Church Concert at the Gazebo!

Our church (www.lincolncf.com) had our annual concert at the gazebo. One of the events we as a family look forward too in the summer months. It was a nice evening of comfortable weather and a time to worship the Lord. How blessed are we to live in a country where we can do this openly without fear of deadly persecution! There were a ton of kids present but they all behaved well and no one played in the street :-) A nice evening and a great way to end the workweek.

I'm off to Fly-Fish with my husband and my brother & sister in law tomorrow- wahoo!!! Hoping to post some great pictures tomorrow night. Last trip of the season.. sniff.. sniff...the salmon dissapear pretty much after August/September. Looking forward to hanging out with my new sister in law tomorrow.... she's a great gal :-)

Bumpa Prints

Most of us have lost someone we love. We lost Bumpa a year ago last month. He was not only my husbands grandfather, but a very, very special man. A truly unique individual with a witty sense of humor. He also had what we in the family call "duck" feet. A square foot with a high arch and flexible ankles that made the foot point "out". The picture shows their "walking pattern". These feet have been passed genetically to my mother in law, my husband, and now to our oldest daughter.
It got me thinking about what we leave behind, or pass on to the younger generation. Bumpa left many things that we now call "Bumpa-isms". We recently were together with some of my husbands cousins and recollected on a lot of them. Good times. I can tell you that my husband has a lot of "Bumpa" in him. That he inherited more than his grandfathers feet. When my children complain about being bored he replies with the classic Bumpa line " Only boring people are bored". I just laugh. Bumpa was also very particular about his toilet paper. he was a 2-ply type of guy; my husband dislikes it when I buy "Scott" toilet paper.. Bumpa was a very intellligent man who stayed in that "learning mode", my husband is the same way. (his current top book is "The Joy of Physics". There are many more Bumpa-isms that I could expound on, but you get the idea.
So what am I leaving behind to my children? The children of Israel did not pass on the "torah" to the next generation and there was mass sin as a result. I don't want that to be me. I don't want to get hung up on their academics or how much they "succeed" in life. I want to be like the apostle John and say " I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" ( 3 John 1:4) It's the best thing I can leave behind to my children. To know and love the God who created them, the Savior who died for them. After all, 3 of them did inherit my feet.

My Husband, My Hero

Things that Warm a Mothers' Heart

This would be one of them. my oldest with my youngest. How precious are they? This is NOT posed in any way. I just saw them playing together in the grass and grabbed my camera.

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it"


I love how they love each other.

vacation 1, day 2.. Grand Finale!

My friends husband had to motor out into the water to find calmer waves. He had a bilage pump on board but keeping it ashore would asure it's sinking. There was another boat from the island across the way that came over to help. my friend and I stayed with hte kiddos and fed them jiffy pop popcorn and my husband took a little hike across the island to find a safer coves to dock the boat in. About 30 minutes later we found oursleves hiking with the kids through the woods to safer waters so we could be rescued. My friends father had come out to see if we were ok and joined in with the rescue. Now the kids were having a blast and had no idea just how much of a pickle we were in! I wish I could have been that nieve :-)































And here are the heroes we married. They went BACK to the island and rescued all of our stuff after we discovered the weather forecast had changed and the winds were not going to let up. My husband said coming back from the island the lake had huge waves. Like 4 feet deep, 4 feet across.. just amazing. We met them at the boat landing and they had all of our stuff in huge garbage bags all bungeed down.. my first thought was the Grinche's sled after he had robbed whoVille of all their stuff. Did we really carry that much out there? And did I mention they were soaked?? My poor husband had to WADE into the water carrying a big bag above his head because our friend couldn't bring the boat any closer to shore due to ginormous waves and possible sinking..... what mighty men we have! And, they NEVER complained about it. I quickly grabbed my husband a dry change of clothes and after, snapped this shot of them all safe and dry by the now infamous boat. I find it ironic that my husbands shirt says "there's no place like home" in computer language. how thue this statement was after this long adventurous day.

How blessed are we to have friends like this. We just took the day as it came and kept our sense of humor. There is no other couple I would've rather shared this experience with. We are surely bonded for life because of it. This day will not be quickly forgotten and our friends will always have a special place in our hearts because of it.
So in honor of our day in Moosehead, I'm dedicating James Taylor's "you've got a friend". this is for you J & S :-) So glad to have shared this with you. And I hope that we bless you as much as you bless us!

Vacation 1, Day 2

Good Morning said my little boy. he didn't want to get out of the tent. after all, it WAS windy and cold outside while the tent was warmer.. and drier! the rain had stopped but the wind had changed direction... which meant the WAVES had changed direction... and gotten much BIGGER! Which was NOT good news for our little bass-fishing boat! I crawled out of the tent to assess damage.. and to have some yummy banana bread and hot coffee...





I call this one : "Oh cwap"












And another fire to keep us warm. I swear my husband can do anything... he's amazing! He got a fire going with soaking wet wood...

Vacation 1, Evening1

My husband and youngest daughter in the boat...
















Here it comes... dark clouds on the horizon
A little camp fire to keep us warm and roast marshmallows :-)
The rain didn't hit us until a little past 9pm. So we all went to bed. Slept decently and didn't get wet!

Vacation... Part 1, Day 1

the first part of the week we spent up at Moosehead lake, specifically Moose Island. We decided to be adventurous and TENTED outside with our 4 kids, along with our great friends and their 2 children plus avisiting nephew. So 4 adults, 7 children 8 years and under. The weather on monday was beautiful! the water was calm and the island we were staying on had campsites, an outhouse and a nice little cove that protected us from the wind. After setting up tents and bedding, we headed back to the main land for some dinner and our friends' familys' camp. After a nice BBQ, we loaded up in the boat and headed back to the island.
*As a side note.. * we had watched the weather forcast for monday night and it looked terrible! Bad thunderstorms were suppose to make their way accross the lake. The map of maine was all red. Nota good sign. All I could think was "I sure hope the tent is waterproof!"










The kids in the boat on our way back to the island....
Here were all are. Poor, unsuspecting people.






And this guy... he has no idea what's ahead of him. But he sure looks happy, doesn't he?

Comments? And Pictures....

Where are all the comments? Has everyone suddenly forgotten the English language? It's been like tumbleweeds blowing in the wind around here! Seriously folks, I need to hear from ya. I'm making it a requirement to post a comment at least once every 2 weeks :-)

Does anyone have any picture requests for me? ( something you'd like me to try and capture) Or maybe a challenge? I love a good challenge...

Also, I have noticed some of my photos from my blog showing up in *other places on the net without my permission. Now I'm flattered that you like them enough to cut and paste them some where else, BUT in the future, could you please ask my permission first? this is a FRIENDLY request. I hope you understand. If you want/need further explanation, email me and I'll be glad to answer your questions!

Now we're off for the week for some family vacationing adventures! Plenty of pictures to follow!

Come Away With Me

Another one of my favorites from the big day.


I am not posting anymore pictures until the Bride and Groom get their portfolio from me.



I've added a Norah Jones song to really capture the mood of this photo. :-)
So sit back and think on the love you have, or the love that is waiting for you.....

Lifeguards- just for Fun!!

Our kids have taken swimming lessons this summer, so we have spent a lot of time at the beach. In doing so, we have become very familiar with the lifeguards. Tomorrow is the last 'staff' day and I have to admit, I am very sad about that! So today I snapped a few pictures to remember the fun summer we had, with the awesome lifeguards we got to spend so much time with.

Watermelon Baby!

First time eating watermelon.


There are no words for her cuteness!

Family B-B-Q!

We are blessed. Simply put. We had a family bbq Sunday since we have relatives visiting from Jersey, we have friends that just moved back from Jersey, and my parents were up as well. We had a wonderful time of food, fellowship and badminton. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Enjoy!

Beautiful Bride

This is her getting ready before the main event. She was absolutely, hands down, stunning. I was so blessed to be there and to share it with her.

A Bride and her Best Friend

Good Times, Good Times

I not only married a fantastic man, but I am super blessed because he has a rockin' awesome family! His brother married a wonderful woman yesterday, so we had family from all over the country come to our Maine for the big Wedding event. Most of our time has been with his cousins, the "Jerseyites". We haven't seen them for 7 years! They were just young teens then, now they are 26 and 22, respectively. We have laughed so hard these past few days my sides have hurt. They have fantstic energy and a sense of humor about them. We wish they didn't have to leave tomorrow but, alas, all good things do eventually come to an end. Hopefully our next visit won't be 7 years from now. Jersey has never felt so far away as it does now......

Congratulations J & K!

Phew! What a day! My brother in law just got married today :-) They had a beautiful wedding and a fantastic reception. Congratulations to both of you guys! Enjoy your honeymoon.....



This is my ABSOLUTE favorite shot of the day. no explanation necessary........










More wedding pictures to follow when I catch my breathe!

Lifeguard

And she's my son's swim instructor for the summer.



She loves "Rock Star" energy drink and she has, I quote, "Rockin' eyelashes".