i'm making progress in my decorating project at home - saturday, i hung about half of my picture frames (complete with pictures & clean glass plates!) it looks pretty cool. maybe even cooler than i expected. i'll post some before & after when we're finished. still have to figure out what to do about curtains and the furniture. also have to paint some wall patching, find an affordable under-bed storage solution, and fix the close doors. but it's coming along.

sunday was an event day in kids church - this time, "creekside camp-in". we built a fake campfire, sat around it during large-group time, sang songs around it, and even had s'mores, thanks to a borrowed microwave and some teens that i roped into making them for us. the whole day was a huge hit. we offered special incentive prizes to kids who brought friends, and had a record number: 28 (we average 18). i pulled out the camera when i wasn't teaching to get a few for the ol' scrapbook. nothing award winning, but i'm glad i have pictures of the "fire" because it's nearly impossible to describe:

{content little guy anticipating his s'more}

the "fire" was made by turning a circular fan (which rotates horizontally) on a horizontal plane. we cut a sheet to fit around the face, to hide the sides. then we cut strips about 1" wide and 12" long from yellow and red cellophane and taped them to the grate of the fan. (one of our leaders is an architecture student with very strong engineering tendencies. i said "i want a fake fire." and this was his scheme.) and the "rocks" you see around the fire "pit"? potatoes that i spray painted grey. brilliant, and the kids got a kick out of it.

the whole morning was chaos, but it was structured chaos. i was definitely exhausted by the time we were done and packed up. and my day wasn't over - i was asked to photograph Choir of the Sound's annual classical concert that afternoon. i'm finding myself really enjoying stage photography, and looking for other ways to pursue it. maybe i'll post those tomorrow. not quite as interesting as their christmas show though. no costumes, no dancing. just alot of black and white and standing still. :) (but at least they don't cause focus issues when they're standing still!)