looking back...

i was going through some things last night and found these photos of me as a little girl. they warmed my heart with thoughts of childhood, innocence, memories, and life. i wanted to share them. :)
they're not the greatest quality, but they are special to me.

my mom used to have this one in a frame by her bed.

mom says that i knew i'd marry chris all along: tall, dark, and handsome! :D

this was my pose! i love that little curl on the side of my head... :)

in other news: my mom is coming for a visit this weekend!!! i am so excited. she will be here tomorrow night and stay through sunday. i have been missing her so much lately. i think it comes with being sick, and worried about life. she is such a comfort to me. i can't wait!
hopefully we'll take some pictures that i can share!

things to be happy about today....

last night i got 13 packages of Happy Mail ready to be sent for today. it makes me feel so good to give and make someone else's day. i've received so many packages, and now its mine turn to give back. :)

this was the face of my baby sleeping this morning.... god i love this face.

i have tons of good music to listen to. seriously: who needs this many cd's ? lol.

today i tried a new sandwich for lunch: turkey, cream cheese, and BBQ sauce. sounds weird i know, but it was seriously SO GOOD! that, my diet coke, and my fritos made me smile today.


i spent some time today looking through my old scrapbooks. it was interesting to see ways that my style has grown, changed, and evolved, and ways that its stayed exactly the same. i like that. :)

i found my favorite coffee cup this morning... i thought it was lost. it was just hiding: in the cupboard. imagine that! lol. so i used it for my orange juice. its one from starbucks with pictures from our wedding in it. it makes me smile. happy memories.

its been about 10 days of no sun. which has been really hard on chris and i. its been very depressing for both of us. its amazing how much that can truly effect a person. hense the need for my "happy list" today.
now i'm praying for a hint of sunshine....but i hear its supposed to snow. :(

so sick i can't think....
which is never a good thing when working with money.

chris and i are SO SICK. been feeling sickish since the assembly, but its really hit us last night and this morning. but he gets to stay home in bed... :( i have to work. thank goodness its a slow day, cuz i don't think i could handle much more than that. its to the point where my head feels like its in a balloon. every breath echos and i'm constantly wiping my nose.
pouty face. :(

i got a text from my brother micah this morning. he lives in grande prairie alberta and THEY HAVE SNOW! sucks to be him. (or vaccuums as we used to say :P ) i do miss him though... glad he said hello.

my class is going well. i'm working on root words, suffixes, and prefixes of medical terms. i have a bunch of flashcards that came with the coursework. chris helps me by quizing me with them. we have a lot of fun coming up with ways for me to remember what they mean. :) i'm enjoying it a lot. kinda having a hard time concentrating on it today though with the head space i'm currently in. that's one good thing about it being a "work at your own pace" course.

i've signed up for a couple more cool ATC swaps over at SIS. one is a "post secret" swap. a cool fun concept for a swap. the other is the general SIS swap focusing on thankfulness. i'm excited to get started on them. :) if you read my blog and haven't stopped over at SIS (Scrap In Style) you really need to. its a wonderful, supportive group of women who love to take pictures, scrapbook, and create. there are message boards, a place to post your layouts and things you create, awesome classes, group activites, and webisodes full of scrapbooking how-to's. come on over! :D

well, i think that's all from me today...
sorry i don't have any pictures or pages to share. i'm kinda sad about that. i wish my camera was better; then i'd do more for sure!

in need of some inspiration....

these artists move me,
they stir my soul,
they make me want to create & take pictures,
they make me feel alive,
and in wonder of the world we live in.

i am grateful to the art of real life,
and so glad that i can be an observer.

1. Watch the Time, 2. Mmmmm. Sighpants., 3. Pink Gerber, 4. feet in the mirror, 5. Paisley (low resolution), 6. a long way from home., 7. He loves me! He really really loves me!, 8. Lucy, 9. A heart, for a ♥, for a heart, 10. our.dreams, 11. possibility, 12. Road to recovery..., 13. just a touch. (110/365), 14. What would we do with out coffee?, 15. Untitled, 16. ...pale dress...

the circuit assembly and a crazy kitten

that about sums up our weekend!!

chris and i already had been to sunday of the circuit assembly in omak at the beginning of last month, but we were still so eager for our own. i took tons of notes! the theme for the assembly was from Rom 12:21 "Keep conquering the Evil with the Good." it was full of thought-provoking parts, encouraging experiences, new perspectives on things that we know, and for our little family, direction towards some new goals.
here are some of my favorite points:

• we can be "fortified" against evil with 4 provisions (like the 4 walls of a "fort") from God. 1) his word the Bible 2) holy spirit 3) the congregation with its "gifts in men" 4) prayer
• nothing we face in inapropriate for prayer...when we don't know what to do, really we do know: we pray.
• we can recieve power to conquer evil today through genuine godly devotion.
• the goals that we set need to be smart: S= specific, M= measurable, A= attainable, R= realistic, and T= time-bound.
  
• true permanent relief from evil is promised. Matt 19:28 in speaking of the paradise calls it a 're-creation.' things included in this re-creation: 1) a global cleansing 2) any extinct species can be created again 3) every human resting in God's memory will be resurrected.
• all Jehovah asks of us is our best...he knows that our best is not the same as anyone else's and that it might now even be the same as it was before because life changes.
  
• we can strengthen our faith by improving the quality of our personal Bible reading. it needs to be reverent, unhurried, and worshipful reading.
  

the district overseer was and incredible speaker. i could listen to him for hours. his closing prayer touched my heart....
it was a beautiful assembly.

now on to the kitten!.....
we were able to stay at derek and nina's apartment in kennewick for the weekend. they were out of town, so we had the place to ourselves...and their kitten. oh my word!! CRAZY CAT!! he is so spoiled and not trained very well. needs a lot of attention. i'm not really a big cat person, and apperently he realized it because he felt the need to attack me whenever i walked by him. we went to bed and just closed the door to let him have free range of the rest of the apartment. but NO....he wouldn't have that. he sat outside the door and literally wailed for 2 hours straight. so then chris gave up, got up, and opened the door. then all he did was attack our feet, crawl all over us, play in my hair, stand on our faces, drink water from my cup on the nightstand, claw at our fingers, and make noise. we got NO SLEEP!! needless to say it was a rough night. i'm cured...i don't want a kitten! :P

so how was your weekend??

tonight we start a new book in our American Sign Language bookstudy. i'm so excited. we're doing the new learn from the great teacher book. we just finally got our DVD copies of it this weekend so we can have our study. we were worried! i'm so excited. and proud of my hubs for the job he does taking care of our little group. :)