Favorite things revisited..........

Last year about this time I was doing a series of photos documenting the things in my life that bring me joy. The series changed my life and the way that I look at everyday things. I miss it. Every time I come across something that I really appreciate I think how perfect it would be for the blog and how I wish that I was still doing the posts and documenting my appreciation, no matter how slight it is.

So here I am...starting over and again with new appreciation, maybe a few repeats (of things that really warm me, I can't resist). I'll be doing at least one post a week that will include a few things that I'm grateful for. I really can't wait.
Good for the soul.

Also, some exciting news.....I'm about half way done with the design of my new website and blog! I can't believe how much time it takes to do this, especially with all the other regular life stuff that's going on, but it's going to be worth it. It is definitely a step up from what I have now. I can't wait to share it with everyone.

With the unveiling of the new sites I'll be running some Spring photography specials, so make sure that you check back for those too!


Since I can't have a blog post without pictures...........here are a few from last summer, last month, and yesterday!
:) Enjoy!

I was searching through my archives for some summer color (C'mon Spring!) and found this one that melted my heart. He just turned 10 this past Thursday. Double digits. I can't express how that makes me feel. He's growing into such a great little person. He's so compassionate and caring. He's starting to notice girls and is not ashamed of it at all. He makes me proud and want to pull my hair out, all in the same hour.


Here's my not-so-little boy and a song to make you think about how fast it all changes:





Cats in a Cradle by Harry Chapin


A child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

Whew!
On a lighter note.......


We had a mini Valentine's Day shoot in my living room. Here are some of the results:









LOL...........not the most flattering pic of H, is it? She lost her first tooth yesterday. We HAD to do something because if you look closely, you can see her adult teeth were growing in behind them. I panicked at first but after some research and an emergency consultation via Skype with our family dentist, who is in Thailand (!!!!!!), I found that this is very common and the best thing we can do is to wiggle, wiggle, wiggle and get them out naturally and the adult teeth will shift, hopefully into perfect position and we won't need any orthodontist intervention during her teen years........yah, RIGHT.
One can dream, can't they?!
:)
She is so proud! She didn't believe that I had actually pulled it out (actually argued with me about it!).
Finally she realized that I DID, in fact, have the tooth and her exact words were:

"MOM! MOM! That didn't hurt at all! As a matter of fact, I feel GREAT!!!!"

Goofball!
:)

Thanks for peeking in today. Come back soon!
:)


ETA: Lyrics

Oh Baby!

This little guy is very dear to my heart! He was born to my best friend from way back and is one of THE MOST LOVED little boys in all of the world!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful little miracle with me, S!
His life will be very well documented if I have anything to do with it!
:)

Happy Holidays!

It's been an embarrassingly long time since my last post but I'm going to attempt to seamlessly ease back in as if I never went anywhere. Should work, especially now that I've pointed out what my intentions are.
:)
I'm coming back with a vengeance, some pictures, and a smile!
Here we go!

First we have my fantastic sis-in-law and her equally fantastic fiance. My first engagement session. They were great and went along with all of my wacky suggestions, as I knew they would because they're awesome that way.

Laura and Ned:






Some friendly kiddos :).








My own with one of our sweet new kitties.......Bella:



I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was wonderful and QUIET.
The quietest that we've had in years, actually. There's snow on the ground, the kids are out of school for another whole week and I'm happy about it.........very happy.
My youngest started all-day Kindergarten this year and it's been quite a struggle for me. I miss her terribly and try to spend as much time as I can in her classroom helping out. Her teacher has been wonderful about letting me do that and I really enjoy it. Kindergartners are sweet little people and I always walk out of there with a full heart.

Happy New Year everyone.

Hug harder, laugh louder, smile bigger and love longer in 2009.
See you soon!

Gabby's Home!!!

And has been for a little over a month (I feel bad about not updating, I apologize, life got away from me for a few months).
What a trooper she is. We all knew she was spirited but I have a new found respect for the human spirit.
She still has a long road ahead of her but she's home in her own environment, surrounded by her family and friends, and that's good for everyone.
Thank you to everyone that contributed through the giving of their time, love and prayers. It is such a thing to celebrate.
While she won't be attending kindergarten with my own little one, we look forward to many playdates with her throughout the school year.
We love you Gabby.....welcome home.

Sneak peek for the H family....

The sweetest little family!
Little J was a pleasure to photograph and gave me a couple of quiet sleeping shots but he really would rather have stayed awake the whole time.
Here you go H family!
Thank you for letting me photograph you.
More to come shortly.
:)

I got mail....

Not the kind of mail that you pull from your dripping wet mailbox, ya know, rain-soaked bills and stuff. Not the kind of mail that you get as you sit in your leather office chair with a strong cup of coffee with too much dessert creamer, no not that kind either. Not the kind of mail that distant relatives (that you never even talk to!) send you, claiming that if you don't forward this email to 200 people in the next 2 minutes, that you and all of your relatives will be struck down by the same bolt of lightning.........nope not that kind of mail.
The mail I received today was so powerful that I'm...I'm not sure that I can do it justice to you, internet, but I'll try.

*Disclaimer: For my photography friends....this may make you sick to your stomach......I almost vomited myself.

Brace yourself, you four people that read the blog, I'm starting from the beginning.
*clearing my throat*
It was dreary here today. N and I decided to take a dreary walk to a nearby park to check out the river levels because we are at flood stage right now with all the runoff.
I'll post a pic later. I took my new camera and camera bag......you know, just in case.
We walked down into the park and at the playground in the middle there were four kids around the age of 15. The were swearing, hitting the playground equipment with big sticks...acting naughty, you all know the kind. I'm walking with my brand new camera and lenses and I'm nervous....... I also have my 9 year old with me, don't forget that.
After we pass, my little boy asks me, "Mama, how OLD do you think those kids were?".
I answered, "Probably around 15-16 years old".
"Oh", he said.
I said, "I certainly hope that you don't act that disrespectful when you are 15 years old".
He said he would never do that. We talked about other things that kids that age should be doing, etc.
And we left it alone.
We were down in the park for about and hour and a half, checking out the river getting our feet soaking wet in the tall wet grass, taking pictures every chance that I got.
It was a blast.
We walked home without incident, walked in the back door with my camera around my neck and immediately I felt ill.
My camera bag! Not with me! Gone! Left at the park....left somewhere. Somewhere....WHERE????
Oh no.
I jumped in my car and sped down to the park...........nothing.
I came back and walked back down there and still nothing. I was almost to the place where N and I turned around and I saw the kids. I wasn't going to ask them but what could it hurt?
So I did. They denied seeing the bag and I started to walk away. The cute girl stopped and asked me if it was a huge sling bag and black, at this point I was seeing a light in her eyes. She took me right to it..............perfect condition, untouched. I hugged her for an embarrassingly long time and wished I had money on me to give them.
I cried all the way home and composed this blog entry in my head.

I learned today that there are good people out there, good kids out there.
This girl, that I was leery of.........her parents did something right! She knew the right thing to do!
I was encouraged, having my own problems with an aforementioned 9 year old lately.

How do I learn this?
How do I teach my own children this?
What's the secret?

My mindset has changed and it made me sob.........I mean uncontrollably .......for a long time. I was a mess by the time I hit the house AND I had the camera bag. My family was confused.
I tearfully explained what my message was.
I judged those poor kids today and I was wrong and that hurt me. I was not a nice person and bit me in the butt.
I am CHANGED.
I know that there are a lot of bad people out there but my lesson today was to see the good, not the bad.
The best part of the whole day....WAS NOT FINDING THE BAG.......it was when we (the kids and I), walked back to their 1987 Volvo, one kid said, "There's good energy flowing today". I've heard those words uttered before.....heck, I've even said them, but today? Today they touched me.....in an unspeakable way.
I'll never forget those words.........EVER.
I would trade my thousands of dollars worth of lenses in return for the lesson that I learned. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Peace out.
J.

Update on Gabby...

I've started to update this blog several times and deleted it because it just didn't feel right.

It's been one month yesterday since Gabby was flown to Spokane for treatment.
I can't believe, that while everything else in life has felt as if it was fast-forwarded (as life sometimes does), Gabby's journey and the baby steps that she is taking, seemed to slow to a snail's pace. How can it be that life is fast and slow at the same time?

Gabby is still in Spokane in Pediatric ICU. She had a twisted bowel which damaged part of her intestine and had to be removed. She's had 3 surgeries to try and correct this and get her digestive system to function. They have an incredibly difficult journey ahead of them. Please continue sending prayers and good thoughts to this sweet, sweet girl and the people that love her so much.
My own heart goes out to her mommy and daddy who haven't left her side in Spokane, the great people who are caring for her big brother Alden, here, so he can continue to attend school, and the incredible folks who are giving their time and hearts to creative ways to organize fundraisers and help any way they can. Angels, I tell ya. Angels.

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt


Jill

*Just a note: Please, if you need photos of Gabby for fundraising, don't print from the blog, the resolution is for web viewing and not print. I would be more than honored to contribute by providing you with a high resolution image on disk that you can print from.
Just call me, please:
406-253-1364
Thanks for respecting my art.
J.