Psalm 42

(note: this is a fresh water stream emptying into the ocean)

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for Thee, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.



Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
O my God, my soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember Thee from the land of the Jordan,
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Thy waterfalls;
All Thy breakers and Thy waves have rolled over me.
The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.



I will say to God my rock, "Why hast Thou forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?"
As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?"
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance, and my God.

I'm not kidding...

These critters -- all varieties of them -- were EVERYWHERE on Kauai.

Just Another Day in Paradise...

the last day, to be precise. As this posts, we're hopping on our red-eye flight back home. This vacation has been beyond wonderful. But, to be going back home --so refreshed-- is really good, too.

The Making of a Post...

By: The Big Dude. aka Engineer Extraordinaire.

It's complicated, I tell ya.

What they're looking at...

Alternative Title: Why the Big Dude loves where we live...

CHEERLEADER CAMP!!! 4 weekends each summer...
Me: sighing, while rolling my eyes.
It's a good thing my self-esteem is pretty healthy.

Where in the World...?

OMGosh!!! It's quite possible I've been spoiled forevermore. I'll never waterski in a more wonderful, beautiful, perfect place, ever...

notice: the palm shadows on the Wailua River water


First up: The Big Dude


That's the ocean on the other side of that bridge, but this is a fresh water river.


My turn:




"Memories to last a lifetime"?!? That rental car guy had NO idea...

Where in the World...?

Sunrise in Kapaa from our room (oh yeah, cause we're still on Cali time!)

And we're hitting the road in our rental car (NOT the "make-memories-for-a-lifetime" convertible that the nice rental man tried to upsell us to. Poor sales dude. He didn't know I already had that "convertible" money set aside for a waterski ride... priorities, People, priorities...)



See the Big Dude? He's the driver. Always. I like being a professional passenger! And see me? I'm the one with the camera. :-) And see the beautiful blue sky thru our sunroof? And the beautiful leis we got at the airport? Vacationing is sooo much fun.

note: My photo uploader plug-in is malfunctioning. Thus, the funky photo sizes. Hope I can fix that soon...

Mystery Hint (total giveaway?)...

What ARE they looking at?

Where in the World...?

clue #4: If this doesn't give it all away, then the next set will for sure...

So many dangers!

Good thing the Big Dude was wearing a bright shirt!

Where in the World...?

clue #3: It has rained on us both days we've been here. And it's been sunny, too. It's incredibly beautiful, no matter the weather...

See me? Don't I look happy and relaxed?!? Oh. You can't tell from my shadow? Trust me. I'm happy and relaxed and don't even mind that I'm getting wet.

Where in the World...?

next clue: Here's the fancy place where we had lunch yesterday. Berry yogurt sundae, mmmm....

Prettiest dang setting I've ever seen for a Costco...

Where in the World ...

are Susan and the Big Dude? (why not have two mysteries at once???)

clue: these things (all sizes, all varieties) are ALL over the place, roaming free...

Mystery Image...

Alternative Title: The Intricacies Involved in an Engineer Creating a Blog Post...

Seasons.

Fall. Winter. Spring. Summer


There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven --
A time to give birth, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to tear down, and a time to build up.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search, and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time for war, and a time for peace.

What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?
I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime;
moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor -- it is the gift of God.
I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

Boys.

The Big Dude tells me the other day: "Boys are just REALLY competitive. If they don't win, they're going to accuse the other guy of cheating."

Sigh.

And that's all I've got to say 'bout that. (read in your best inner Forrest Gump voice)

postscript added: The Big Dude just raised his eyebrow and said, "Hmmm, short on pictures today?"
And in my head I said, "Shyeah. Cause it makes a more powerful impact by standing out as different than what I normally do."

Sunflowers

The Day Has Come.

The axe has dropped.

Or more specifically, the scissors have snipped.



Nope. No "after" pictures to post. Y'know how dogs are sometimes a little embarrassed after their coat has been shaved?
Yeah. It's a little bit like that.

Last two - A Beautiful Mama...

with a beautiful Mama's heart. Waiting expectantly...

What an honor it was to have the privilege to take these photos.

Maternity, take 2...

Here's what I learned from this Maternity Photoshoot with a feisty 15 month old toddler girl:

Family photos with young ones is tough. Really tough. Forgetta 'bout nice posing ideas.

If you actually want the darling, feisty little Rylan in the photo, you have to hang on to her tight!

Grab both those arms!

Or both those legs!


Confine her to your shoulders.


Or to a shopping cart.



Swing her up high in the sky.



Or hug her tight.



And don't, DON'T forget about the ice cream bribe.





If all else fails, try and catch her running away in the background. :-)

Maternity ...

For a year plus I've been peppering (pestering??) Leslie with a million different photography questions. She has generously and patiently shared her knowledge with me. This weekend I got to say "thank you!" when she let me take maternity photos of her lovely family...

There were so many incredibly fun photos from this shoot. I might have to run more tomorrow... ;-)

Psalm 127:3-5

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD;
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them...

'Twas a Fine Time...

The Birthday Brunch Tradition Continues Today...

My good friends, Teresa and Colleen, and I were all in a homegroup Bible study together several years ago when we lived in San Jose. And the women in that group always made a special "to-do" ("ta-da" ?!?) with each other's birthdays. Time brought change, as time typically does, and now we three all live in SoCal, and we still delight to make a to-do over each other's birthdays.

Now, I must admit, I'm no domestic diva. And entertaining is not my forte. I have a hard time making things (food, decor, etc.) pretty. But I'm quite tickled with what I've come up with for this lunch for my buddies. A couple days ago I found these sunflowers at Trader Joe's and thus spawned the beginning of a vision...

Here's some of what I pulled together yesterday:


Recipes (including Heidi's Blackberry Gingerbread Cake), food prep, my idea page torn out of the Crate & Barrel catalog, preliminary dining room set-up, and assembling the photo cards I made them as a gift.

It's a good thing there's only three of us. Because I only have three yellow plates. Why only three? Cause here's the rest of the set (don't look at the crumbs on my shelf - I lack the pride and patience to photoshop them out):



I'm so looking forward to this morning with my friends. I just hope I time all the food correctly. :-}

My Three Boys.

After a wonderful lazy day lounging watching Olympics...

... the Dudes really needed to shake some lead out. So after dinner we walked up THE HILL to our local park.

Frisbee by Moonlight


We stayed. We played. We prepared to leave. And on the way out I noticed all our shadows falling on the grass and I joked with the Big Dude that THAT could be our annual family portrait. He said "nah, let's do that sometime at the beach." And we continued down the path. Til I said, "But wait, I REALLY want to take the picture on the grass." So he humored me. I quickly took the picture, exclaimed how much I liked it, and he said: "Good thing it's just a shadow. No one will see me scowling."


Btw, the blob at our feet is the Dog Dude.

I gotta take the high road (it's so rare that I do...)

There will be no Big Dude wipeout photos. Instead this will be a post filled with boys having loads of fun...

And the Big Dude...? Well, he was left sore in more than one way from his skimboard birthday adventure at the beach. White-y shoulda worn sunscreen.

Guess what new fun we had under the sun...?

I'll pretend I can't hear the snickering in your head...
Last week on our date night we bought the Big Dude a new toy (again, with the snickering!...) for his birthday.





And we took it to the beach to try it out...





I'll run some of the action pics tomorrow. I still need to decide whether or not I'll post the Big Dude's wipeout...

I Chronicles 16:23-36

Sing to the LORD, all the Earth;
Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.
Tell of His glory among the nations,
His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.
For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised.
He also is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him,
Strength and joy are in His place.
Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name;
Bring an offering, and come before Him;
Worship the LORD in holy array.
Tremble before Him, all the earth;
Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
And let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."
Let the sea roar, and all it contains;
Let the field exult, and all that is in it.
Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD;
For He is coming to judge the earth.
O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Then say, "Save us, O God of our salvation,
And gather us and deliver us from the nations,
To give thanks to Thy holy name,
And glory in Thy praise."
Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
From everlasting even to everlasting.

Books I Love...

Looking for a good book? I finally got around to updating my book list. Feel free to click the menu bar above and mosey around a bit.

Wild Wacky Laguna Beach...

Oh, the sights you will see on Mulberry Stree---, I mean, Laguna Beach.
A sporty orange vehicle that would be tough for ME to get in and out of (and yes, that handicap card was with the go-cart). A Marilyn Monroe-esque photoshoot. And a marriage that's already on the rocks. (get it? on the rocks! ba-du-dum!)

But, you know what I like seeing best?

Date Night in Laguna Beach

I continue to be a cheap date. For the price of take-out chinese and some parking meter expenses, I got to enjoy the following delights:

A walk around and through a local resort. See those rocks way down below?

That's where we're heading.


While down there, the Big Dude puts on a good show...


Just kidding on the yoga mastery stuff...

And we get to watch the sun set ... behind some clouds, anyway.





Such a gorgeous place.

Tomorrow I'll show you some of the other wild and wonderful things we saw along the way...

Summer Movie Fun

Our local theater has a free Family Film Festival each summer. So for the last three years we've been enjoying the theater experience with our good friends (together we're two moms and SIX boys - yikes!!).

To commemorate our shared fun movie experience, I, of course, wanted to take a group picture. My youngest not-so-cooperative son flat-out REFUSED to stand up so that I could take a decent photo. So, if you can't beat 'em (and, really, I couldn't beat him ... not out in public and all ... JUST KIDDING!!! sort of.), join 'em. Here are the boys imitating the Littlest Dude's posture.



And here is the Littlest Dude removing himself from my presence. Registering his STRONG disapproval. He wants me to know HOW MUCH he doesn't want to be here. Because, like, he HATES the fountain. Passionately.







Just look at HOW UNHAPPY that miserable fountain makes him:





I am such a mean Mama to torture him thus with that awful place. I hope he finds room in his heart to forgive me some day.

We don't have many flowers in our yard ...

but I milk all that I can out of each and every one of them.

Shakespeare by the Sea...

presents a Midsummer Night's Dream. The two oldest Dudes and I went to see this last weekend. Heidi over at Mt. Hope Chronicles recently attended and blogged about her local production of this same play. It's amazing to me how very different the same play can look. Hers was a beautiful production all done in the style of the Rip Roarin' 20s (Ziegfield Follies, Charlie Chaplin, and the like...). Our production was a total hoot, but very very eclectic - some strange sort of Disney Princesses meet the Village People meet the Three Muskateers meet Mad Max meet Benjamin Franklin meet Britney Spears kind of thing ... all set in a desert with a crescent moon. It was strange, I tell ya. But good. So very good.

Here we are at the play. And here are the Dudes with that Merry Wanderer of the Night. (yup, in this production, Puck was a busty woman with horns who showed her devotion to Oberon by acting like an enthusiastic puppy. I told ya it was a strange, wonderful production.)

Psalm 19:1-2

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

The Littlest Dude Didn't Know What to Think...

of the water park. It was a real nail-biter of a time up at the top of the first slide.

And he was none too well pleased at the bottom. He decided that he would just park himself next to me and RELAX for a little while.





I'm sure you can tell from yesterday's post that The Littlest Dude didn't stay by my side for very long. He gave it another shot. I'm pretty sure he had a good time.



Though he did end the day back by my side...

Photo Tip Friday

Y'know what? Sometimes it's best just to use Auto. After the last year+ of trying to do my best to learn how to shoot/expose manually, this week at the water park, I just planted my camera's shoot mode on the Running Man. And I refuse to feel guilty about it (smirk)! Shooting manually does help me to get really really nice exposures; but, it slows me down a bit, fiddling with settings. And at the water park, I needed to be FAST, or I would have missed these shots: