2011 family pictures

I've toyed with the idea of closing this blog down, but I think I'll leave it. I'm coming to grips with the fact that I'm just not a blogger.

I came across a beautiful post today by Tara Whitney, and I wanted to quote a piece of it before I share some of our family pictures with you.

“Not looking” can make a shot really unique and personal. However, getting them to look at you can be a special kind of challenge, and therefore, a special kind of satisfaction. What I personally want to fight against is the idea that if one or more people aren’t making a pleasant face at the photographer, if the photo is imperfect in some way, that means the photo isn’t worthy of framing or sharing or loving. Those are usually my favorite and the most important to me down the road. Even if a child is having a crap day – well, okay then – we all have crap days. That is what is honest. That is what is unique about them. That is the very reason for freezing your family at any moment in time, in my eyes. More so, a thousand TIMES more so, than the image with everyone looking with a perfect face into the camera.

That pretty much sums up our family picture adventure. One or both of my children were constantly not cooperating. But I love the pictures anyway.

BTW, our pictures weren't taken by Tara. Didn't want anyone to get confused. They were taken by a very talented lady I work with - Sonja Lackey.

cool photography links

Some pretty cool photo ideas I ran across today. I think they're probably cooler as a collection, but they might be fun for personal use anyway.

Dear Photograph
Sleeveface
Back to the Future

Thank you, Tara Whitney...

...for this post.

And for this quote: Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are… Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect Tomorrow. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in my pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. - Mary Jean Iron

I so needed it... And, yes, I am hopelessly behind on my blog reading.

Greetings from...

Another new blog is up. Enjoy!

Smile!

The new blog is up!

an important story

Please head over to Creative Minority Report, one of my favorite blogs, and read the Baby Gianna Story.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
and the follow-up

ObamaCare

Stolen from the Crescat:

couldn't have said it better

People don't seem to understand me anymore. If I was still a teenager, looking at this version of me, I wouldn't understand me, either. This version of me is a surprise. But I like her. And I can't explain it to you in a clever, read-able way. Because, despite my teenage dreams, I'm not a writer - at least not a very good one. Thankfully, Matthew Archbold (and his brother Patrick) over at Creative Minority Report is a writer. And he summed up how I feel about this point in my life very nicely in this post. Here is a particular meaningful passage:

The question sometimes comes up in conversation with old friends. What was the best time of your life? And I'm sometimes embarrassed to admit it but right now is the best time of my life. Truly. And I'm a short chubby bearded dad living in the suburbs. I mow my lawn. I pay bills. I talk to my wife about what she did that day. I change diapers. Lots of them. Sometimes we go get ice cream. I do all those things that angsty pubescents jeer at.

I've lived in the suburbs coming up on ten years. And I've yet to feel my soul sucked. I don't really do angst. I think I used to. But I think I've forgotten where I put my existential angst. I'm happy. And even more importantly, I'm content. I'm focused.

So often his characters are running around and saying they're looking to "feel" something. I think I'm content because I don't consider my feelings all that important. And because of that I feel things more intensely than I did ever before in my life. A child's utterances can have me laughing all day. I feel the pain of a parent who sees his child hurt. I feel tired just about all the time but it's the tired that comes from doing something you love. It's not the weary kind of tired that Mendes' characters seem to feel.

And finally, there's one thing I don't ever remember hearing from Mendes' characters: God.

God, thankfully, is at the center of my life. And that puts me in proper perspective.
Now if, like Mendes' character seem to often do, I found myself at the center of my own universe I'd be pretty depressed too.

Obviously I'm not a dad. And I live in an apartment so there is no mowing of lawns. But most of the rest of it fits. So, while you and my teenage self may not understand me, there are people out there, thankfully, who do.

Be afraid.

Read this blog post. Watch the video. Cry. Pray.

a great summary

I found the following in the comment section of this blog post, and I had to share it here because it very neatly sums up one of the main pulls of the Catholic Church for me.

"As our country becomes more hostile to Christianity I think we will see two things happen. First, many will come into the Church from the American protestant churches, mostly from the evangelicals. These are good people who really believe, but I don’t think American style protestantism, especially non-denominationalism can survive in a environment that is not basically Christian in nature. American churches not only effect their environment but are also very much effected by it. Thus the slow drift on things like contraception, IVF and even divorce. It is not like these churches want to do this, the problem is more one of culture. Individuals congregations are too small to create an effective culture without insulating themselves from the world. Some churches will try doing just this. Some small fundamentalist churches already do this, but they give up the ability to impact the wider society. We must live in the world without being of the world. This is the reason I am in the church. After my divorce pondered long and hard on the topic of our divorce culture and the way it was impacting our churches. I decided I wanted to find a church that still had a positive culture but wasn’t isolating itself. What a surprise it was to this Church of Christ boy to find the Catholic Church."

-cel

As our society becomes more and more secular, it is nice to have found a place where conservative, traditional values are still appreciated and fought for. The more I learn about the Church, the more blessed I feel to have found her at this time in my life. Now we just have to keep secular society from further infiltrating her and pray for Catholic hearts everywhere to return to our conservative roots.

blog links and a prayer request

Here's a few blog posts that caught my eye in the past few days:

• Pro-life people need to realize what "pro-life" really means.

• If you need anymore evidence that Planned Parenthood is evil, check this out.
  

• Suze Orman, are you kidding me?!
  

There were more, but these really stood out I guess.

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Pray for me today. Amelie is being extra challenging. She is pushing every button. I've already half-spanked her, and I've screamed several times. I don't like this version of me. I want to find something else that works. She's currently in a chair in the dining room facing the corner. She's not happy. She's been in time-out for almost an hour, and I think she's maybe finally ready to obey, although she now insists that she doesn't love me anymore.

Ah, the joys of motherhood.

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Edited to add one more blog post of note. That's it - I'm done for the day!

follow-up

I know this isn't a personal posting, but I think this follow-up to the blog I linked in my last post (and its comments) are worth reading.

Liberals always twisting

Please read this.

The war wages on...

New Element Discovered

Reposted from What Does the Prayer Really Say?

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium , an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

May God help us survive this growing mass before it becomes a black hole that sucks us all in.

I'm a show-off!

Just a quick post to let you know that I'm in the show-off slideshow on Britt-ish Designs blog today! I'm so excited! Check out her post and her new kit. It is so cute! And the other show-offs...wow! I can only hope to one day have LOs as great as those.