365/195

Tonight there will be no picture; I don’t have it in me.  There hasn’t been much that has made sense to me today.  Every seemingly insignificant thing that topped my priority list yesterday meant nothing today, after hearing the news just after 12:00 am this morning about little Christian unexpectedly passing away. 

The moment I read the opening line of Amy’s email, I knew my eyes would next fall upon words I would not want to read.  When I then saw Marsha and David’s names, I did not want to read the next sentence and I held my breath for a brief moment.

Since then, there has been no words to describe the pain I feel in my heart for my dear friend Marsha and her family.  The tears I have shed over the last twenty-two hours cannot begin to come close to that of a parent that has lost their most precious gift in this life.   Although we can look into the faces of our own children and only imagine how we would feel, I know that we could never really know or comprehend their loss without living such a nightmare ourselves.

Even though we know that little Christian is in the loving arms of Jesus right now and is rejoicing in his heavenly home, the mama, daddy and brothers that loved him so, are living through their very darkest hours. 

Through our human eyes we can never make sense of such a tragic event, but through spiritual eyes we know that God is with us, holding us up, when we cannot stand to face such overwhelming sadness and grief.  We know that only God knows the reason and as many times as I have asked why today, I know that there will not be an answer.  I do know that in God’s sovereignty, He is just and right and good and above all, He loves us deeply and is deeply pained to see our broken hearts.  Ultimately He does that which will bring glory to Himself and only heaven will bring us the answers we so desperately seek.

“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”—Isaiah 61:3

Please pray for Marsha, David and the boys. I know that our words will be insufficient at such a time as this because nothing but Jesus can heal these wounds, but yet our prayers and support will be needed from this point forward.  Until this family is reunited with their sweet “Dozer” in eternity.

The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; And devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil,

365/183

This is King Meemer and his mama, who is politely telling me to get lost with my camera.  Actually it was something more like, “you’re obnoxious,” but I was undeterred.

I tried to catch miss fussy, (I say that with the utmost love and affection,) without her knowing by shooting from the hip.  Meaning, I didn’t raise my camera to my eye, I shot it from waist level.  But that girl has good ears I tell you!  She could hear my shutter ten miles away.

Isn’t she beautiful even though she’s reprimanding me?

Anyway, have fun and try this approach to get all kinds of interesting shots.  When I do this, I can’t wait to get home and see what I’ve captured.   It’s always a hoot!

And before Kimmie gets a hold of me at church tonight and strangles me after seeing this photo of herself on my blog, I need to tell you she has poured out her heart about their upcoming adoption in this post and since I could never do it justice, you must read it for yourselves.  

365/124

I’m finally getting this posted after sitting in the dark for several hours last night when lightning hit a transformer.  Eventually, I gave up and went to sleep.  I really must invest in a battery operated lantern. 

Anyway, our extremely isolated and unsocialized homeschoolers got together yesterday for a sewing class given by Bible study friend Beta, otherwise known as the Italian seamstress.  Unfortunately, I was too busy snapping pictures to learn much, but I picked up a little along the way.

While I was busy capturing the class, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth over a couple of unruly sewing machines.  I would say “broken,” but that may stir up round two of tears over the pretty red sewing machine pictured at the bottom.  Don’t worry Kimmie, God can fix sewing machines too.

Wednesday it’s off to cooking class, when Beta teaches them how to make Bolognese!  You can better believe I will be holding a fork and not the camera that day.

Project 365 - Day 74

Sadly I dropped off my dear friend at the airport today and as my mother used to say, “All good things must come to an end,” which stinks in my opinion, but what can you do, other than kidnapping and I’m not into that sort of thing.

We made a lot of great memories over the last few days and I have been truly blessed by Carrie’s visit to my otherwise dull household. 

For once I was a child again, acting giddy and silly, those things that sometimes get lost in the sea of responsibilities we as parents bear.  But not this weekend.  Oh no.  This weekend was all about the fun and if we weren’t so dad gum tired all the time, we would have really raised the roof.  We might have caused a disturbance.

Well we could have.

And let me tell you, Carrie was so excited to see the ocean, she thought she would eat some of it for lunch.   She offered to share, but I told her I wasn’t really into seaweed straight up like that.

One might think Bella was dancing over the ocean, but she was really dancing because Carrie was with us.  Bella just kind of stared at Carrie for the first couple of days.  I think Carrie was getting a little wigged out by it, but what can one do?

So if you ever get the chance to meet someone you met online, don’t chicken out, you could make a great friendship that will span a lifetime.

Project 365 - Day 73

While my dear friend Carrie was taking a nap I went outside to do a little work in my garden.  Not your typical garden tools I realize, but we New Englanders are serious about our gardening.  After the roots were cut, the neighbor graciously came over with his pick-up and pulled the stump right out, saving my wittle arms for any further hard labor.  Although I must say there is nothing more liberating than swinging an axe with authority.  Makes you feel like you have muscles.  I almost felt like Robert Conrad for a split second.  Almost.

Carrie is leaving in the morning and we had an awesome weekend….well I had an awesome weekend, and you’ll have to confer with her for her side of the story.  Honestly, I am very sad to see her leave.  She is hilarious, down to earth, gracious as all get out and total fun to be with and I can’t wait for her to come back.

I will try to post the photos of our weekend over the next couple of days.  There is a lot of editing involved, which takes a great deal of time, but I have not forgotten that you have been promised some photos.

Project 365 - Day 70

Carrie is here!  We made it to terminal B without getting lost and we were even early.  I am always early when I am out of my comfort zone.  The airport clearly does that to me.

Meeting Carrie for the first time was like meeting someone you have already known for your entire life and she is just as kooky in person as she is online.   She is genuine to the core.

How cool is it that I was able to meet my bloggy friend in person!   For all of you that secretly thought we were crazy, it turned out exactly as I knew it would. 

We were out rather late tonight so the rest of the details will have to wait, but here are a few photos from our day.

Project 365 - Day 61

Sarah had some huge desire to capture me with my headset on today and I was less than thrilled about it.  I had just walked in the door and got slammed with work issues.  This is mid eye roll, just in case you were wondering if there was a bug on the ceiling that captured my attention.

So enough nonsense.  The big news is….Carrie is coming to visit next week!  Carrie and I met on Homeschoolblogger a couple of years ago and we became fast friends.  For those of you who might be thinking I have slipped off the deep end by having a complete stranger at my house…she truly is no stranger than me.  Okay, maybe a little.

Right Carrie?  Carrie?

Kidding….

Actually, we talk on the phone once a week and I am completely at ease with having her come stay with me.  In fact, she is absolutely hilarious and I know we will have an awesome time, so be watching because we will be blogging side by side with lots of photos to share.

She is bringing along her video camera and she emptied the memory which translated means…..I’m in big trouble.

She has also threatened my life if the weather stinks.  She doesn’t get out much so she has high expectations.  I’m hoping New England will cooperate for her or there may be trouble.

So if you don’t hear from me again you’ll know it rained.