One of those "Ouch" days

-The daughter of a past co-worker stole money, helped her felon boyfriend escape his work release and they are fleeing the law with a 3 year old boy. An amber alert was issued today for the boy as no one has seen them in 4 days. 

-My Pastor and his wife have an opportunity to go back to their "native land" to teach and preach

-My step-mom's mother passed away

-Michael lost his job. 

--"What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bare. What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer."

Sepia

Michael picked up some flowers when he went grocery shopping. They were beautiful. This lily made a wonderful model. 

A Treasure

Friday nights feet up, snuggling during a movie. I love family time! 

A treasure: when all the pieces seem to fall into place. There has been lots of growth for myself and my family over the last year. We are taking some time to celebrate the wins. Looking at the bigger picture instead of focusing on what's missing. 

Black and White

I thought all day about shooting Joshua's black and white chucks in black and white. All that thought did me some good. This was my first shot of 2016 chosen to represent the day. 

Mostly White

The prompts are "capturing the everyday" I have a ridiculous amount of camis. I wear one each day. Despite the beach, age has made them now, mostly white, but not completely. 

Draw

This was a tough one for me. I had no interest in actually drawing a picture. There were many cliche pencils. I took nearly 45 minutes of shots of a box of crayons unsatisfied with most of them. Michael then suggested I take a different approach and draw a bath instead. 

Complementary

Colors on opposite sides of the color wheel. 

Monochrome

1/10/16

Not much more to add. It was fun to get out and experiment again with my camera. Still so much to learn! 

 This was my other choice for monochrome, but I thought it has enough variety of color to choose something else. 

Camera Play

We needed more than just the library to get us out of the house. The boys needed to burn off some energy and I was eager to try out my new camera. 

I usually have something in mind when I start shooting. I was there to try out my lenses and catch some emotion. I got a photography book for Christmas and I'm reading about storytelling. Photos don't have to be posed, focused, smiling portraits. 

I went home to check out how I had done finding that roughly 1 out of 5 was close to what I intended to capture. Despite that, as I reviewed my work, Michael commented, "You've got perma-smile." And it was so true. I was in love with the crispness and clarity of many of the images. I was feeling good! 

*and before you think I'm too much of a jerk for taking sad/struggling pictures of my son read the article found here:

http://patch.com/california/alameda/bp--please-dont-help-my-kids

Puts it into perspective a little. 

A Relationship

1/9/16

He already has the love of books. Since he was able to write his name was said he was ready for the responsibility of a library card. A big day for this young man. 

Where I Stand

1/8/16

It was a long 1st week back in class. So I was happy to be enjoying some time sans children. I friend/colleague was celebrating 30 so I joined the fun before Women's Bible Study. 

Good for Me

1/7/16

My Christmas gift last year was a garden box. Gardening, it turns out, is good for me.

 I was eager to come home and see the daily changes in the backyard. 

I'm taking inventory of my seeds, looking over my notes and planning for this year's garden. 

Good for the soul, body & tastebuds! 

Pushing Myself

1/6/16

Rough day at school, hard time getting the kids into the car and home. Went into the house feeling blah. 

Rounded the corner into the kitchen noticing 1st Michael at the end of the kitchen island with his phone up, camera at me so he could catch my reaction when my attention shifted to his surprise. 

He read me the box and parts of the manual as we at dinner. 

 I charged the battery while we were at Bible Study. After the boys were in bed I got busy checking everything out.  

There will be a learning curve. I'm going to be pushing myself to get familiar with my new friend. 

Makes Me Happy

1/5/16

One of the reasons that I became a teacher is because I wasn't a strong reader growing up.

 I get sweaty palms just thinking about my elementary school days being called on to read. If I could plan ahead I would rush to the paragraph or sentence to quickly practice reading to myself before I needed to do it aloud. All the way back in second grade I can remember being partnered with one of the strongest readers in the class and feeling like a fool. On weekends I would read into a tape recorder to listen to myself. I would rewind and record again until my fluency would come close to my high performing friends. In high school, I would occasionally succumb to osmosis theory (the only thing it would hurt was my neck right?)

I wanted to be able to teach others to read at the most basic level creating a solid foundation for all the reading that would follow. 

I love the lightbulb moments that happen in my classroom. 

I cherish the sharing favorite books from childhood with my son. Tonight he begged to keep reading "Let me just finish this chapter" as he frantically turned to see how many pages were left. His love of reading makes me happy. 

Need This

1/4/16 

I had some trouble finding inspiration today. 

Needs: food, drink, clothes, shelter 

I looked at psychology. Maslow's Heirarchy of needs.  

Spiritual needs: Jesus, Bible, grace

What kinds of pictures were others taking? Lots and lots of coffee and water shots and even a few clever toilet paper images. 

What was something completely ordinary, yet original? 

Call them cotton swabs or q-tips take your pick. This week was about getting personal. Personally, I need a q-tip everyday. I can't stand having wet ears. 

This is so me

1/3/16

This prompt gave me trouble. The encouragement was for the picture to be a self-portrait. There are so many things I could have included as part of ME. 

I've mentioned how my goal is to be active. Now how to balance all that activity? 

How many hats do you wear? 

Caps for sale.

One Word

1/2/16

It's just plain easier to be passive. This year is about living intentionally. Active spiritually, mentally, physically, socially, with my family, and behind the camera. 

Trying to be better well rounded, yet intentional. I don't want to just drift along.  Reading that over makes me seem "unhappy" or lacking "contentment" I wouldn't classify myself as either, just making steps to improve the qualities I already have. 

Be active. 

Fresh Start

1/1/16 "Fresh Start" 

 

While I had hoped to start the new year with a new camera that's just not how the budget worked this year. Fueled up with a mental fresh start, comfortable with my same gear. Goals in mind! 

New camera by 30. 9/6/15

Capture your 365

I've joined a group. Look at me! I'm a joiner! Celebrate the victories! Something just for me. It's been glorious. I started in Decemeber. I joined a group call: Capture your 365. It's an online group/community (in only a month can I say family?) I receive a prompt for a daily photograph. I'll share Decembers when I remember, but I want to share my pics so far from 2016. Get ready!