From the 14th Floor

Vail Village, Colorado

Vail Village in Colorado has to be one of the best places for photographers...its just way too much fun!

Now That I Have Seen

Albertine

by Brooke Fraser

I am sitting still, I think of Angelique

Her mother's voice over me

And the bullets in the wall where it fell silent

And on a thousandth hill, I think of Albertine

There in her eyes what I don't see with my own

Rwanda

Now that I have seen, I am responsible

Faith without deeds is dead

Now that I have held you in my own arms, I will not let go till you are

I am on a plane, across a distant sea

But I carry you in me

And the dust on, the dust on, the dust on my feet

I will tell the world, I will tell them where I have been

I will tell the world

I will tell them Albertine

I am on a stage, a thousand eyes on me

I will tell them Albertine

I will tell them Albertine

This is my Albertine...my Samantha. Now that I have seen, I am responsible. And I will never forget.

The Window Into the Past

New Salem, Illinois

The Incredible Florida Sky

At the Pier

I have to say, Benjami did take some awesome shots. But at least I cropped and edited this one? haha =)

He took this one too. Seriously, it is brilliant. Can anyone say "museum"!

I personally kind of HATE fishing, but Julianna, Karen, and Abby are the fishing queens! The two little girls each caught like, 8 a peice. They are so cool! =)

Up Nest: Sunset pictures

The Results Are In...

...and the official Vacation '09 photo count is 1,802!
But before we go further, let me introduce the photographers: "Matt Damon and Keira Kinghtley":

Yeah, so somehow we got the idea that when wearing sunglasses, we look even more like our celebrity look-alikes: mine being Keira, Ben's being Matt. And for some reason, this amuses us.

Anyway! We probably evenly split the number of photos between us, Ben having fallen in love with my new camera as much as I did. Unfortunately, I don't really remember who took what on most pictures, though I will try to give credit where credit is due.

There. Now we can begin.

If it were possible for me to pick a favorite picture from this vacation, this one would be it. Totally unposed. Oh yeah. :)

Hot new shades and a turquoise stucco wall = Fabulous

Emily was sad that she was in none of the pictures because she didn't have cool shades :( But here are a couple of my faves:

I love this little girl. You rock, Karen :)

And this guy right here. He may look innocent, but no. He buried me up to my neck in sand. No fun. And no bueno, Benjami.

A little fun with photoshop :)

Emily had to borrow Jay's sunglasses (which we found in floating in the surf.) You are awesome, Emily!

And...in case you couldn't tell, I am having fun with collages lately :)

So there was a sneak peak for you to tide you over till I finish editing the rest of the photos. Yes, there are more coming, but I promise not to post all 1,802 :)

Let the Countdown Begin...

We're headin' out to Anna Maria Island in only two days! Until I return and can post the millions of pictures I plan to take, here's one from our last vacation with the H's...one of my faves lol. :) See ya'll in a couple weeks!

omgosh a post

Wow! What a hectic few weeks this has been! In addition to moving all four kids into different rooms (not to mention all the trips to the hardware store and gallons of paint), we have been Mothers' Day shopping, celebrating William and Benjami's graduations, preparing our menfolk for camping and, who would have thunk, visiting Matthew in the hospital after the ensuing snake bite! There is no way we could have handled it all without God's grace.

And speaking of God's grace...

We are going on vacation! To Florida! In 8 days!!!

Oh yeah. I am actually leaving a few days before my family, who are flying. I am driving with the H's and will, therefore, have a couple extra days of vacation time. Woot! I am so psyched, you guys. And I am SO ready for the sun!

Speaking of which, the time has come for me to get a better camera. I will DEFINATELY be taking BILLIONS of pictures with it, too. Here is a picture of my new baby...

There are many awesome features to this little beauty that I won't bore you with here, but after she arrives, I may be too excited to resist. Hee hee.

So now you all are updated on my hectic life. I know I never post anyway but just so you know, this will probably be my last for a few more weeks...Florida, here I come!!

Vacation `08: Gettysburg

They had this really huge monument to the Pennsylvania men who fought in the battle. You could walk around in it.

^ Random picture of a pillar. :)
I had so much fun taking pictures of the monuments. I have billions. But here is just a sampling.

Travellor (General Lee's horse) with some really cool clouds as a backdrop.



The lighting was perfect here. Perfect. I am very proud of this shot. ;)





Many, many of the Civil War tombs in the National Cemetery are simply numbered. This is the first stone of over 1,000.

One thing that really struck me while I was in Gettysburg was what a godly man Abraham Lincoln was. The hardships he went through were nothing compared to the "trials" we go through now, and yet God's grace was sufficient. There's this line in a song from the newest Sovereign Grace album that goes - "There is a rock who has weathered every storm/Stading firm through the ages/A shelter for the battered bruised and worn...etc." Its so cool to think about the things these people went through, and yet, their God was the same God we worship today! He is faithful now - and he was faithful then.

Okay, so that sounded really disconnected, but I've really been thinking about that lately and decided to share. :) This is the last of my pictures for now - can you believe I took no pictures while I was at the beach? *shock* I was so picture crazy while we were at the historical places that I finally just collapsed. :) I huddled up in a hole in the sand and basically lived there for four days - sunning myself, reading books, and consuming huge amounts of coca-cola. Meanwhile, my faithful camera took a well-deserved break in my suitcase.

Okay! The end.