Happy Birth Day Helaina

Birth is such an amazing miracle. From the very beginning the process in which life comes about is fascinating. I am truly amazed at how two microscopic parts of the body come together to form such a beautiful being. The woman's body that houses and nurtures this process, I believe is God showing us how magnificent he is. The whole week by week journey of life is brilliant. It's a fascinating continuous discovery. We still don't know everything their is about human development. The whole miracle is so complex I don't think we ever will completely understand it. We just stand in awe about how our lives begin so small and precious.

This little girl is my baby. She was born on July 22nd at 9:54am weighing 9lbs 8.8oz, length 20.5 inches at 39 weeks and 3 days. She has been a source of pure joy and happiness in our household. We are very blessed to have her here with us!

Delightfully Disappointed

Our twin girls have turned 11. We are simply amazed at their growth and achievements through out the years. It keeps catching us by surprise. Life is a beautiful precious gift and each year we turn a year older we should celebrate. It is easy to celebrate a child's birthday. We as parents are delighted when our children reach another year. While the children are excited about being older, I celebrate making it through another year of parenthood! Birthdays can symbolize growth and maturity in both parent and child. We love watching them reach their milestones and grow far beyond our expectations. We love to help them through their are struggles. Parenting helps us grow and become stronger and wiser. Our children are precious to us. As they learn from us, we learn from them. So when the girls asked to go to the London Tea Room for their birthday it was surprising, a bittersweet feeling touched my heart. We enjoyed the day with them. Trying different teas prepared the way the British do was such a treat. We were delighted to see that they were mature enough to choose a place like that for their birthday. A bit of disappointment came when the reality of them growing older was facing us. I think back to the days when the girls were babies, when I would cuddle them and they didn't have a urge to run off and do other things. They just sat there and enjoyed being held by mom. Although I miss those days, I do enjoy sitting and talking with them over a cup of tea.

Curves

Beautiful Curves from a stairway banister caught my eye. Sometimes beauty can be found in objects that are often overlooked. Take pleasure in the world around you.

Snow Day

Wednesday January 28th was a wonderful day. Snow fell over night and we woke up to a fluffy white blanket of snow. I tip toed outside to enjoy the scene before the family got up. The snow wasn't disturbed. The sun was shining on the white grounds which provided a brilliantly bright winter day. Although winter is my least favorite season I couldn't help being amazed at the winter wonderland. I knew it was a very temporary scene so I embraced all I could with a few photographs. I am simply in awe about the change of seasons. I always loved the snow which is very odd since I loathe cold weather. Snow is different. It's beautiful. When I step outside I feel as though I have stepped into enchanted painting created by almighty God. Everyone was home and we were blessed with a warm house.

Later on the family went outside to enjoy the winter white blanket that lay on the front lawn. After a quiet morning and afternoon the snow was greeted with excited kids ready to create and play with it. We had a wonderful neighbor come over to help shovel the driveway. The amazing thing about him is that he stopped because he simply wanted to help. It was a great display of a wonderful helping heart just for the sake of helping. While my husband and neighbor shoveled the driveway the kids tossed snow balls and trampled through the huge hill of shoveled snow.

The front lawn was a wonderful scene of laughter and good will. After the driveway was shoveled, we all got together to build a snowman. The kids invited the kid next door to help too. All the giggles came out as they gathered snow to build their highly anticipated snowman. The snowman turned out to be a simple one but one made by a group of people who really enjoyed God's gift of a snow day.

One Powerful Button

Nature is such a beautiful blessing. I shot this photograph from a golf cart. It is our future back yard. We are so excited to have the opportunity to live close to such beauty. The other day my husband saw a buck resting on our lot of land. We are fascinated by watching the wild life roam. The value of nature came to me in an Art History course I was in. There was a photo series on how man had replaced nature with highways and roads. It was a eye opener for me to appreicate nature and life. The class was about Photo in Society which taught us about how photography has changed society by reveling life as it is. Ansel Adams did it with his breath taking photography of Yosemite, Ed Weston photographed the every day object and revealed to us beautiful form in his Natural Studies photos, Lewis Hine photographed Child Labor laws into existence. Photography is a powerful tool. It simply reveals life as it is. The person holding the camera has the power to capture any moment in time creating a photograph that may even out last his or her own life. Beware of the power in which a shutter button can hold. We can change lives with photography. Be wise and make a positive change. Live Well.