Yesterday I made a print of one of my recent flower photographs for Savannah... she's been wanting me to print some for her so she can paint them.
When she got home from school yesterday saw the print, she immediately went and grabbed her paints (some we had given to her for her birthday and some she had received from her Papa Sexton) and her easel and started working on her "artistic interpretation" of the flower.
I loved watching her work on the green background and the merging of the dark and light colors, mixing red and white to achieve the pink color that she desired for the flower, and then she made sure she signed her work of art.
Savannah and Andrew amaze me daily with their creativeness, determination, comprehension, desire, positiveness, resilience, independence, dreams, hope, vision...
Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it. Proverbs 22:6
I'm not a big hot tea person, but when I do have hot tea I like green tea with lemon or honey-lemon tea. Tonight was one of those nights that after everyone went to bed I enjoyed a tea time.
Had a long but fun evening/night creating the game "Mount Everest Algebra" with Andrew... Through a few tears, many laughs, and some good conversation... It got completed.
Andrew got so excited when he saw these two sets of glasses today at a sports store in Water Tower Place in Chicago... I LOVE that he LOVES baseball :-)
Taking time to go through some flower images from last summer... Only a couple more months until we start seeing signs of life outside again. It never comes fast enough for me each winter.
I LOVE hearing my wife Laurie practice the piano... She started lessons at the beginning of last summer after several years of not playing. I was in the kitchen a little bit ago and I heard her start playing... It made me smile :-)
NORMAL, Ill -- A mega-church recently got even bigger. We took a look at how the extra space is being used to enhance the church's ministry. Walking in, it's obvious. After a recent $3 million addition, Eastview Christian Church is definitely not your grandfather's church.
"We want to appeal to anyone, regardless of religious background, and make our church warm and friendly. Everyone wants to go to places where there's a water feature, or a fireplace, or there's food, or there's a bookstore, or there's people milling around handing out together, and that's what we've tried to create here with our church," said Mark Warren, Executive Pastor at Eastview Christian Church.
The services are very visual, very complex, and for some, very intense. Parishoners agree that the church only looks big.
"It definitely feels like a family, definitely. Because when I come into this church I may not necessarily look at the size of the church per se, but the fact that there are real people in this church, and that we're here together to worship the Lord," said Kristy O'Connell.
Long time parishoner Dean Johnson says the size of the facility enhances the worship.
"The good thing about being able to hang out here and have a good time after church is it creates the perfect environment to talk about the things that happened during the church service," said Johnson, who has been worshiping for 19 years at Eastview.
The focal point of the new atrium is Cafe 19, named for the 19 original founders of the church. The draw of the table was used to bring new people into the fold.
"I think you're likely to go where you're comfortable and where you fit in. And food, everyone loves food, so everyone fits in with food. So it's whatever is comfortable with each person or each group," said Mysty Thomas, Director of Food Services.
{Awesome job by NBC WEEK News 25 & ABC WHOI News 19 for this coverage of Eastview's expansion... I was thrilled to see for Cafe 19's grand opening weekend on January, 15th the attendance was over 5400!!! WE LOVE OUR CHURCH AND THE WORK IT'S DOING IN MCLEAN COUNTY!!!}
We welcomed a new pet into our nest today... Stella, a gray peach-cheeked cockatiel. Laurie and I have both commented how nice it is to hear a cockatiel in the house again /;>
Took a drive to Chicago today to attend the trade show at Mid-Am (Landscaping trade show). Three of my favorite things about Chicago: 1) residences on North Dearborn & North State, 2) stained glass window collection at Navy Pier, and 3) AWESOME architecture/skyline.
Savannah and I had the opportunity to be on WJBC AM 1230 today to talk about our Girl Scout theft, which turned into an AWESOME chance to talk up Girl Scouts in general and what the cookie sales mean to them. To listen to the interview, go to WJBC
We woke up this morning to discover my daughter had 60 boxes of Girl Scout cookies stolen out of our van last night... Needless to say our daughter Savannah was heartbroken. Her troop is one of only 2-3 in Central Illinois that had the opportunity to direct sell cookies while all other troops can ONLY take orders for delivery in March (the common way Girl Scout cookies are sold). We're hopeful that somehow the greedy dirtbag that steals from Girl Scouts will be caught... Or maybe chokes to death on a Thin Mint!!! If you live in Bloomington/Normal and someone suspicious is selling Girl Scout cookies... Please contact the Bloomington Police Department ASAP.
My daughter just made her own lunch - Peanut butter on Ritz crackers... With swiss cheese. And people think my peanut butter and pickle sandwiches are weird.
How can a simple household task (a favor to my wife) turn into a possible disaster in high expectations for my daughter's future husband? Read on...
Here's a conversation I had earlier today with my daughter, Savannah...
S: Your face is all red.
Me: That's because I'm bending over cleaning the toilet.
S: Ewww!!!
Me: When you get older you'll have to do it, too.
S: I'll just have my husband do it.
Just when I'm proud of myself for doing something sweet for my wife and being a good example for my children... I have to drop to my knees in fear and begin praying for my daughter's future husband.
I am SO proud of our son Andrew!!! He's done such awesome work in his first semester at BJHS... And I LOVE to see that he's (unknowingly) proving we made the right choice 6-1/2 years ago putting him into kindergarten, even though we were turned down by a private school because he was behind in his fine motor skills. :-) Love you, Andrew!!! We are SO PROUD OF YOU!!!
**UPDATE**
And of course Savannah couldn't let her brother out do her... She brought her report card home with straight A's on it!!! WOO HOO!!! We've got two AWESOME kids!!!
I'm trying to make an effort at eating better... Chose 2 cuties to go with my lunch (that I proudly packed at home rather than bought in a drive-thru).
What a WONDERFUL Christmas our family had in 2011... I have told Laurie and both kids that I honestly think this has been the absolute best Christmas for our family. And to think I was really struggling with Christmas cheer a few days before the 25th.
There wasn't anything in particular that made it the "best Christmas" for our family... It just was. And after a some very frustrating weeks from August through November, having an awesome Christmas was... AWESOME :-)
In all honesty, I'm glad to see all of 2011 behind me. A lot of things became clear to me over the past 12 months... some of which I didn't want to see/know so clearly. But... I'm learning more about me, which is good, but also very hard.
When reality starts to overcome dreams... it hurts. So, now I have to continue healing, adjust my attitude and heart, and see where God takes me.
Where He leads me I will follow (NOT ... Where I go I'll take Him with me in my back pocket)
Wonderful day with Laurie... Lunch, shopping, holding hands while walking the mall, flirting, laughing, relaxing with coffee drinks and Nooks... AWESOME DAY!!!
I've watched several others participate in a 365 Photo Challenge the last four years... I've been promising myself over the last few months that I would participate in 2012.
Some choose to go with a theme, some a certain photo style, some use DSLR, some their smart phone... I'm choosing to use iPhonography (i.e. Photography using my iPhone's camera) and the theme: My Daily Life.
I know, it's not a very challenging theme... Especially when I get back into my gardening seasons. But, it gives me a chance to capture and share something from my life each day.
Watch for my daily posts, which will appear here on my blog, Twitter, and Facebook.
