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Ten on Thursday

1. Sometime last week, Kealoha and I were shopping at Macy’s when a little boy started following Kealoha around. She tried to get away from him, but he kept on chasing her, until she ended up clinging to my leg. At one point, I heard little K say, “Are you checking me out?”

2. We have no idea where she learned that phrase. She doesn’t watch tv – except for KPBS — and I doubt Zoey ever asks Elmo if he’s checking her out. Kealoha claims she’d heard daddy say it. He denies saying it. Oy.

3. While I was editing this photo, Kealoha came by, and said, “Wow. He’s a little good-looking, mommy!” lol. Um, have I mentioned that Kealoha is the daughter we’re going to chaperone until she graduates from college?

4. This “a little good-looking” guy is Kerry. He’s in the army and is going back to Iraq today so please keep him in your prayers.  

5. We did a super quick session with his family last Sunday, after church. It was “fellowship meal Sunday” so we had to be clever about choosing a spot that wasn’t too busy and had decent light, and we had to be quick because we didn’t want Kealoha to eat all the chicken catered from El Pollo Loco.   

6. This is Elizabeth, Kerry’s sister. Beautiful, isn’t she?  

7. And John. Poor John doesn’t like his picture being taken. But he endured the torture for his mom.  8. Yeah, they’re all ”a little good-looking,” don’t you think?

9. David and I are working on a logo together, and I think he’s about ready to kill me for all the changes we’ve he’s had to make.

10. I’m working on the website – a little at a time. I’m finding out I have commitment issues. “Maybe, I don’t like this color, after all…” So I’m taking a break. We’re off to the park because it’s too beautiful outside to stay in! Have a great day!

OSP at the Beach

Carey of Barefoot Memories organized an OSP get-together last week Friday at Windansea. She even had Chipotle even make a special delivery for lunch. Yum! Thanks, Carey! We had a great time.

Here’s her daughter, Rory. Named after Rory Gilmore. Doesn’t she look like a living doll? I love her blue eyes peeking out here…

Amber and Abbey

Aidan

Jamie Lawler

some of the paparazzi

Ricardo and his family…

Kealoha doing her own trash the dress session. Even her daddy was surprised to see this picture. She’s usually content to play in the sand because she’s too afraid to venture near the water.

fairy festival

My sister reminded me that I have a blog I need to upkeep. To her, it means I need to post pictures of her nieces…Since I’m such an indulgent sister;), I’m posting…

These were taken at the fairy festival at Summers Past Farms. If you live in San Diego county, and you have little girls who love to dress up in wings and things, you shouldn’t miss this event. You’ll never see so many winged creatures fluttering along, while their mommies (and some daddies) follow them around with cameras permanently affixed to their faces, anywhere else….Well, maybe at the Wild Animal Park. But I doubt it. The festival is held annually on the first Saturday of June. We met up with Susie, Johanna, and Crystal, and their fairy princesses.Tinkerbell was there…

…with her sister…

Davi, the green-eyed fairy.

and Sarah. This picture makes me feel like I’m looking into a secret world or something… 

More pictures tomorrow. I really need to post stuff from the OSP Kids party last week Friday.

Happy Monday!

Draw Near and Hear

I spent all of Saturday, sans kids, for some time of refreshing and renewal.But I didn’t go to the spa. I went to this conference.

It was an amazing time of worship, worship, and worship.

Oh yes, there was teaching, too. When I got home, David asked me what I got out of it but I couldn’t answer him very well. I was still ruminating over everything. I think I wanted to tell him of some huge revelation. But really, ”Draw Near and Hear” encouraged me to go back to the basics. Back to the Bible. Back to faith – to trusting in God, instead of trying to work things out on my own. Back to worship. Worship, not because of what God has done for me, or what I want Him to do for me, but worship for who He is.  Because He is good.  He is awesome. Truly awesome.

So today, I go to Amazon to buy a baby gift. And there on the home page is the list of non-fiction bestsellers. Number one is a book titled, “God is not Good.” Wow. My curiosity piqued, I read some of the reviews. I thought I’d feel defensive. Instead, I feel sad. How God must feel, a Father whose beloved children pretty much turn on Him. They deny God’s existence. And they have all these seemingly intellectual arguments about why He can’t possibly be real. I don’t have the words or the mental capacity to debate them. But I wish I knew how to show them just how much God loves them.

Ten on Thursday…

I missed Ten on Tuesday. I don’t know of a number that starts with W so I waited til today to blog . Ten on Thursday, it is.

1. I accidentally hosed someone during a carwash last Saturday. I was spraying over the top of a Tundra, and I didn’t realize the owner was in front of the truck….Oops! We couldn’t give him a refund because the carwash was free. We just didn’t advertise that it might come with a side of shower.

2. Our pastor told the story the next day. Oy!  And I discovered that I almost tripped someone, as well – with the same hose. Our drummer had to do his best twinkle-toes imitation and hop over the water conveyor to avoid a face plant.

3. Speaking of face plants, I almost did one… Surprise, surprise. I, myself, managed to trip over the hose (I’m trying to see how many times  I can type hose). My face was two inches from making contact with the ground, and I had to do some unpretty maneuvering to avoid strawberries all over my face. So I got them on my knees and elbows instead. Thankfully, no one witnessed my acrobatic attempts–except for my husband, who promptly yelled, “Are you ok, sweetie?” I didn’t want to look and see just how many people saw me embarrass myself, yet again.

 4. I don’t think I’ll be allowed to touch a hose again anytime soon. The church will probably confine me to drying duties. Hopefully, I can’t do any damage with a chamois.

  5. This picture is so Kealoha right now. Way into dressing up, dance —  and Tonka Trucks. She got her wish for a Tonka Truck on her birthday. Then, a couple days later, she got a couple more from her Uncle Derek. Now, she’s got three oversized, yellow construction vehicles she pushes all over the place. Thanks, Derek and Kristie!

6. I can’t take all the credit for the compositions on my photos, lately, as I’m often being directed by Keilah. “Mommy, take a picture of me through this hole.” “Get on your tummy, and shoot it from below while I look down.” ”Make sure you…”

7.  We love San Diego. There’s always free stuff to go to on the weekends. So long as we get up out of bed and stop wrestling.   8.  This past weekend’s excursion was to Space Day at the Aerospace Museum. Looking at solar flares through huge telescopes is just cool. 9.  David found out about Space Day from geekdad.. His favorite blog.10. I love imperfect pictures. Sure, I could have cloned out the hair on her face and the traces of Doritos around her mouth but it wouldn’t be *her.*

World Vision

Guy Kawasaki, whose blog is aptly titled “How To Change the World,” features an interview with World Vision’s president on his site today. It really is a must read. I love Richard Stearns’ answer to question 10. I want that passage in Job to someday be on my epitaph, too. Along with, “she  loved, she laughed, she took pictures!”

I actually got in front of the camera yesterday. All for a Bludomain website on special. I’m really anxious to start working on it. Kind of nervous because it’s a big step towards making this photography dream a little more of a reality but excited, too…

Before our little photo shoot yesterday, Keilah said, “Why do we have to take pictures of mama? We already know what she looks like!” lol!

keilah pictures

When we were expecting Kealoha, David told me she’s “normally” going to have less pictures than Keilah because she’s the second child. He forgot that I’m not necessarily “normal”… Isn’t normal boring? It seems I might have overcompensated because it’s been brought to my attention that I have more photos of Kealoha on my blog… So to even things out, here’s an all-Keilah-photo blog entry.

These were taken at Sea World’s Happy Harbor this past weekend. Keilah loved running around and getting sprayed at the water tunnels while Kealoha snubbed the idea of getting wet. She said: “Nope. Not gonna do it!”

OSP

Last Friday, I got to meet up with a few OSP photographers. Jeff and Betsy are in the process of updating their website so Rachel did a photo shoot for them. She has an awesome slideshow on her blog.

She also graciously let me shoot alongside her. Here are a few favorites.

 

 

 

Alyssa and her friend Sarah joined us for dinner later. After dinner, Aaron and Samantha did an impromptu Strobist-like demonstration on Pocket Wizards and off-camera flash. Fun night!

birthday wishes

Everywhere we go, Kealoha tells everyone she meets that her fourth birthday is only a few days away. She’s told the storytime leader at the library, the Lancome  lady at Macy’s, and even a random mother at the park. I could be talking to someone, and she’ll flash them 3 of her fingers, then quickly change it to four. Then, she’ll say, “My birthday is May 7. And Hannah’s is May 6. But she won’t be turning four! She’s big already!” Never mind that people don’t usually know who Hannah is. Or even who Kealoha is. She just wants to broadcast that she’s counting down the days until she can have birthday cake! 

Oh, and all this girly girl wants for her special day is a trip to SeaWorld – and a Tonka Truck. David got so excited over the prospect of non-girly toys that he actually volunteered to go shopping for it! That may not sound like a big deal but it really, truly is. David only goes to the mall once a year — to shop for my Christmas present! And that’s painful enough for him. So yeah, wanting to go shopping is newsworthy, or rather, blogworthy!