our lily pad...

when no is a yes...

my heart is heavy for michelle.  her bridegroom and her hero lost his fight tonight.  her heart is shattered. her world has come to a stop.  we prayed and He answered.  His answer was it is time for My child to come to Me where I have prepared a place for him.  i remember hearing tony dungee speak about the death of his son.  he said that given everything he knows about heaven from the bible, he could not possibly ask God to bring his son back.  streets paved with gold, lightness from His glory, no sickness and glorious new bodies one day.  but i know that doesn't stop the heartache and pain and loneliness and sleepless nights.  so we grieve...but not as those without hope (1 Thess. 4:13) and  just like Jesus told the disciples "now is your time to grieve, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy" (john 16:22), i hope that michelle and angel and daniel will have joy again one day.  i hope to see marshall with his brand new body. i hope michelle never feels alone.  i hope that God wraps her and angel and daniel tightly in His arms and comforts them.  

love you michelle...

playin' in lightroom...

my new favorite friend...who needs photoshop???

i am on a serious learning curve though...

kenny's roller blades that santa brought...

christmas card rejects...

now that the cards have gone out...

and next christmas is a mere 364 days away...

here are the pics that i wanted to use 

but did not make it on the christmas card...

wheeeeeew....all it took was 4 shirts courtesy of trip to universal studios, 2 days of shooting, lots of mike-n-ikes and 1 trip to starbucks as reward for good behavior!

soap...

what happens when he is too quiet...

happy birthday, Jesus...

what a wonderful and grace-filled God we serve...

it's His son's birthday and we get the gifts...

after singing happy birthday to Jesus, the christmas festivities began...

and in case you were wondering...

santa prefers sugar cookies and soy milk...

merry christmas to all.  hope your celebration of our Savior's birth was as joyous as ours...

(not a sidenote, but if you are one of our praying friends...please pray for a scrap friend of mine-- michelle and marshall tornay and their two children--marshall suffered a heart attack yesterday.  please pray that God's divine providence is enough for them and michelle and the kids feel His warmth and love and presence right now.  but most importantly, please pray that it is God's will for michelle and marshall to open their christmas presents together...)

portland, oregon

i spent a relaxin' weekend in portland oregon with my favorite sister (same Father, different mother)...

big guy stayed home with the kiddies so i could have a weekend away (thank you, babe--you rock!)

we spent lots of time exploring portland and then got to hang out with toni (yippeeeee!).

at our fav store---anthro--but can you believe i bought nuthin"....

loved portland but sad my homie, partner in crime, accountability partner is so far away....

mt. hood in the background---can you believe everyday was gorgeous-except the day i left. then the cold front hit.  got out just in time...

the bakery rocked---the cookies were delish and the pecan cinnamon swirl roll added three inches to my hips just looking at them...

scenes around portland's alphabet district (which was way cool)..

we ate at this great little cafe that had yum yum desert--just go ahead and add another 3 inches to the hips...

the BEST part of alphabet district was discovering these letters.... yup, going straight to the scrap room.  i tried to figure out what word i wanted and bren said "i am" (not the i am every woman but the I AM as in God telling Moses to tell the Isrealites that I AM sent him----LOVED it...or louie giglio saying i am not but i know I AM) thanks, bren!!!!

  

then we hung out in the "grunge" district and went antiquing.  i found a cooooool christmas present for oma (shhhhhhhhh..can't show it...it's a surprise).

loved these old cameras...what did we do before digital and photoshop (and starbucks and cell phones and the internet and FACEBOOK.....)

fun times with fun friends and then i was time to go home to the kiddies and hubby!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRINCESS KENNEDY

she turned 5 on friday.  we had a girls day out---the jungle and pottery painting--complete with tiaras and jewelry---what every princess needs.

other random photos...

love the mustaches....

colby chillin' in the backyard...

we are back into the swing of cali life.  got to get the christmas decorations out of storage tomorrow... i'm heading to portland, oregon for the weekend to see b.lynch and t.gragg (can't wait to see portland's funky places).  we are beginning to miss samson though--thinking about a trip to grand canyon after the new year....