04/21/08

I realize it has basically been a week since I was on here... believe me, my friend Karen has reminded me of that each time I have seen her! ha!! SO.... Karen, my friend, this post is my promise kept to you today at church!!

My pictures for today are the "life cycle" of candied tuft. I took these right after I got my new lens! It is quite neat to see how they begin and how they bloom. We have had this planted in our front bed for a few years but, to me, this was the first year they really became pretty.

It has been a crazy past week and this coming week proves to be even crazier as we are getting ready for the kids birthday party on Saturday. I have so many things to do I am a bit overwhelmed.

I still have to finish journaling on their scrapbook pages and get the finishing touches on them before I get them in the album. Yesterday morning I saw that Mikayla had one of hers out on her bed. When I started looking through it, it reminded me again why I scrapbook. My children's lives are right there before me in pictures and words. Things they did and said as well as how they USED TO LOOK showed me what a precious keepsake they are. Do I always have the time to do them??? NO. The older they get the more that time is becoming less and less but I am determined to keep going. Mikayla and I thoroughly enjoyed looking through hers together yesterday morning and it brought back so many great memories.

I went and bought the decorations, cups and plates for the party today. I didn't want to do that on a Sunday afternoon but every other day has been so busy I haven't had a chance!! Our "luau" theme should be quite colorful and a blast!

Yesterday I went to the NC Arboretum and took the kids eight year pics. I want to get them back to give to everyone at the party Saturday. I didn't get as many good ones as I wanted because I was using my new lens to try it out as a portrait lens. While it did great at times, it wasn't "spot on" in many others. That frustrated me when I got home and saw that. I also didn't take as many as I had originally thought. I think the day seemed long because the kids were being QUITE goofy. Wesley had a hard time staying serious yet sweet for me. You can tell by the one of them together I have put on here that I had issues... lol I will need to practice more with the new lens before I use it on other people. (Everyone remember that I truly overanalyze every shot I take and can get quite frustrated with myself if they aren't perfect...)

Friday was a field trip to the NC Zoo. Oh my, it was a beautiful day but EXHAUSTING. On a good note I took around 200 pictures of animals. ha! Of course, some of those are repeats of the same animal but I'll share those in future posts. (I truly hope for Karen's sake that I can post each night this week... ha!) The students seemed to have a blast and the Lord gave us a wonderful day to see more of His Creation.

Last Tuesday my students celebrated my birthday a couple of months early. They surprised me with cards and a wonderful cake. I had two mothers... whom I love dearly and they read this blog and know who they are.... who decorated my desk, my pens and pencils, and above my desk area with streamers. I actually still have them hanging and am not looking forward to taking them down. They actually add a "spark of life" to my room at the end of the year. :) It was very thoughtful of them to remember me in such a great way.

OH... and last Tuesday I got my new washer and dryer!! I took pictures of them and will have to show them later because I just realized I forgot to load them off my card onto the computer. They are great and I am really enjoying them! Never thought I'd get that excited over a durable good. lol

Last night we had our school's auction. The theme was "Celebrating His Goodness" and revolved around Psalm 100. It was quite wonderful and we had a blast. I had a lot more people bid on my photography session this year. I was excited about that as well. God blessed in so many ways last night and many people gave so we could have needed improvements and additions to the school. Steve bid on and actually won a fountain in the silent auction!! :) It was a great evening and I got to spend it with my wonderful husband.

As I am sitting here typing this I am thinking of all of the things I need to go and do. As I stated above, I am so overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done this week between school, the extra things I have with a commitment at school as well as getting ready for the party. I was reading Isaiah 40 in the kids devotions tonight and they spoke to me, actually, more than the kids, I think! I thought I would close with these verses. Truly, I am typing them out to help me, but if they help some of you as well, then, once again, God's Word does not return void!!!

Isaiah 40:28-31

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.