I have decided to switch over to Blogspot … I actually started a blog over there about five years ago, but never did much with it.  Now that I’m using Friend Connect to follow my friends’ blogs and Gmail, it seems to make sense to tie it all together.  If you’d like to come by and say hi, here’s the address:

TxMom2Jami….Photos & Mental Meanderings of a Gulf Coast Shutterbug

I do hope you’ll stop by … I plan on writing more, posting more photos, and becoming a more active blogger.  Sometimes I just think you need a fresh change, don’t you?

Laura 

Gary Hubbell: The Redneck tree hugger | AspenTimes.com

Seriously, the manager is GREAT, I liked all the people I was working with, but the fact is … my daughter needs me at home.  She’s at that crossroads, where she can go either way … and I realized this weekend how much I need to be at home.  So, while I enjoyed my two weeks working at Hobby Lobby, Friday will be my last day.

I didn’t even take advantage of the employee discount.  Ha!

I may have to go in a little early tomorrow and do a little shopping while I can still qualify for that. 

Monday is my first day … whoo hoo!

On Saturday we buried my husband’s father.

The next day, on Sunday, we made our way to church as usual and while my husband seemed a bit quieter than he might be other times, he didn’t seem too “off” from the stresses of the previous days.  I had no idea that he planned to speak in church.  In fact, I’m not even sure he knew that he would be speaking in church.  But when our pastor gave the members opportunity to share testimonies, songs of praise, etc., my husband raised his hand and asked if he could say a few words.

He started out by saying how much he appreciated that our pastor and his wife had made the time to come to his father’s funeral the previous day.  He went on to say a few words about his father, concluding that he was a “good man,” and then he said this:

“My father was a good man, but based on the “fruits” of his life, I am not sure that he ever asked Christ to be his Lord and Savior.  And so I will live with the uncertainty of where he is for the rest of my life.  I encourage you, I beg you to really think about your relationship with Christ … don’t wait to make the commitment, and don’t leave the ones you love, that love you, wondering if you ever did.”

My heart broke for him, and at the same time, I was so proud that he took this horrible uncertainty that he is living with and used it as an opportunity to entreat people to not make the same mistake, both for their own sakes and the sakes of their loved ones.

FOXNews.com – Is Health Care Bill a Victory for America?

I will have been married to my darlin’ husband for EIGHTEEN YEARS. 

Good heavens, I love that man.

it is so applicable in so many situations.  We tend to “talk” things to death:

A 
member of a certain church, who previously had 
been attending services regularly, stopped 
going.  After a few weeks, the pastor 
decided to visit him.

It was a chilly 
evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, 
sitting before a blazing fire.  Guessing 
the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man 
welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair 
near the fireplace and waited.

The pastor 
made himself at home but said nothing.  In 
the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of 
the flames around the burning logs.  After 
some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, 
carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and 
placed it to one side of the hearth all alone 
then he sat back in his chair, still 
silent..

The host watched all this in 
quiet contemplation.  As the one lone 
ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there 
was a momentary glow and then its fire was no 
more.  Soon it was cold and 
dead.

Not a word had been spoken since 
the initial greeting.  The pastor glanced 
at his watch and realized it was time to 
leave.  He slowly stood up, picked up the 
cold, dead ember and placed it back in the 
middle of the fire.  Immediately it began 
to glow, once more with the light and warmth of 
the burning coals around it.

As the 
pastor reached the door to leave, his host said 
with a tear running down his cheek,  ‘Thank 
you so much for your visit and especially for 
the firey sermon. I will be back in church next 
Sunday’.

We live in a world today, which 
tries to say too much 
with too little.  Consequently, 
few listen.  Sometimes the best sermons are 
the ones left unspoken.


Still feeling like poo … took the advice of a couple of friends and swallowed a crushed garlic clove whole … that was a new and different experience!  We’ll see if it helps.  Supposedly garlic has antibiotic properties.  I vaguely remember hearing that somewhere, and I figure it’s only garlic, so what could it hurt, even if it doesn’t make a lot of difference?

The daughter is spending the night with her cousins and we are watching House on DVD.  Before my guy returns home, he’s going to call from my sister’s and I’ll place an online order for pizza for him to pick up on the way home.  Lazy, lazy Friday night.  Just right for a day when I feel like poo.

Sunday I shot a wedding for a friend’s daughter … it was a gift, as I’m not a pro, and I don’t have all the professional equipment to do the “fancy” stuff.  But the pictures turned out nicely and I think they will be happy.  I’ve shared some of them on Facebook so they could get a glimpse of what I did.  When I finish editing the photos, I’ll be burning them to discs for the bride and her mother and then they can print out whatever they would like. 

As a photographer, you have to talk a LOT during the posed shots – directing people, trying to get their attention, etc.  Yesterday when I woke up and my throat was a bit on the raspy side, I thought it was from all the talking I’d been doing on Sunday afternoon.

Not.

This morning, it’s killing me.  And I have some chest congestion.  Argh … (she says with a soft whisper, rather than the full-blown aggravation she really feels …)

Canceled the six-month dental hygiene appointments we had at 11:00 a.m.  Doubt the hygienist would want me breathing/coughing in her face.  Going to continue working on the Yearbook that never ends.  Do laundry.  Take my girl to piano at 3:00 p.m. 

And maybe see if I can squeeze a nap in there somewhere.

It doesn’t help that I ache all over … Monday morning I went to the gym with my guy and worked out.  Planned on going today, but I don’t think so.  Not with the way my chest is feeling.

See ya’ later.

The wedding was held at a nice hotel in our community.  In the center of the venue is a large stone fountain/waterfall – the ceremony took place on one side, with the reception taking place on the other side.  The gal that decorated for the ceremony put these mirrors with pillar candles at different levels of the fountain and I happened to get this shot during the ceremony.  I really like it.  🙂

The wedding party … I know why wedding photographers charge so much.  This is HARD WORK.  A lot of guests were standing behind me, taking pictures with their little cameras and so several of my shots have different subjects looking in different directions – because they didn’t know which camera to look at.  I didn’t realize this until I got home and pulled the photos up on my computer.  Fortunately, I took several shots and was able to find some where they all were looking in roughly the right direction. 

I LOVE this shot.  The little girl who was the flower girl has spina bifida — it was a lot of work for her to get through this ceremony without using her wheelchair, but she was determined.  We tried to do the photos in an order that allowed her to rest some between shots. 

The bridesmaids were so cute!  We pulled a chair over to help them get up on this brick wall that ran around the perimeter of the room.  The shoes were Ninas, with four inch heels and the mother of the bride was terrified that one of them was going to stumble, so we had to make sure the shoes were included in the picture story!

It was a lot of fun, a lot of work, and while I wouldn’t mind doing it occasionally, I don’t think I would want to do this for a living.  Too much stress!