Where have you been?

Thought this was cool and fun. Create your own by clicking on the link below the map. Guess I am a Western girl. My fave hockey teams are in the NHL Western Conference, Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings (how Detroit is West I am not sure).

Of all the places I have visited I have only lived in 2 - Washington State and Texas.

My fave place (s) to visit for vacation.....Washington (western of course, Seattle, Mount Rainier, San Juan Islands, etc,), New York (Manhattan, LOVED IT).

Places I passed though (on the way to or from Texas and Washington) but want to go back to really visit (a vacation maybe)...Oregon, Montana and Northern Idaho.

Places I went as a kid that I would like to go back to...Colorado, Nevada (not Vegas), Arizona, New Mexico.

Place I want to visit again but a different city...California (went to San Fran, would like to check our some other parts, maybe Northern Cali).

I seriously have to work on the East Coast...the North Carolina, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine.

Leave me a comment on why I should visit your favorite or home state and why!

Small Group Night

Tonight our small group from church meets at our home. My husband and I are the leader/facilitators. We have the BEST group ever. It is filled with people that love each other the way God calls us to love one another. The really amazing thing is that this is tangible love. We have seen our group bond in a very short period of time. They have reached out to one another emotionally, financially, spiritually, and physically.

And you know what the really great thing is...we are not a holy huddle. We have three new couples visiting tonight and my prayer is that they feel the love of Christ expressed through each of us. Most importantly, that they will be edified and walk away with something applicable that will glorify God.

So this was really just a shout out to all my HomeTeam homies, love ya so much! And also to my husband who is so committed to our group...thank you for all the time, effort and prayer you put into each person and meeting. I love you most of all!

My new obsession

Well, really an old obsession come alive again. My mom was always taking pictures when I was little. I still remember the day we went to San Antonio (a big deal as we lived 30 miles south in a very small town) and my dad bought her a real camera. She was so excited. When I say a real camera I mean one with an interchangeable, manual focusing lens and a removable flash. I love some of my mom's pictures. One thing I love most is that she is not afraid to grab her camera and shoot anything at anytime. My Mema (grandmother) is the same way...sometimes Mema is too bold. She took photographs at my Grandaddy's funeral last February. Who was to tell her no, it was her husband for crying out loud. It made some people uncomfortable...guess I am just used to it. She even sent me a picture of his headstone once it was placed at his gravesite. She was very proud of how it turned out as she had designed it and commissioned an artist to create it. Just a little background for ya...now back to me...

I love photography. I love journalistic style and portrait photography the most. It is so amazing how pictures can tell a story without a single word. I love photo essays as well, words and photo's together are great too. Annie Leibowitz is an amazingly talented photographer. Some of her subjects and the way she captures them are a bit extreme, but some are beautiful beyond description. Emotion jumps out at you and you feel as if you know something more about her subjects.

The first photograph I took that I was really proud of was of a tree. I was taking a photography class through 4-H (told you I grew up in a small town). They taught us how to make a camera out of an oatmeal container. It would take a single photo. I sat it in a bunch of leaves and positioned it towards a towering Live Oak Tree. It was amazing (to me at least). I have no idea where that pic is now. I am sure stored away at my parent's house.

I have become inspired again. Food & Wine Magazine is having a contest on food photography. Grand prize is a Canon Rebel Digital Camera. That would be so awesome. So they have combined my love of food (cooking & eating) with my new desire to take beautiful pictures. I will let you know how it goes. It is a one time shot (no pun intended) as you can only enter a single photo into the contest. I might upload some of my pictures to get your opinions.

If you know of any good books on photography let me know. My husband does not know this but he will be my first serious portrait subject...oh what he is in for.

School is Out (for two more weeks)

You are probably confused 'cause school just started for most of the districts in our area (DFW). However, my husband is in Bible College at Criswell and it seems to me that college is never out, he has Fall Semester, J-Term, Spring semester, Summer I, Summer II and Summer III. It just so happens that he does not have another class until August 21st. He was off last week at well, three weeks in a row without class, reading, papers to write, stuff to memorize...etc. I know Mark loves school, and I know that he is committed, determined and called to his education. I fully support him in this. Mark also works full time (up to 60 hours a week) at a job that is very mentally challenging, volunteers at church, volunteers with parachurch activities and is a devoted husband and friend. When you add all this up he is constantly on the go. Most weekend he spends any time at home in his office doing school work and studying.

It has been really refreshing for him to have this break. I have loved it too! We have been able to hang out with our friends, watch movies, read (for pleasure), go to bed early, sleep late, just hang out. Next Tuesday we are taking the day off and going to Six Flags. We are gonna ride all the thrill rides and just act like kids (we don't have any so we are still allowed to act like a kid). I am just so blessed that Mark and I will get to spend some time together where the sole purpose is to have fun and act silly. Sometimes I think we take life too seriously. Don't get me wrong, serious is good, maturity is a wonderful thing, but every now and then you need to act like a kid.

So this is my public thank you to God for giving us a few weeks with limited outside commitment so that we can refocus on each other and have some down time mentally and physically.

Praise the Lord for President Bush's Veto today!

I received a proposition from a website I registered on last week to gain information on fertilitiy treatments and options to send a letter to President Bush to tell him to NOT veto the Embryonic Stem Cell Research Bill. Below is the email I sent to them explaining why I SUPPORT the Veto.

In response to your request to take action against President Bush and his veto of the Stem Cell research bill I have to comment. I will NOT send a letter urging the President to NOT veto this bill. In fact, I commend President Bush for taking such a strong stand regarding the sanctity of life. A “five day old fertilized egg” is an embryo. An embryo is a human being. We must continue to fight to educate the public that life, even at the single cell stage, is valuable.

The interesting thing about this entire debate is how everyone who supports this talks about using all these excess “cells” (you must mean babies) or they will simply become medical waste. They talk about how the couple would like some good to come from their “biological tissue” (you must mean unborn children), that it would be used to save lives. Funny thing is that the life they would be saving would be at the expense of the life of their own child. I wonder if you approached one of these couples and asked them to donate their 8 month old baby, or maybe their 5 year old to medical science so that others could live the answer would be “NO” 100 percent of the time. Why do these same women (the ones with 30 excess frozen babies) mourn over the loss of a pregnancy at 4-6 weeks and talk about losing their “baby”, when their actions say that all they really believe is that some biological tissue exited their body?

President Bush has my full support of the Veto of this bill.

You probably wonder how/why I am a registered user of your site. I just joined this last week. My husband and I have been married for almost 3 ½ years and have yet to conceive a child. I registered on your site to gain information. I do not wish to be solicited to support political, moral or ethical views that I do not agree with. God creates life, not man. It is a sin for man to take life. I may be hard pressed to find a Physician who agrees with mine and my husbands view on this subject, but I will not proceed with any procedure that will take life to give life. What would I tell my child if via IVF we discarded 15 of his/her siblings? Would I say “Sweetie, you are so special that we killed 15 of your brothers and sisters just to have you.”? I will never have to wonder about that. I pray for those who have gone down that road and now regret it. Will God forgive them? Yes, if they are repentant of their action/choice. But we must do everything possible to prevent the continuation of this type of killing being promoted as something normal, even noble.

From Psalm 139
For you created my inmost being;
       you knit me together in my mother's womb.
 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
       your works are wonderful,
       I know that full well.
 15 My frame was not hidden from you
       when I was made in the secret place.
       When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
 16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
       All the days ordained for me
       were written in your book
       before one of them came to be.

Please reconsider your stance on this subject and the consequences that will come if we continue down the road of giving little or no value to life that God has created. God gave his son, Jesus Christ to die so that all could have life. Who are we to take it away? And Christ did not remain dead, the grave had no hold on Him. In fulfillment of the scriptures He rose again and lives today. We are not God. His thoughts are higher that our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. We cannot play God without dire consequences.

Good Stuff

This has been a great week for me. Yesterday was our 3 year wedding anniversary. My husband, Mark, and I are going to celebrate on Saturday with dinner at The French Room in Dallas. It is a fabulous restaurant where dining is an experience and the service is impeccable. We are really looking forward to our night out.

Mark is currently at a dress rehearsal for a concert he is playing in tomorrow night called 100 Guitars of Praise . It will be at Bedford Methodist Church and I can't wait. It is put on by Master Media, Tom Dooley's ministry.

I had a wonderful dinner at Cowtown Sushi with my friend Stacie this evening, we were celebrating her birthday. The food was great but the company was better. We had so much fun just talking and laughing.