I am reading a book/study on meaningful portraiture. Today I was to take 10 photos of a person in 10 minutes.
I managed to get these 10 of Eva in about 2 minutes. Not that we were to do this as fast as possible, Eva just cooperated beautifully.
52mm
F 2.0
iso 800
at Montana's for lunch... wb tungsten.
Eva was such an angel in church today. For 2 hours she sat with us and amused herself, laughed, sang and was such a joy. Last night she slept in her big girl bed all by herself and Norah graduated to the crib. Maybe she just feels grown up now.
I love all her wonderful expressions.
Here she is showing grandma her "excited look". She perfected this on Christmas morning no doubt. :)
Do we desire to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do we wish to make progress in our religion, and become strong Christians, and not mere babes in spiritual things? Then let us pray daily for more faith, and watch our faith with most jealous watchfulness. Here is the corner-stone of our religion. A flaw or weakness here will affect the whole condition of our inner man. According to our faith will be the degree of our peace, our hope, our joy, our decision in Christ’s service, our boldness in confession, our strength in work, our patience in trial, our resignation in trouble, our sensible comfort in prayer. All will hinge on the proportion of our faith. Happy are they who know how to rest their whole weight continually on a covenant God, and to walk by faith, not by sight. ~ J.C. Ryle
It has been a long while since I added to my thankfulness list.
May I never be too busy to give thanks.
171. Safe Journeys. Mark travelled home for Christmas and back again with good highways both ways. Thankful for his visit and safe travels.
172. Thankful for my family gathering for Christmas and a house full of food. What a blessing!
173. Grand daughters - very thankful for sweet grand daughters. The Lord has been so good to us.
174. Grand daughters that live close and are very attached to Grandma and Grandpa. love those big hugs whenever we see them. Love it when they don't want us to leave. sigh.....
175. FaceTime - we talked a lot with our kids and grand daughters in Sooke over the holidays.
176. Work - it has been a busy year - especially with photography. Thankful that the Lord has blessed me with this talent and the resources to enjoy it so much. Praying that He will guide me on how I can use this blessing to His glory.
177. My other job - the day job. Thankful for friends and challenges and laughs and the blessing of helping people in need.
178. A warm home, a roof, hot water, electricity without which we just could not survive in this climate. I am reminded how hard the furnace has been working every time I step outside and return indoors.
179. My Bible - it always brings refreshing, calm, joy and reassurance in this wild and crazy world of ours.
180. That God has blessed me with a husband who is perfect for me - my soul mate.
I have been making my Christmas list and checking it more then once. From decorations outside and in, foods, social events, crafts and gifts, I find I am putting a lot of time, energy and yes, money into this season. I struggle with this because sometimes I think that the only ones to really appreciate all this spent energy and money are the shareholders of the mega stores I frequent this time of year. Oh I know my family appreciate and look forward to all out traditions, but the joy of Christmas is slipping through my fingers as I try to find meaning to all this indulgence.
The loved ones on my list are getting gifts they will no doubt like.... but do they really need these items? Would their lives be much different if they didn't receive them?
Likely not, but there has to be something under the tree for them, and there will be; tradition and habits dictate it. :)
But I am cutting back this year. They are getting older and more independent.... except the grand girls...
Instead I am spending some of the Christmas budget on building a water well for a very impoverished village of people who have probably never heard of Christmas or gift giving, or butter tarts and shortbread... it may have an impact that will last a lot longer then that great Eddie Bauer shirt.
A well you say?
Yes, a well.
A well that pumps clean water to children and their families. Clean water - something we just expect to flow from our taps every morning.
What has that got to do with Christmas? In some ways nothing. But in many ways it has a lot to do with what Christmas is really about; giving life.
So I am inviting you to please watch this short video
Then join me in building a well for some very needy people this Christmas by clicking HERE
My daughter-in-law is trying to raise enough money this Christmas to give a village a new well. They cost $1000, but they can save a village of people.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the people who visit this blog could raise enough money by Christmas to have a well purchased and installed?
If you decide to join us in this effort, please leave a comment and let us know. We would be so blessed!
First up was a little playing in grandmas studio...... it didn't last long. :)
My little elf
My little sweetheart. She crawled today. sigh.....
Then on to Eva's first experience with finger paints.
She was a little hesitant to get her hands all dirty but she warmed up to it.
Then time for a snack - Eva carefully peels her orange then puts the peel in one pile and the orange segments carefully separated into another pile. Then she is ready to eat. :)
Time for some outside fun on the toboggan. I thought we had given away all our toboggans but I found one behind the shelves in the garage. A Chiquita banana box on top of the sled, some warm blankets and we were on our way.
Norah liked it so much she fell asleep
A splendid day. Didn't get a thing done around the house!!
This is Thomas and I have been hanging with baby girls for so long I sure forgot how much fun little boys are. He just turned 7 months and he is crawling and drooling - man can Thomas drool! Thank goodness for content aware in CS5! (that's for you photoshop gurus)
One happy little guy!
More family photographs. I so enjoy meeting all these wonderful families.
I only spend an hour with them but we do have such fun. We all laugh and that makes for great captured memories.
These were a couple of the most polite kids I have met. A real joy to spend some time with.
If you know this family and their favourite soccer team (gallery password) well then, head on over to their gallery for more photos.
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