Thou, LORD, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the Earth...

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

For to which of the angels did He ever say,
"THOU ART MY SON,
TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN THEE"?
And again,
"I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM
AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME"?
And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says,
"WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS,
AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE."
But of the Son He says,
"THY THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,
AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.
THOU HAST LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;
THEREFORE GOD, THY GOD, HATH ANOINTED THEE
WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE THY COMPANIONS."
And,
"THOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING DIDST LAY THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH,
AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF THY HANDS;
THEY WILL PERISH, BUT THOU REMAINEST;
AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD AS A GARMENT,
AND AS A MANTLE THOU WILT ROLL THEM UP;
AS A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED.
BUT THOU ART THE SAME,
AND THY YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END."

Hebrews 1:1-12

That was then. This is now.

Remember last year when Littlest Dude was very upset NOT to have his own number?

This year, he got his very own number.



Oh? You want to know why he's wearing that raincoat in SoCal, where it RARELY EVER rains? And when it does rain, it does so in the middle of the night so that the day is sunny as usual. That's what you want to know? Here's what the drive to the harbor looked like:



The Big Dude was a total stud. He ran both the 5k (with the older dudes) AND the Kids Fun Run (about a mile, with Littlest Dude). I took pictures. It's what I do. ;-)



Littlest Dude also got a medal.




Btw, these pics are all from my pocket camera. I don't bring my "big girl" gear out into the rain.

Happy Thanksgiving

WHEREAS, It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor;

WHEREAS, Both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

--George Washington - October 3, 1789

Our Firstborn Turns 12

My very first baby just really doesn't look like a baby anymore. He looks like .... well, .... a teenager.

But he isn't. Oh no, he's not. Not for another year.

He might walk a block behind the rest of us. And he might look in a mirror (or any reflective surface) every time he passes one to check his wayward strands of hair. And he certainly knows how to roll his eyes at us (and we give him lots of opportunity for practice :-). He's beginning to like "cool" clothes. He also actively looks for ways to help me out. And he watches out carefully for his youngest brother. He has the book smarts and scholarly tendencies of one older than himself. He is already an author and has a gifted way with words, both spoken and written.

But he is NOT a teenager. Yet.

It's My 1 Year 4 Day Blogiversary!

Who knew? What a year it's been. My original vision was just to post one picture per day. And I kinda thought that might even be a stretch.

And here I am: 375 posts, 1400+ photos later, with a space that's been beautified by the amazingly talented Darcy. Way more than a photo a day. Way more fun. Everything has become a candidate for blog fodder, and my whole family has played along with me.

I've met the nicest people along the way -- people I haven't even met in "real life" who stop by to say "hi". And some of them, I've even gotten to meet for reals. And I know I'll be meeting more blog friends in the future (y'all will let me know when you're in my neck of the woods, right?!?)

The real surprise (to me) is that my photo hobby blog has awakened my desire to try my hand at being a "professional" photographer. We'll see where that goes this year... Stay tuned. :-)

Thanks for joining me in the journey. :-)

I feel all bereft...

I finished the Twilight series. And now there's a tiny sad void in my day and night.

I won't tell you that this book is a great piece of literature. It isn't.
I won't tell you it's sophisticated. Because it's not.
I won't tell you I didn't roll my eyes throughout it and wish the author had a heavier-handed editor. I did. (especially in the 2nd book)

But. BUT...

I can't remember in recent history having more fun reading a series. I would get a certain twinkle in my eye each time I thought, "Hey, I have some time. I think I'll go curl up and read some more of the Bella & Edward saga." I know Big Dude thought I was nuts and even Eldest Dude rolled his eyes at the thought of Mommy reading her vampire books. But, oh well. 'Twas FUN, I tell you.

And I'm so thankful for Julie's enthusiasm and generosity. I was on a very long waiting list at the library (darn all those teenage girls!) for the 3rd book, when I won the drawing at Julie's blog for the last two books in the series. Because Julie is such a pimp HUGE FAN of the books, she got to go to the Post-production party and the Cast Screening of the Movie. Of course, it does help to be married to the very talented Sound Mixer!

The Peace of God Transcends ALL understanding...

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,
let your mind dwell on these things.
The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,
practice these things; and the God or peace shall be with you.

Philippians 4:4-9

A stitch in time, our boy turns 9 ...

I asked Middle Dude what he wanted to do for his birthday portrait. Without skipping a beat he said, "Take my picture with all the Harry Potter books!" And I thought, "how fitting." Because truly this was the year his READING exploded. And not just Harry Potter. But all sorts of fantasy, mystery, suspense and humor books. It's a rare day when he doesn't have his nose buried in a book for at least a small or large bit of the day.

Another Baby, part two...

Warning: This post MAY set your ovaries into overdrive. I'm just sayin'... Tread carefully. You've been forewarned. ;-)

Another BABY!!!

Two babies in half a week. How lucky am I??? Leslie came over for lunch and a photo fest. We had the lofty goal of attaining the nekkid-sleeping-baby-with-his-bum-in-the-air image. It was hard getting the sleeping part, because each time sweet Cade's eyes closed and his breathing deepened, we each starting snapping away, and his eyes would open right back up. Go figure. :-) But despite our intrusive snapping, sleep won out. And we got the shot!



If you click on over to Leslie's blog, you can see her version.

Sunsets with a Twist...

These are all long-exposures, ranging from 1/2 second (like the first two) to 30 seconds (the last two). These photos are undoctored. They are all taken long AFTER the sun has set. And here's the twist: all of my boys (including Big Dude) are running thru some of these images. Eldest Dude was quite reluctant to participate, claiming he did NOT want to be on the blog (methinks he thought his t-shirt didn't match well his shorts ... me, rolling eyes). I promised him that his shirt wouldn't show, and neither would he. :-) Can you tell which images include my boys? I'll get you started: the first two photos include Keller men...

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Is this really November???

Sunday night we went to the beach to watch the sunset. Big Dude brought along his propane "stove" and camping coffee kettle. He made us all hot chocolate to go with yummy Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe-Joe's (like Oreo cookies with peppermint filling). Mind you, we didn't need hot chocolate because we were cold. Oh no. We were wearing t-shirts and shorts even after the sun was long gone. It's been in the mid to high 90s for the last 10 days. The hot chocolate was just for fun. And the sunset was beautiful. The dark red strip you see at the horizon in all these photos is actually the smoke from the SoCal fires.

Baby, part deux

This sweet little guy is the 3rd of three boys. I have a special fondness for three boy families :-).

This was both a fun and funny photoshoot that we set up in my bright-light bedroom. It was timed for Gavin's naptime (picture: beautiful Anne Getty type sleeping angel images...), but he was quite wide-eyed, despite his tiredness. He did fall asleep a few times, but as soon as we would remove his pacifier, he'd be wide-eyed and squirmy all over again. His quite smart mommy mentioned that at home he always seems to fall asleep while she's drying her hair ... so we pulled out my hairdryer. It worked like a charm and we got cute sleeping baby pictures *without* a pacifier. :-)



Same pics, in the more traditional "storyboard" format.

The God who made the world and all things in it...

The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things; and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your poets have said, 'For we also are His offspring.'

Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.

Acts 17:24-31

BABY

What a privilege to take pictures of this adorable little guy.







More to come on Monday...

It's not what you think it is...

Really. It's NOT a water gun fight. It's much more serious than that. It's a method for ....





... washing a car. Way funner than the traditional way. Way less effective, too.

Luckily, our older dudes are more skilled in the traditional ways and persuaded Littlest Dude to trade in his gun for a rag.