Just a Random Friday Photo

On our way home from the tennis meet, my man was driving, we were singing along with our Passion 2011 CD, I was talking about Hannah's win on Facebook when all of a sudden, Mr. Incredible says, "Quick! Grab your camera!"

I looked up to see the most unusual sight.  So I snapped the above picture.  Something about it tickles my funny bone.  Probably because, I don't know how he got on the bike, and I wonder how he will get off the bike.  In all of my grace, I would become another speedbump on the road.  But, this guy had it going on and he was having such a fun time doing it.  He should be on a billboard or something.

Which made me wonder what kind of caption this photo merits. 

Any ideas?  I'd love to hear your creative ideas.

Yes, that's the sum of my post today.  Pretty random huh?  Aren't you glad you stopped by?!  Let the Good Times Roll!  Ha! 

My Top Ten Senior!

Monday night was the annual Honor's Banquet.  Students are recognized for their UIL participation, academics, offices held, etc.  Rachel was honored for her service in Student Council for the past 4 years, TAFE (Texas Association of Future Educators), FCCLA, A Honor Roll, Drum Major, UIL Participant and...being #4 in her class!  Yes!  Rachel finished in the top ten percent of her class!!!

She was also the Senior Class Secretary...and I was a Senior Sponsor so I had the great joy in presenting the certificates to the Senior Class Officers.  Yes, that's me on the far left and my Rachel is second from the far right.  They were a fun group to work with this year.

Here are my girls.  (Flourescent lighting is so hard to photograph under...crazy hues.)

And Rachel with her friend Sarah:

It was a fun night to recognize hard work, dedication, and effort....a night to thank the Lord once again for all that He has done in Rachel's life.  There was a time, when she was first diagnosed with Arnold Chiari, when we wondered if our daughter would even be able to finish high school, or even be able to attend school.  God in all of His wonderful mercy and grace had an incredible plan for her precious life.   She clung to Jesus and trusted His plan...and oh how He blessed.  We are rejoicing over and over again in the work He has done!  God is so good!

What Motivates You?

I took this picture of Hannah at Saturday's Tennis Meet.  The blank wall just seemed to beg for a verse. As I was going through my photos, I thought about part of my dad's sermon from this past Sunday.  He talked about how to have peace.  I thought it was fitting after a week where peace wasn't easy to come by...where I felt like I was treading water to keep my head above the water.  

There were moments where I felt like we were under attack...moments that I handled with grace....moments where I failed....but none the less, moments where I could have had peace in the midst of the trial if only I had listened to the Holy Spirit instead of myself.  Can anyone relate?

I felt like I had crossed the finish line of last week bruised and a bit beaten.  I have to chuckle a bit, because I often wonder how we will cross the finish line of this life?  Will we be perfectly whole and happy, or will we be a bit bruised and beaten? The Bible talks about us having fought the good fight and finished the race...which makes me think we will be so relieved to have crossed the finish line of life. We will see Jesus just as He is...what a day that will be!  

Back to Dad's sermon.  He encouraged that if we are going to have a life of peace we must spend time with the Lord...and that shouldn't exclusively consist of spending 5 minutes a week in prayer asking the Lord to bless our food.  If we are going to hear from His heart, we have got to spend time in prayer pouring out our hearts before Him, and listening to His heart too. 

To be honest, last week I had my daily devotion time with the Lord but it was more abbreviated than normal...much like my temperament.  No, I'm not taking the blame for all of the events that happened last week, but I am admitting my part in all of it. 

Which leads me back to Hannah's photo and verse.  If we are going to be part of the team, we have to practice, work hard, and put forth our best effort.  That's true in tennis but even truer in life.  If we are part of God's team, we need to spend time with our Coach, work hard, study hard, and by living a Spirit-filled life, always put forth our best effort.  One day we will be rewarded with an eternal crown...a crown that we will place at the feet of the One who is so worthy of our praise.  Just that thought alone makes me want to continue training to be more like Jesus...less of me...more of Him.

Game, Set, Match, District Champs!

This past Saturday Hannah and her mixed doubles partner, Nick, competed in the District Tennis Meet.  To say this season of tennis has been a bit tough would be an understatement, but thankfully Hannah persevered.  And her time and effort paid off.

During the first match, they won 8-2!

Then it was time to cheer on her teammates as they waited for the championship game to begin.  The teams were all doing fantastic and we enjoyed watching them play.  Finally it was time for Hannah and Nick.  They started off great at 3-0 and then the other team started catching up.

The two teams battled back and forth for the win....eventually Hannah and Nick won 8-6.  They took first place in mixed doubles and their team won the District Championship (that's two years in a row)!

Mr. Incredible and I had fun watching our baby girl playing tennis and cheering her on to victory.  It was a great day...and we have the sunburns to prove it.



The "K" Family {A Sneak Peak}

I have been so looking forward to the "K" family photo shoot.  Brenda emailed me from their Mediterranean Cruise to see if I would be available to take their family photos this weekend as both of their children would be home to celebrate her daughter's graduation from College.

I was thrilled to see that we were able to work in a photo shoot; they were so gracious to work around my crazy schedule.  We marked the date and time, counted down the days, and prayed for the best...and God blessed and blessed.  The day was absolutely perfect...what a gift!

Mr. "K" is our pharmacist and their pharmacy is an old fashioned pharmacy complete with the most amazing hamburgers, homemade milk shakes, and real cherry cokes. It is like stepping into a Norman Rockwell painting.  The drug store has been a family tradition in our part of Texas for years.  What a thrill to be able to photograph their family here.  Mr. "K" even shared one of his famous vanilla milk shakes with me...yum!

Their daughter has the most amazing eyes! Gorgeous!

I think this is one of my faves of the day!  The love they have for each other and their family is so evident.

This family is a lot of fun!  We laughed and giggled until our sides hurt. No Olan-Mills-posed photos here-delight! This picture makes me smile every time that I see it.  I have a brother too so I know what it is like to be teased by a brother. The look on his face is priceless.

A beautiful family!  Thank you so much for the blessing of getting to take your family photos.  It was such an honor to get to capture your joy and laughter and love for one another.  And if you ever need a photographer to go with you on your fabulous world travels-I'm your girl.  Ha!  Enjoy your sneak peak, more pictures to follow in your gallery soon!



There's a Hymn for That!

Whoa! I'm not sure what's going on with Blogger, but several posts were deleted and your sweet comments too.  I couldn't get in to my blog until just a few minutes ago.  Makes me wonder what happened.

Anyway, it is Friday the 13th for sure and after an extremely rough week, I'm in need of a little humor.  My Uncle sent this to me and I thought it was pretty cute and I wanted to share it with you.

Do you know your HYMNS?


Dentist's Hymn...................Crown Him with Many Crowns

Weatherman's Hymn...There Shall Be Showers of Blessings

Contractor's Hymn..............The Church's One Foundation

The Tailor's Hymn......................Holy, Holy, Holy

The Golfer's Hymn............There's a Green Hill Far Away

The Politician's Hymn...............Standing on the Promises

Optometrist's Hymn..........Open My Eyes That I Might See

The IRS Agent's Hymn.................I Surrender All

The Gossip's Hymn.....................Pass It On

The Electrician's Hymn.................Send The Light

The Shopper's Hymn......................Sweet Bye and Bye

The Realtor's Hymn. . . . . I've Got a Mansion Just over the Hilltop

The Massage Therapists Hymn . . . .....He Touched Me

The Doctor's Hymn.......................The Great Physician

AND for those who speed on the highway - a few hymns:

45mph....................God Will Take Care of You

65mph.....................Nearer My God To Thee

85mph.....................This World Is Not My Home

95mph.....................Lord, I'm Coming Home

100mph.... ........ ....Precious Memories
 
I'm thankful that it is Friday.  I feel like we have crossed the finish line of this week a bit bruised and battered, but we survived.  I am thankful the Lord's mercies are new every morning and that He blesses us with forgiveness and weekends.  I heart weekends!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

...Graduation Time around here!  Oh my! We have been soooooooo busy working on these:

And of course special custom graduation announcements with pictures of Rachel but I can't share them with you until we get them in the mail. But, it will be very soon, I promise!

And we have been receiving packages like this:

 I wonder if it will fit???

Ah!  A perfect fit!  Be still my heart!  She only has 2 1/2 more weeks of school.  Wow!  Fun days and memories to be made are just in front of us....and I don't want to miss a single, minuscule detail of it all.