05/31/11

Some lovely flowers for today... anyone know what they are called?

I cannot believe how hot it is for the end of May.

YUCK.

I actually worked on making supper tonight.

I burnt the beans because I was too busy trying to multi-task.

I hope the rest of it is good.

I am going to finish up my Bible study Breaking Free tonight. I will say a big part of me is sad this one is coming to an end. I can't say enough how much this study has helped me. The Lord has helped me understand how to "Break Free" and now I am looking forward to "Stepping Up" into what He wants to show me!

Here is something I read last night from the study and wanted to share today. It was precious to me.

"The gospel is so arranged and the gift of God so great that you may take the very enemies that fight you and the forces that are arrayed against you and make them steps up to the very gates of heaven and into the presence of God... God wants of every one of His children, to be more than conqueror.... You know when one army is more than conqueror it is likely to drive the other from the field, to get all the ammunition, the food and supplies, and to take possession of the whole... There are spoils to be taken!

Beloved, have you got them? When you went into that terrible valley of suffering did you come out of it with spoils? When that injury struck you and you thought everything was gone, did you so trust in God that you came out richer than you went in? To be more than conqueror is to take the spoils from the enemy and appropriate them to yourself. What he had arranged for your overthrow, take and appropriate for yourself."

~ Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman

05/30/11

We are home.

Did you miss us?

Steve and I are home from a wonderful weekend in the mountains.

We celebrated our anniversary.

It has been 18 years, just in case you forgot from yesterday.

It was a weekend full of hiking and exploring.

A weekend where we continue to realize we are not spring chickens, but keep trying to hike and do ourselves proud.

A weekend with just me and him.

A weekend where we tried to avoid children at all costs. (Said compassionately.... remember, peeps, I was on my weekend with my man. However, we did miss our own two.)

A weekend of just driving around going nowhere but somewhere at the same time.

A weekend of seeing a wonderful friend, Sandy, who was also in the mountains! :)

A weekend of no schedule... just look at the map... or call a friend... to find out the neat out-of-the-way places.

A weekend of finding ourselves as a couple again. We seem to get lost in life and raising children sometimes that we forget who we are as a couple.

A weekend that I would have loved for it to keep going on.....

05/29/11

Happy Anniversary to my one and only sweet Steve!!

I made this video for him as a gift for our anniversary of 18 years. It is a "walk" down memory lane with one of our favorite songs from when we were dating, as well as another one that just fits! I am so blessed!

05/28/11

A good thought for today:

A smile of encouragement at the right moment may act like sunlight on a closed flower; it may be the turning point for a struggling life.

~Alfred A. Montapert

05/27/11

I loved this wall of frames I saw in Old Salem.

It makes me think of summer adventures ahead, moments to capture... memories I will hold dear to my heart.

The beginning of summer is always full of possibilities. I can't wait to capture the memories and put them in the frames of my mind and heart.

What is something you are really looking forward to doing this summer?

05/26/11

So it was the last day of school.

I couldn't let this day go by without teaching you all something. See the picture above? That is how we get uppercase and lowercase letters. Big letters were in the UPPERcase and small letters were in the LOWERcase for a printing press.

Printing press.
I love how the words "print shop" are spelled backwards to make it come out correctly on the paper. I was quite excited over this printing press. The lady in charge of that area at Old Salem looked at me a bit funny. I guess most people don't get THAT excited over a printing press.

So, it is official... the last day of school for this school year.

It went by really fast.

I am going to miss my kids... I really am.

I had those who loved to hug, those who bubbled with joy, those that were consistent and dependable, those who were dramatic and made me laugh. They all have a special place in my heart and I am going to miss not seeing them.

I am proud of my two sweet babies.

Wesley earned A/B Honor Roll for the entire year. For those who know Wesley, this is a huge accomplishment. He worked so hard and we are so proud.

Mikayla Girl earned the Girl Fourth Grade Chorus Award, Girl Accelerated Reader Award for fourth grade and the Girl Christian Character Award for her class.

I am so thankful and blessed that their year went well.

We are looking forward to a restful summer.

Remember.... I want everyone to get on their "PJ's" and spend time with the Lord along with me this summer. Feel free to discuss what you are learning. You know I will be sharing with you. :)

05/25/11

So here is some randomness for this 25th day of the month.

It was extremely hot again today. Yes, I wore as much deodorant as I could.... but it did not help.

Another Field Day and time of my classroom awards has come and gone. I still can't believe it.

I got a bookmark from one of my children today that was silver and had my name engraved on it. It is just too pretty to be closed in a book. I loved it!

My class spoiled me with a very special gift. I am overwhelmed by their generosity.

I saw gas for $3.49 and got excited. Something is wrong there.

I was told today I didn't look like I was turning 40 soon. Of course, what does "turning 40" look like, exactly?

I should have worked on editing pictures or something this afternoon. Instead, I took a nap.

The kids played with the water hose this afternoon. That is a summer moment I love.

This house needs an overhaul. I'll save that for next week.

My sweet man just got home. I need to go see him. :)

05/24/11

Today it was around 95.

It is MAY.

It was a good day to wear a hat!

Tomorrow it is supposed to be the same.

We have Field Day tomorrow.

May I just say... we'll have to use some extra deodorant, people!

Our air conditioner is running like it is a mid-August day.

What happened to the 80's?????

I forgot... I live in NC.

05/23/11

Ink and inkwells from Old Salem. Kind of glad I don't have to write with a quill any longer.

It was our last full day of school today.

We are counting down till Thursday.

I am ready for some peace and quiet... a time of rest.

When you get home from work, or from something where you are just glad to be home, what is the first thing you do?

For me... it is get on my PJ's!!!

I do not care if it is 4:00 in the afternoon... girlfriend here is going to get in her comfy scrub pants and a t-shirt.

In devotions a couple of weeks ago, one of the teachers commented that we need to daily get in our PJ's from the Lord. What are those?

PEACE

and

JOY

Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Nehemiah 8:10d
for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

We need to take the time to get curled up, not just with a "good book", but with God's Word, and allow His peace and joy to flow over us. That is what I am planning on doing this summer.

I have to finish up last year's Bible Study - Breaking Free by Beth Moore. (Yes, it takes me a year to do it.... I like to chew on things, you know.) I plan on finishing that up this week.

I will now be doing another one this summer from Beth Moore - Stepping Up.

I must say, I was in a quandary as to which one to do next when I was at the Christian book store. BUT... the Lord kept drawing me back to that one as I asked Him which one I should do. Mikayla was even the one telling me she thought that was the one. SO... I look forward to "stepping up" into God's Word even more and learning from Him what He wants to show me.

Join me this summer, get on your PJ's, and dive into a time of worshiping the Lord through study. I would love to hear what you are learning. You can be sure I will share what I am learning on here!

05/22/11

I Corinthians 13:12
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

According to a certain man, the rapture was supposed to occur yesterday.

But it didn't come.

Of course, it didn't come! Did man really think He could predict God's return? Does he not remember Isaiah 55:8-9:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lor4d.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God's ways and when He returns are above any of our ways. We should be ready, but we do not know when is the exact time of His coming. I do, however, believe it will be soon.

Steve had a co-worker, who is an atheist, tell him on Friday that she guessed he wouldn't be at work on Monday. Steve, having no thought about what the crazy guy said, told her he wasn't taking the day off. She then began to say that he was going to be raptured and that she and her friends were going to have a party because they were finally going to be rid of us.
(And according to Scripture... she will not be having a party when Christians leave this earth. She has no idea what is to come.....)

I watched the newscast on Friday night and it was very evident that Christians were being mocked.

These are the types of things that frustrate me when it comes to this type of an event.

However, I then began to chew on this and wondered:

How am I walking with the Lord to show others the real message of Christ?

Am I throwing out guesses as to what I think would help them or am I taking them constantly to God's Word?

Am I using God's Word as the basis of everything I believe.... not just something someone said?

Am I putting my trust in what God's Word says instead of a man?

We can either infect or affect others for Christ. I choose to ask the Lord to help me be one that affects people in the way that would help them understand God IS real and loving, He sent His Son to pay the punishment of sin, He IS coming back one day, and He will only take those who have accepted Him as Savior.

Have you believed in the One True God?

Think on that today.

05/21/11

I am still here.

The crazy guy was wrong.

We knew he would be.

Just goes to show, like Steve says, God is not going to bend to man's time table.

We went back to Old Salem today.

It was a beautiful day and so much fun with the family.

Cherry strudel was scrumptious yet again. We ate the whole thing while we were there.

We got to see George Washington. He talked with those that gathered. He was quite impressive and I learned some things I can pass on to my own students!

Pictures will have to come later.

Great day. :)

05/20/11

Wouldn't you like to play ball with these homemade wonders from Old Salem?

Speaking of a ball....

We are having a "ball" today because it was the last Friday of the school year... the last real day of REAL school work.... YEEHAWWWWW!

I gave my kids their last spelling test today. :) I surprised them with some "new" words. If your child is in my class this year you will have to ask them. If you aren't... well.... hate it for ya because I can't give away my secret. hee hee

We the kids made a 94 and 97 on our their NC Projects!! YAHOOO!!! I think that is stinkin' good seeing as we they had to keep up with two at the same time to do so much work.

There was a black snake on our sidewalk when we got home. It was striking out at Molly and Steve. It is now dead.

We have nothing to do tonight. Nada. Zip. Totally free. YES.

Steve is attempting to put brick pavers at the deck steps. He is so talented.

I have finished report cards. I am so happy.

I am working on a project for my sweet man for our anniversary next week. I hope it turns out.

I need to continue that project so I am now going to close for today.

Have you done anything interesting today???

05/19/11

Here is a chess set from Old Salem... pretty cool, huh? Too bad the South didn't win. lol

Everyday we are fighting a war.

We fight the fight of FAITH.

Here is a story that I read in my devotions last night that was great to read. Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to have faith that God will handle our "big" stuff that we forget to have faith that He will handle the "small" stuff.

Enjoy:

This is a story E.M. Bounds shares about George Muller's faith. (George Muller was responsible for feeding thousands of orphans each day at his homes in England.)

Major D. W. Whittle, says of George Muller: I met Mr. Muller.... the morning of our sailing from Quebec to Liverpool. About half-an-hour before the tender was to take the passengers to the ship, he asked of the agent if a deck chair had arrived for him from New York. He was answered, "No," and told that it could not possibly come in time for the steamer. I had with me a chair I had just purchased, and told Mr. Muller of the place nearby, and suggested, as but a few moments remained, that he had better buy one at once. His reply was, "No, my brother. Our Heavenly Father will send the chair from New York. It is one used by Mrs. Muller. I wrote ten days ago to a brother, who promised to see it forwarded here last week He has not been prompt, as I would have desired, but I am sure our Heavenly Father will send the chair. Mrs. Muller is very sick on the sea, and has particularly desire to have this same chair, and not finding it here yesterday, we have made special prayer that our Heavenly Father would be pleased to provide it for us, and we will trust Him to do so."

As this man of God went peacefully on board, running the risk of Mrs. Muller making the trip without a chair, when, for a couple of dollars, she could have been provided for, I confess I feared Mr. Muller was carrying his faith principles too far and not acting wisely. I was kept at the express office ten minutes after Mr. Muller left.

Just as I started to hurry to the wharf, a team drove up the street, and on top of a load just arrived from New York was Mr. Muller's chair. It was sent at once to the tender and laced in my hands to take to Mr. Muller, just as the boat as leaving the dock (the Lord having a lesson for me). Mr. Muller took it with the happy, pleased expression of a child who has just received a kindness.... and reverently removing his hat and folding his hands over it, he thanked the Heavenly Father for sending the chair.

(Bounds, E. M. Purpose in Prayer)

05/17/11

Something to think about today:

Good character is the quality which makes one dependable whether being watched or not, which makes one truthful when it is to one's advantage to be a little less than truthful.
-Arthur S. Adams

05/16/11

Happy Anniversary to my Mom and Dad who have been married 47 years today!! What a blessing they are to me and my family. They have been awesome examples of what true love is.... one that is committed in good times and bad.

Since I am thinking of weddings today, I thought I would share with you the dream I had last week regarding the weddings I will be photographing in the future.

I seem to always have those dreaded nightmare dreams right before school starts where I lose total control of my class, can't walk or run, even end up in the middle of the floor with no energy to do anything. They are such lovely dreams I have to help me feel SO ready to start a new year.

I have never had one of those type of lose control dreams with my photography until NOW.

Get ready and, if you know me personally, realize I would be acting all of this out if you were being told this in person.

I am supposed to be at the wedding at 9:00 but I decide I am too tired and slept in. I figured the bride would call me if she was worried.

I never got a call so I look at the clock and it is 1:30 and I realize the wedding is starting in 30 minutes. I haven't showered or gotten anything ready. I decide to just throw my hair up in a ponytail and hope I don't stink.

I arrive at the wedding at 1:45 only to realize I have no memory cards for the occasion. All of a sudden, as I am in a panic realizing I need those cards, my Golden Chariot (the van) pops in front of me with some man driving it and he tells me he will take me home to get them. He has 4 or 5 people in the van with him. SO.... not knowing this guy that is driving MY van, I hop in and he takes me home to get my memory cards.

I am now back at the wedding, only it is at Campbell University and not the church. I head up the stairs to try and find the bride so I can start photographing her. I am SO tired and can barely make it up the steps. Then I begin to crawl on the floor with my camera on my back. It seemed to take forever but I finally got to the room where the bride was - only to find she was on the toilet. Yes, you read that right.... She is flipping up her dress constantly to be able to use the bathroom. What is most interesting is the bride is not the bride I will actually be photographing, it is her director of her wedding! I begin fumbling with my camera telling myself I need to start taking pictures of the details.... of the woman on the TOILET!!!!!!

As I am photographing her, none of the pictures are turning out as I had hoped. They are either blurry or someone is in them that shouldn't be or she just isn't cooperating on that toilet. I decided I needed to go find the groom and do some shots of him and his groomsmen.

I told the groomsmen to meet me by some windows that I thought would be nice since it was raining outside. What do I do? I take them outside anyway. I see this set of concrete stairs that I thought would be FABULOUS to get a creative picture. As I am looking around trying to find the groom, I notice all of the groomsmen are dressed in navy sport coats, white shirts and red and blue striped ties. One guy even has on a sweater vest with it. We're quite patriotic in THIS wedding. I kept thinking I just KNEW that guy with the sweater vest was hot.

I look around and found the groom... only it wasn't the groom I will be photographing shortly, it was a guy named Vinc who married a girl that graduated from college with me. I was shocked but though "OK." I position them on the steps and am trying to photograph them but my camera starts doing crazy things. The pictures are either too dark, too blown out, or too blurry. My ISO on the camera begins to go haywire and will not stop at the ISO I want. My bracket that holds my flash is flopping all over and not spreading light where it is needed. I then look at the pictures I am taking and see a picture of MY family on there that I had taken years ago. I was stressing big time.

Next, I keep wanting just the groom and his guys. Well, in walks the pastor and decides he needed to be in the picture. Then, the groomsmen wives and children entered in the shot. I kept telling them all to get out of the shot because I ONLY wanted the men. VOILA... the staircase is now inside a building. I am freaking out because I can't get the shot I want and I keep wondering when this wedding is going to start. NO ONE seems to be too concerned that it was now 3:00 and people had been waiting for a long time.

I then poof out of there and head down to the reception. It was in an office building cafeteria type setting. As I walked down, everyone setting up for the reception was running around saying they didn't have electricity down there. How I could see everything lit up was beyond me. I noticed that the items they chose to eat for the reception were JELLO and CANTALOUPE. Nice combo, don't you think?

I began to look around and begin saying to myself.... "I've got to capture the details!" so I begin photographing this big tower like thing of jello. There was a guy setting up nearby and he asked why I was photographing that. I told him it was all about the details of the day. Next thing I know, the real child of the director of the wedding who was the bride on the toilet was messing up the jello.

Then I woke up.... extremely tired.

If you read this far I am so proud of you.

And, no, I am not taking any strong medication.

05/15/11

These are water buckets that were used when there were fires in Old Salem.

Micah 7:18-19
Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love.
He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

05/14/11

Mikayla and I had a "Mom/Daughter" Day today. :)

I had not planned on it being that way today. I honestly was just going to hang out around the house. I am finding, though, that I don't know what to do with myself when I have extra time because life has been so hectic. Sad, huh?

Well, Mikayla had been asking me to take her to get some sandals. I usually always tell the kids "no" unless it is something I know they have to have because, well.... I just continue to want them to be thankful for what they have already.

Today I decided since there was not anything major going on, it would be a good "Mom/Daughter" day. I got ready and told Mikayla to get ready because we were going to run some errands.

She didn't know we were headed for Shoe Carnival first. :)

She was so excited when she found out where we were going. I love to surprise my children.... and anyone for that matter. It excites me to do that.

We didn't find what we needed there, although she and I did find some cute shoes. As always, I talked myself out of a pair that Mikayla said she just loved on me. I have a habit of doing that.

We went to three stores before we found what she wanted in her size. She has such a narrow foot, the little stinker.

We then went to Bath and Body Works, McDonald's for some sweet tea for my girl, Kohl's and LifeWay Christian bookstore.

Here are some things I "learned" on our day together:

1. Mikayla's bling and my bling are not always the same thing. I showed her one pair of shoes that I thought was too cute and she looked at me like I had lost my marbles. ha! I am learning Mikayla Girl loves LOUD bling.

2. There are some interesting shoes out there. For fun today, Mikayla tried many pairs of shoes on her feet that would require me to go to the hospital if I wore them. I cannot believe how tall some of those heels are. (Mikayla just said to say that she actually likes the heels... just not the shoes.)

3. I still don't like to shop and spend money.

4. Sometimes I wonder if I should go on the show "What Not to Wear" because I do seem to go to the same types of clothing. lol (My daughter just said "OH, PLEASE, MOM! You need to erase that.) The truth hurts.... :)

5. Trying on a knit dress after you have had children, no matter how cute it is, IS NOT GOOD. Let's just say it shows too many "bumps along the road." Mikayla asked me "What is THAT!" when trying on one such dress today. I told her it was from her and Wesley. Oh, the joys of showing off that motherhood curvature.

6. I was glad to have Mikayla in the fitting room with me (even though she said the above comment) because she really did boost my spirits. She told me I looked good in a shirt that was more "trendy" and I wasn't so sure about. (Still am not totally sure, but if my girl says I look OK, then I guess I am OK.)

7. It was fun looking at clothes and shoes with my girl. It was nice to tell her "Yes" to some things.

8. I did find some cute things for myself and am glad I did.

9. It did my heart good to hear my daughter say over and over that this was the best day she has ever had.

10. I am going to have to do more days like this with my girl. It was a joy shopping with her and hanging out together.

11. Having her cuddled up next to me on the couch while I am typing this blog is priceless.

What a fabulous day.

05/13/11

This is strange.

I have posted for the last two days, but when I went to look at my old posts today (and wondering why I haven't heard from anyone) I looked to see that none of my thoughts for the last two days have even posted!!!

Maybe it was Friday the 13th. lol

I'll have to see if I can remember my thoughts.

For now, it is Friday and I am content to say that I really am here and I am about to pass out on the couch. Looking forward to a weekend with NOTHING planned. We haven't had that in a long while.

05/12/11

05/11/11

05/10/11

Don't know the name of this flower, but it surely was lovely.

Let's go back 20 years.
(I am almost scared to do so.... no hysterical laughing, please.)

That was then:

This is now:

I have to celebrate us today because 20 years ago today my sweet Steve told me he loved me for the first time.

I can't believe it has been 20 years since he first said those precious three words to me. When I told him this evening about this day he said "And I have said it A LOT of times since!"

I am thankful for his love.

I am thankful he tells me often that he loves me.

I do love my man.

05/09/11

This past weekend I had *too quickly* put a status update on Facebook that I was thankful for how God had answered a prayer just then.

Little did I realize at that moment that He had not, in fact, answered that prayer as I had thought.

I pulled a Simon Peter and rushed it a bit.

After making that "hasty" statement, I received the news that our lawnmower was not quickly fixed by just charging the battery as I originally thought, but indeed in need of a large part that cost a lot of money. I was standing at the sink washing dishes when I received this news. I wanted so badly to say "WHY?" We have been dealing with a lot of things around the house needing repairs as well as other things that keep popping up that require more and more funds.

We were not ready for this.

I thought He had answered my prayer so quickly.

But didn't He?

I had to step back a minute while I was washing those dishes and realize He HAD answered my prayer. It just wasn't in the way I had wanted.

He reminded me "Give thanks in ALL things."

The Lord got me thinking. He told me right there that I was to thank Him for this hardship and give it to Him. Me worrying about it wasn't going to do anything but give me a stomachache.

So....

I prayed.

I trusted.

I still do not know how all of this is going to work out, but He has reminded me time and again this weekend that HE is there with me and He will never leave me (or us!).

I was reminded of these verses last night while reading:

Isaiah 43:1c-3a
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.
For I am the Lord your God,

This was what I read in one of my devotionals last night - Jesus Calling:

Do not long for the absence of problems in your life. That is an unrealistic goal, since in this world you will have trouble. You have an eternity of problem-free living reserved for you in heaven. Rejoice in that inheritance, which no one can take away from you, but do not seek your heaven on earth.

Begin each day anticipating problems, asking Me to equip you for whatever difficulties you will encounter. The best equipping is My living Presence, My hand that never lets go of yours. Discuss everything with Me. Take a lighthearted view of trouble, seeing it as a challenge that you and I together can handle. Remember that I am on your side, and I have overcome the world.

SO.

I AM thankful for the opportunity to depend more on my Savior and less on myself. I am so thankful for His promises.

Isaiah 41:13
For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, Do not fear, I will help you.

05/08/11

These are the roses I received on Friday from Wesley and Mikayla.

Mikayla had given me hers right after school. She had laid them on my desk for me to walk in and see after I finished car duty. When we arrived home, I knew Wesley would have had one, too, because they are in the same class, and wondered where it was. Well, a little later as we were cleaning up the house he goes to his book bag and brings out his rose.... that had been IN his book bag. He was trying to surprise me and it had broken because he had "crammed" it in there.

He just didn't realize how precious that was to me that he was trying to surprise me. I told him not to worry and that I would just put them in a bud vase. Wesley's is the short one and Mikayla's is the taller one that I actually trimmed a lot to fit in this smaller vase. I love these roses and what they mean.


Since today is Mother's Day I am reminded that I have two precious children that allow me to have that honor. I can remember the many years I desired children of our own but the Lord had not seen fit to give us any. I am thinking of those women today who are facing that right now. I still remember how I felt.

Being a Mom has brought it's challenges, but I am so thankful for every opportunity I have with my babies. I have learned so much from them that they really help to make my life complete. I am thankful for how the Lord has shown me things in my own life so that I am able to help Wesley and Mikayla through certain things.

I have learned I cannot do this "MOM" thing without the Lord's help and guidance.

I am so blessed and so thankful that the Lord allowed me the opportunity to be a Mother. There truly is nothing like it.

Psalm 127:3
Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!

05/07/11

Thought I would share the beautiful flowers I received for Teacher Appreciation this week. The kids were all told to bring in flowers from their yard and then they were added to the vase to make a beautiful bouquet! I love them all and they are so beautiful on my dining room table!!!

On a funny note.... one of my sweeties came in Friday and said, "Mrs. Fowler, we didn't have any flowers in our yard so we stopped at the entrance to our subdivision and I got you these pansies!" hahha!! I LOVED it!!

05/06/11

Some of my former students have been getting married.

This is a bit odd for me as I feel as if I just taught them last year. They are now in their early 20's and beginning their lives with their new husband/wife.

It has brought back a lot of memories of what I thought and felt 18 years ago. It has shown me how much I have grown in my marriage and how much differently I thought then and now. That is a part of the marriage process, which these young women and men will find out the longer they are married, too.

I am enjoying reading about the first meals, excitement of finally being married, and their hopes and dreams. I remember all of those.... the first meals for us were more of a nightmare. :) I can remember feeling so weird when I would call Steve my "husband." I can reflect on a lot of hopes and dreams that came to pass, while others are still just that.... dreams. I can also see how the Lord directed our marriage path to take on a whole new path than what I had always thought when getting married.

That is what marriage is all about. It is the learning, growing, mistake-making, hard times but LOVING through it all road of marriage. Marriage definitely takes work EVERY day. I am so blessed and thankful for the marriage I have been given.

Having said all of that, I have the joy and privilege of photographing two weddings this year. I am photographing a fellow teacher's wedding in June (the one I had posted engagement pictures of a while back).

I am also photographing the wedding of one of my former students, Renee, in October. It touched my heart that she liked my work enough to want me to capture her big day. She and her mom came over on Monday and we began talking about what she wanted. I want to capture every detail I can for her. That special day goes by SO fast. I felt like we blinked and ours was over.

If you get a chance, go to Renee's blog. She was a joy to teach many years ago, and a joy to watch as she is maturing into the woman God wants her to be. I am excited to have a part in her new life with her sweet guy.

Here is another blog of one of my former students who got married in March. Her name is Ashley and she has exciting excerpts from her newly married life. :)

I still can't get over that I have been teaching long enough to have former students getting married. Yes, I feel old. :)

05/05/11

I just love watching the new growth unfold in spring. Here is my Mom's Oak Leaf Hydrangea.
This week has been Teacher Appreciation Week and it has been really nice. The parents have sent in things for a cart that has been taken around twice a day and we get to choose whatever we want to eat or drink off the cart.

Yesterday was the day the kids made a card for me. They all made me smile. I always chuckle at what the kids write. I received many that told me they loved me and were so sweet. I thought I would share some of them with you that wrote a bit more. :) Spelling and the way they are written are all them!

Dear Mrs. Fowler, Thank you for being a great teacher. The songs were fun and silly. You are a very cool teacher. Roses are red Violets are blue Sugar is sweet and I love so are you.
Dear Mrs. Fowler, You are so silly and a great teacher. I love you very much! I think you tied up with Mrs. ____ for being the best teacher! But you are the 1st place teacher of sillyness!

Dear Mrs. Fowler, Thank you for being my teacher. You are one of my favorite teachers. I LOVE your stories. You are very funny. I love you!!
I love you so much Mrs. Fowler. You are the best teacher in the whole in tire world. Thank you for teaching me Math Lang Num Writing and last but not least Go grafhy (geography). Oh, and thank you for telling me all your stories about you plus Wesley.

This one cracked me up:

Thank you for teaching me some very useful things. I really appreciate that you spend your time with me and my freinds. Don't tell anyone, but your the best teacher yet! Well, have a great teachers only break from being stressed day. Ha! Ha!

I felt very special. Wouldn't you if you received those love notes? :)

05/04/11

Here are some sewing things I photographed in Old Salem.

This part is something they used to help get in corners and such when sewing. It is actually made out of bone. I thought it was quite neat.

In thinking of sewing, I am thinking of how God "sews" all our lives in the way He desires.

I am thinking of this because of what transpired this past weekend with the death of Osama bin Laden. God knew where he was the entire time, but He didn't allow the people who needed to kill him to know until it all fit into His plan.

I will be honest, it saddened me, actually, when I found out Osama bin Laden had been killed. It wasn't that I was sad because he was dead --the man was evil! He reminded me of a Hitler. It was because it hit me that this is yet another soul that is now in hell. He made his choice on earth, and I fully believe he was possessed with the devil because of the choices the man made, but it is still another soul that rejected the Lord.

I was reminded of this verse when chewing on this the last few days:

Psalm 37:1-2
Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

He did make his choice and I am thankful the Lord saw fit to have him eliminated and "cut down" so that his evil ended. (I realize there is still evil and potential terrorism because of this, but a mastermind is gone.) God IS in control (not Barak Obama) and He took care of the threat when it needed to be eliminated.

Having said all of this, there are a lot of people in the world who think the evil is gone and he is in hell where he deserves, but don't we ALL deserve hell?

I taught my class this week that, yes, we were thankful this evil was gone, but there are really good and nice people in this world who are no different than Osama bin Laden in the fact that they are sinners. They may be nice and do all kinds of wonderful things but all of those fall short to our Holy God. They have not made the choice to accept the Lord as Savior. They are no different in God's eyes.

Let us be careful how much we "celebrate" something. I am thankful the evil is gone but I cannot celebrate the fact that another soul is going to spend eternity in hell separated from the One Who loved him and died for Him.

05/03/11

I had to share our 4th/5th grade chorus performance from Fine Arts this past week. They won first place. Mikayla was a part of the group. (Mikayla did not place in her poetry. She was very disappointed, but was quick to congratulate the winner. I was very proud of her.)

05/02/11

Here are some flowers I took recently while doing a Bridal Portrait shoot. They were just too pretty!

Mikayla and I watched the royal wedding on Friday evening.... after DVR'ing it. I didn't see myself getting up at 4:30 to watch it when I had to get ready for school. Plus, we could fast forward through all of the footage of the cars driving to the church.

In "honor" of the royal wedding this past weekend, I thought I would share a few things I gained from watching it:

1. Hats - I apparently need one... and need on that looks like a Cheerio with a bow on top. Of course, I could also go for the large tear drop looking blue one that would have caused anyone behind to be mad they couldn't see the altar.

2. Limousines - those limos were COOL. I liked the glass all around. Of course, I would hope they would be bullet proof with the crazies that are in this world.

3. Trees - who knew trees could fit in the church? Who knew you could do that? Who really NEEDED to spend that much money on trees in a church? Just go get some leaves off of the trees and decorate like that. That is something like what we did and it turned out just lovely.... and probably much less expensive.

4. Music - the music was beautiful. I understand it was all picked out by Kate and William. They did a nice job!

5. Vows - well... they didn't take long but all of the other things did. Now I understand why they sat down! We missed out on the rest of the wedding after they went to the back of the church to sign the registry because the DVR stopped taping. I hated we missed them leaving the church.

6. Kiss - Their two kisses on the balcony of Buckingham Palace were cute and sweet. Glad they kissed twice.

7. Dress - WOW.... Kate's dress was SO lovely. Quite a difference from Diana's thirty years ago. I had forgotten how big was the dress and how long Diana's train was.... it didn't seem to end when she got in the carriage. BUT.. it WAS the 1980's. A very lovely dress, indeed.

8. Replay - of Charles and Diana's wedding. I was so enamored by all of that at the young age of ten. Now, looking back on that footage I saw that neither one of them seemed too thrilled to be getting married... or maybe that is just what I think because of what I now know of their lives.

9. Black Sheep - I didn't realize Sarah Ferguson was such a black sheep of the family. I am so out of touch.

10. Living Together - it isn't as "scandalous" as it was 30 years ago for the royalties (or anyone for that matter) to be living together. They "tried it out" and got everything worked out that they should have any problems in marriage. Hmmm... really? That is not what God's Word says.

11. Honeymoon - they aren't taking one right now. I guess when you live together for so long that isn't that important. I, personally, was ready for that honeymoon trip after we got married.... even though I was homesick.... OK, Ok... enough of my issues. I digress. (I also realize he had to get back to his duties, but I still did wonder about that...)

12. Happiness - I truly hope their happiness is real and that it lasts. Goodness knows Kate has just walked into a crazy life of media and every thing she does being scrutinized.