Via Vessel

Via The Tuininga Increase

Via A Greener Just Another Drill

We were done with prayer time. We had been through several songs and I had perhaps one more tune before departing her bedside when she made a peep. I was one breath away from issuing the line in my sternest Mommy voice, “No more talking. It’s time to go to sleep,” when I heard this from my daughter:

Dear Jesus, thank you for the tent. It’s beautiful. Amen.

The tent is a frothy princess mosquito net device that we hung in Liv’s room today. It came all the way from the Free Store at seminary (where Jeremy and I used to shop in our basement after he had locked up the campus) via Brook who brought it to the Welsteads’ white elephant party last weekend. I was the only one in the room who even wanted the thing. And I’ll admit Brook told me, this is verbatim, that Liv would pee herself with excitement at this particular gift. So I picked it up, put it in the backseat of the car, and Livia found it today.

Brook was right. My kiddo LOVES it so much it merited an extra shout out to Jesus tonight at bedtime.

My heart is full.

I didn’t pick up my camera today until the day was pretty well done. And even after I picked it up, I shot from the hip. Well, actually I shot from the knee, from the floor, with my arms stuck into the Christmas tree. For all who ask the question, “Do you have a real tree or an artificial one?” I humbly submit this image.

“Olivia the Christmas Tree,” as named by my daughter, is like a human-looking robot from one of the many sci-fi movies my husband watches. Outside she appears to be an honest-to-goodness tree; on the inside, she’s all nuts and bolts, wires and plastic. Oh, did I mention that she’s cheap, paid for, and doesn’t need water? Yes, this year, she is more than sufficient—she’s charming.

Via Crayola Blue

Via Ramblings

Via BryantChatt

Via Burden of Glory

Renae and I spent some time this evening talking cameras. We moved from Program setting to Aperture setting, discussed what happens when you mess with ISO and shutter speed, and took countless odd photos as demonstrations of our knowledge (or as it sometimes turns out, our lack thereof). A simple white balance change made all the difference in the rich yellow light of the dining room—a touch of camera magic, if you will.

Learning about photography together = good.
Sharing pizza for dinner while Brook is in town = good.
Letting the kids play and entertain themselves = good.
Living next door to good friends = BRILLIANT.