monday miscellany

foremost on my mind today, as i'm sure it is the majority of americans, is the 5 year anniversary of 9/11. i don't have any words of wisdom or comforting, reassuring thoughts to share, but i would be remiss to not mention that it's on my mind today.

in spite of the somber mood revolving around the date, i'm resolving to start this week out better than the last. last week was hard on me for a handful of reasons and my emotions were in a big tangle. after some heart-convicting prayer yesterday and a deep discussion with my husband, i came to realize that i just don't rely on God the way i should. i don't 'believe on' Him for the things i want or need. i'm pretty self-sufficient. to a non-believer, self-sufficiency is a good thing. to a believer, self-sufficiency destroys faith. so this week, i'm working on bringing my focus back to the Lord. i know that my change of focus will make this week better than the last. yay for hope!

saturday, matt & i went to visit his mom and spent most of the day with her. it's so nice to just hang out on a casual basis with no plans, no party, no other visitors. we talked alot, we helped her clean out her shed (ok, he did most of the work!), we ate, we prayed for eachother and for our family. i love being close to her. she really is a wonderful woman, and has faced a lot of challenges in her life. i love her very much.

i left them for a short time (which is why i got out of the worst of the work!) ;) to do a photo shoot for my sister-in-law. the kids weren't very interested, but we did okay with what we had. the weather was beautiful - full sun - which sucks for photography, but at least we got some good color. a few of my favorites:

somewhere along the way (by his grama, i'm sure), david was taught to freeze and say "cheese!" any time a camera pointed in his general direction. that made it rough for my style of photography, so i had to get him to say other words... "pickles" and "macaroni", etc. that disintigrated into david listing words that he thought were funny. i love watching that kid crack himself up. check out that last one of him. he looks so grown up. :(

kassidy is on the move. definitely a toddler, and she's quick! she had a toy cell phone with her that she wasn't interested in putting down... until she gave it up when she found a dead, withered leaf... (whatever floats your boat, kid!) her big blue eyes are absolutely killer.

that's enough for today... more tomorrow. :)