism, and other religions lining her bookshelf.

After Team Impact, came the phone call I really didn't want to hear. On Tuesday afternoon, Michael called to tell me to prepare for a hurricane. Hanna has seemed to become a bit more disorganized and she has weakened back to a tropical storm. However, school is out tomorrow so shelters can open. Hurricane Ike is more of a concern for us. There is the possibility that the base will order an evacuation. We will be keeping an eye on things and I will try to update as I can. Anyway, we have our food, water, gas & enough propane to fire up the grill for a few days.

Yesterday and today, Cari & I have prepared for a hurricane as well as tried to finish painting our classroom. We now have a coat of white paint on 3 walls and a very pretty yellow on the 4th wall. I think we need to do another coat of the white though.

So that is our picture-less update. I will post pictures once I get my computer back. The girls are watching Star Wars again...

Creatures from the deep...

Ok, maybe not so deep. But these little guys were found in the water behind Cari's house on Saturday.

Believe it or not, but this is a shrimp. It doesn't quite look like the ones we had for dinner.
My pastor's son brought a cup up to the house. I thought he just had a drink. That is, I thought he had a drink until he pulled out this little fish. After I took a picture of the shrimp, the kids asked me to take pictures of the other creatures they found. It was sweet.
And no, I did not touch any of them!!

Say what?!?

For those who are reading and may not know, my mom is a teacher. Spelling, grammar, those sorts of things were hammered into our heads as we grew up. After all, a teacher's child should know more than the other kids, right? ;)

So, I have gone through life wishing I could rewrite signs, correct other's spelling mistakes, and fix their punctuation. This one though just leaves me wondering what exactly they are looking for.

Back to School

Back to school. First day griping. "I want to see ____, but I don't want to have to go to school to see ____." Yep. I got that one last night! Complete with the whiny voice.

This morning we took the required first day of school pictures by the front door. I think next time I may try to jazz them up a bit. You know, something better than the glare of the flash off the door with the child standing up holding their backpack, lunch box, and yelling, "I think that's my bus!!!" This morning was not that bad. I took N to school instead of making her take the bus. I figured starting the school year out with a "nice mommy" attitude would be much better than the tears and temper tantrums when A couldn't get on the bus too.

So....N all ready for school.

A was not quite there. I went in to get her and she did NOT want to get out of bed. Hmmmm. Remind you of anyone Mom??
The only pretty picture I was able to get of both girls. A didn't want to sit or take her thumb out of her mouth. And N was just ready to get inside to see her friend Lucy.

Party Time ~ Part 1

Saturday was a busy day. N's 8th birthday, a Bible Quizzing party and a surprise party.

N wanted a few of her friends to come over to watch a movie. She also wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. I thought that sounded fun. Then on Sunday the 17th, I found out that a friend had scheduled a party for the children who wanted to be involved in Bible Quizzing at church. That party was from 2-4 pm. N's was supposed to be from 12- about 3 or 4 pm. What to do! Well, we decided to change N's party to 11am and then take the kids to the other party at 2. However, that didn't leave quite enough time to watch a movie AND go to Chick-Fil-A.

On Saturday, we ordered chicken nuggets from CFA and made french fries at home. The girls watched Ice Age: The Meltdown and ate lunch. Then N got down to business. Presents.

1st gift from Aunt Shery & Uncle Andrew. (Uncle Andrew didn't realize that he had even sent a gift)

Flowers for the girl who wants to grow things.
Blindfolded for the gift that was too large to wrap. Michael & I bought N a planter called an Earth Box. N wants to be a farmer when she grows up. We have asked what she wants to grow and she said, "things to eat." Now, we just have to find out what type of food will grow during this time of year....
After the gifts were all open, we took the kids outside to play. We had a race to see who could pop balloons the fastest. A had a little bit of trouble with hers, but she popped it eventually. After the 1st round of balloons were popped, we let the kids have the rest of them to pop. Once they were all done, it was time to change and head out to our 2nd party of the day.

Party Time ~ Part 2

Our second party of the day was a pool party. Both of the girls had a great time. Since N's birthday party time was moved up, we took cake & ice cream with us to the pool party to share with the other kids.

N swimming. And yes, she is trying to smile!
Ready to jump. Into the deep end! Yikes!
Finally the time came for our 3rd party of the day. My dear friend, Cari, is turning 30 on Tuesday the 26th. Someone, I'm not sure who, planned a surprise party for her. And no, I didn't spoil the surprise. I only have trouble keeping secrets from Michael.

We finally made it home around 7 pm. N had invited one of her friends to spend the night. They went off to play and I thought A had gone with them. Nope, she'd crawled up in her chair and fallen asleep.

Too pooped to party anymore!

When I went back to put her in bed, she had fallen face down in the chair. Of course, I couldn't resist taking another photo.

Sweet girl.

I am in awe

of what God is doing in my life right now.

August 12th, I saw my doctor and he gave me permission to stop taking one of my antidepressants. After I left his office, I went to the groery store on our military base where I promptly pulled too far into the parking space & bumped someone's car. Not a good start. That day I also got an email from a friend asking me to let her know my prices for the traditional pg photos. The next day, my mom emailed me & suggested that I take some business classes at our local college to help with starting a photography business. The following Saturday, 8/16, a good friend asked me to put together a portfolio and apply for a part time job taking team photos of the children's soccer teams.

All of that in one week. I am not confident in my abilities as a photographer. I know I can take a decent photo, but I certainly don't think they are quite professional quality. I was feeling fear creeping in.

Over the past 2 weeks, I asked a couple of families if I could practice portraits with their kids. Saturday, 8/23, I had 2 ladies ask me to do portraits of their families as well. So, I now have 5 families that I have to schedule. But, God has taken the fear I was experiencing and has turned it to excitement.

This weekend, I also felt very strongly that God wanted me to talk to my pastor this week about 2 different, yet related, things. First, to share my testimony and second, to ask about starting a program called Celebrate Recovery or a similar program in our church.

I walked into church this morning wrestling with God's direction to share my whole testimony. I would gladly share the short version. But no, God kept telling me that He wants my whole testimony.

When I entered the church building, I saw that there were sign-up sheets for the next round of discipleship classes. The first one that caught my eye was..............Celebrate Recovery. I was speechless. God told me to talk to my pastor this very week about CR and here was a sign-up sheet! Even more amazing to me, my pastor told me this morning that he was debating on if he would be teaching that class or another one. My response was to tell him that I went through the leader training one month before I moved here.

As for my testimony....the one I am being led to share is the one I shared at CR shortly before I moved.

So, God is preparing a career for me. Something that I love. Something that I have dreamed of doing for YEARS. And, God is opening doors within my church for me to share a part of myself and possibly help launch an incredible ministry.

I have wanted to share this all day, but I have been just so in awe of what God is doing, I have had trouble finding the words.

And for anyone who is wondering about why I have not posted any recent photos....I need to recharge my camera battery and I just downloaded the photos to my computer last night! I promise there will be more pictures soon!

Challenge

A friend of mine issued a challenge today. To take a word and illustrate it with a photograph. These are the words that my friend's photography class used.

Lines

Mechanical

Stretch

Through

Bottom

Organized

Different

Far

Away

Green

Mug

Dummy

At Night

Liquid

Artificial

Out of Reach

Switch

Relief

Blades

Missing

Underground

Historic

Button

Popular

Grand

Exotic

Delicious

Sounds simple, right? We will find out. I'm going to take her challenge and post the results here for you to see.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy birthday Laura! Hope you have a wonderful day!

We love you!

Rachel & Andres

Hope you two have a wonderful day. Happy Anniversary!

Love you!

Reunion ~ People Part 2

"Sweetness", my sister-in-law's second daughter.

"Stealth-Man", Laura's oldest boy is just hard to resist. It is so much fun to take pictures of Laura's children.

Daddy loves his girl! And she loves him too! This picture was taken on the trail up to Haceta Head Lighthouse. 'N' and Sweetness. These cousins had a wonderful time playing together.

Beach trip!!

I took the girls to the beach on Tuesday evening. I was hoping to be able to get some good pictures of the moon rising over the Atlantic. Well....I got some good pictures, but not of the moon rise. It ended up being too cloudy on the horizion. Maybe next month...

Playing in the sand...
Sunset.
The top of the dunes.
Pretty girl.
I was trying to get the same pose out of both girls. The little one kept her hands up, but only when her hair was in her face.

Reunion favorites ~ Part 1

My nephew, aka "the Ark."
Playing on the tire swing...
My niece, aka "Miss Arty-Pants" (my SIL's names for her kids)
I really want to share all 400 some odd photos from the reunion, but I'm going to restrain myself and only post a few at a time. Today, I'm sharing people. After all, what would you call a family reunion if there aren't any people?

Odds & Ends

I enjoy looking for odd angles or things that remind me of something else. Below is the "face" of a Generator Field Rheostat & Voltage Regulator Panel on the USS North Carolina. The full panel is pictured above.