Five Fabulous Years

"This is my beloved and this is my friend..."
Song of Solomon 5:16

Five years ago today, I married this man:

It was a smart decision on my part.

He buys me chocolate! We don't do gifts, but this is one gift I'll gladly accept! {grin}

But truly, I love him for much more than the chocolate.

He loves me unconditionally. He has a servant heart. He rescues me from spiders and other creepy insects. He does yard work. He prays for me. He prays with me. He opened his heart to love my child (Kathryn) as his own when we got married. He opened his heart to make a stranger's child his own (Lindsey) when we adopted. He is quite handy at fixing things around the house. He is my own personal in-house Information Technology guy. He's fun to dance with. He makes me laugh, and he laughs at me. He makes life more fun, and his kisses can still make me weak in the knees.

I'm looking forward to many more years of doing life with my lover and friend.

Father-Daughter Valentine's Dance

Every year, our church has a Father-Daughter Valentine's Dance. Last year Ken went as the photographer; we didn't even know Lindsey yet, and Kathryn wasn't old enough to go to the big girls' dance. But this year, Ken was blessed to be able to take both daughters! Lindsey borrowed a dress from a friend (also named Lindsey!), and it fit her perfectly. Kathryn didn't have anything suitable, so we found an adorable dress on sale; it met her Valentine-ish requirements, and will work well as a church dress, even in the spring. Both girls decided that they wanted to surprise Ken with their dresses until the night of the dance. How cute is that!?

In the afternoon, we turned Rose Cottage into a salon. {grin}
First, I painted the girls' nails to coordinate with their dresses. Then it was time for hair: Lindsey requested an updo, so I had to pull from my memory banks for back in the days when I used to do my (both now grown) nieces' hair for prom. Kathryn was my assistant.Lindsey let me do her make-up, too, and I offered to let her borrow some earrings that perfectly matched the "bling" on the dress.
When Lindsey's 'do was done, it was Kathryn's turn.
She wanted a retro hairstyle to go with her retro dress. I think I have created a retro monster! Aren't my girls positively g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s???
(I let Kathryn wear red lipstick just for a photo, because it was very retro, but had her blot it off before leaving the house.) Doesn't Ken look like a proud papa?
He is a wonderful blessing to me, and to our girls as well.I know this night will be a special memory for the girls, but also for me, and for Ken. I enjoyed quality time with the girls as I helped them get ready, and Ken was able to escort these beautiful young ladies to a dance. He is showing them by example how a gentleman ought to treat a lady. We want our girls to have very high expectations for the kind of young man who will someday be trusted with their hearts. For Lindsey's 15th birthday, Ken took her on a "Daddy Date" and presented her with a purity ring, and discussed what that means: that she is promising God to keep her heart and body pure, and Ken, as her father, is promising to protect her and to help her keep her promise to God.

I treasure times like this. I am so very blessed, and so very thankful.

Frankly, My Dear...

One day, in browsing for some fun old photos to re-create, I came upon the Gone With The Wind movie poster. I joked that we should do that one, since we wanted to do one with both of us in it. It sounded fun, we're both Southern (yes, you have to capitalize that!), and madly in love (though not so stormily as Rhett and Scarlett), so...

We did this the same afternoon as the Fred Astaire. This one was harder since we were both in it. It required several lights, and we used orange gels on two off-camera flashes aimed at the background to achieve the orange glow. One of those shot through a couple of water bottles to make a little ripply. We set up an umbrella light shining straight down on Ken's shoulder, and the main light was set up to the right of the camera. Once we had everything set up, Lindsey clicked the shutter for us.

The outfits: Ken's was easy since it was just a white shirt. I drew on his mustache with an eyeliner. Lindsey and Brandon cracked up laughing every time they looked at him, and somebody started singing a Jimmy Buffet song about a pencil-thin mustache. I used to have a red velvet dress that would've been perfect, made by my mom for a senior high dance. But I have no idea whatever happened to it. So I got out the pale pink dress I wore in our wedding. I wanted more lace at the top, so I put on a short slip upside down. I opted not to show cleavage, though Scarlett showed quite a bit in the original.

The only thing I did to edit was add a tiny bit of grain, and then overlay the original poster and erase everything except the buildings at the bottom. I had to stretch a few to make them in the right spots. I also darkened my dress a bit. And, of course, added some text.

The hardest part was getting the posing just right. I am relatively light, but the way Rhett is leaning over makes it very awkward to support any weight, so Ken couldn't hold me for long. And then there's the looking-serious thing. We don't do well at that. (It's the same reason we can't tango worth a darn.) I kept giggling at Ken's serious Rhett face. Or he'd say "Frankly, my dear..." and I'd bust out laughing. Lindsey snickering the whole time wasn't helping us stay serious either. But finally we decided this was close enough to the original poster. We used it to make a new About Us page on our website, to reflect what great big goofballs we are, and hopefully, to show our creative fun side. I'd love to know what you think!

Ken as Fred Astaire

We love re-creating old photos. It's one of our favorite things to do when we have free time. Ken has never played model, so I wanted him to be in front of the camera for a change. I love old Hollywood, especially old movies with lots of dancing. My dream date is going to one of those fabulous 1940's dinner-and-dancing places, minus all the cigarette smoke. Ken is quite the hoofer (a good dancer), so this photo of Fred Astaire was my inspiration:

Ken is also usually the lighting guru, but this time I wanted to do all the lighting stuff as well. I want to show you my set-up because good photos don't require amazing backdrops or fantastic locations. This is in the living room with Lacy the WonderDog checking things out. I had one main light with an umbrella, controlled manually by my camera. A secondary slave flash was on the other side, just sitting on top of the craft cabinet.  I didn't pull out the big backdrop; instead, I just used our reflector since it would be a tight shot.

We didn't have to use quite as many odd things to make up Ken's outfit here as it seems like I usually end up using. He borrowed Brandon's shirt, cuff links, and bow tie. It would've been better to have white like the original, but we didn't feel like going to buy one just for this shot, especially since we had a black one already in the house. The "cane" is another light stand, adjusted to the proper height. But let me tell you a cool story about the top hat: I put on facebook one day that I needed a top hat for a photo, and one of our bride's moms  (who has known me since before I was born!) said she had a top hat that her grandfather wore in his wedding in 1912; she shipped it to me from Florida the next day. How awesome is that??? So here's our results...

So what d'ya think? {grin}

Why I'm such a slacker lately...

Wow. It's Thursday, and I haven't blogged this week. I've hardly blogged at all lately! Why?

I'm having a little trouble figuring out when to blog these days. I used to type up my blog posts in the evening, after Kathryn was in bed. But that was before Lindsey joined the family. Now we're all making an effort not to be on the computer after supper-time, so we can keep that as (mostly) technology-free family time. So with blogging, as with many other things, I've got to re-adjust how I do it.

Another excuse: I've had very little energy; post-crud asthma is not fun.

And we've been busier than usual. A little of what we've been up to:
We had the opportunity to be judges for the photography division of an elementary school PTA-sponsored art contest. FUN! We finished up our scoring early this week.

We've been blessed with a few portrait sessions recently, we've had a few meetings with 2010 brides, and we've had a lot of photo editing, as well as updating our website and business blog. (All without being on the computer in the evenings = tough!) We're very thankful for every bit of business we have!

Two Saturdays ago, I had a continuing education class for Stephen Ministry, and after dropping me off, Ken drove Lindsey out (about an hour and a half away) to her little brother's house to celebrate his 9th birthday. That afternoon I spent a little while shopping with my mom, while Ken put new shocks and brake pads on the Durango, and then went to pick Lindsey back up. Yes, my day was more fun than Ken's, but he's such a good husband and father! Ken really is my super-man!
Lindsey with her little brother.
On Wednesday of this week, Lindsey was super-excited to be the first one to drop a pumpkin from a cherry picker thirty feet in the air for some goofy youth-group thing. (Her youth minister and I had a funny twitter conversation about this whole thing.) Ken and Kathryn went to watch, and of course, Ken took photos. {grin} You can see how excited Lindsey was, and Ken's posted the results of the pumpkin drop on his blog.

Preparing for the pumpkin drop!
I volunteered to host a ladies get-together for our Sunday school class, but I had to cancel because I've felt so yucky. (Sorry ladies -- I'll do it soon!!!)

Then, of course, there's all the usual things like school and housework and such. I have been very much a slacker in the exercise department, too. I hope to change that as soon as I can breathe properly again!

OH! I almost forgot to mention this big news: we have a court date in December for Lindsey's adoption! We're all thrilled that we'll have that done and official before Christmas, before the end of the year, and before Lindsey's birthday! AND we updated our family photo (see my sidebar).

So, that's why I'm such a slacker. Hang in there with me, though. I have no shortage of things to blog about, just lacking the time and energy to do much of it. Even if no one read my blog, I'd still keep blogging because it's such a great way to keep up with what we do, when we do it, how I feel about it, and so on. I can't even count how many times I've referred to my blog to find out when we did something! It's like scrapbooking, only more interactive, and more detailed. I ♥ blogging!

My Husband Rocks!

Ken makes me laugh. One night this week he decided to make a bobsled run down the stairs in a cardboard box; the box fell apart on the way down, and Kathryn and I laughed so hard we nearly fell down the stairs ourselves! (No one was harmed in the making of that laughter, by the way.)

Ken has a multitude of wonderful qualities, but I think it all boils down to the fact that he has a generous helping of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) That cardboard bobsled run? A prime example of joy.

The biggest and best of them all is love. Ken has allowed God's love to just flow right through him, and has already given Anne (the 14-year-old we will soon adopt) a place in his heart. Knowing that not everyone will understand why we've chosen to do this, Ken said last week after we'd met her that he already thinks of her as our daughter. That's the kind of big-hearted man my husband is. I think that encompasses goodness and kindness and faithfulness as well.

That, dear friends, is why my husband rocks!

Our New Back Porch!

My husband rocks. . . and so does my dad!

I love our house. I'm gradually trying to transform it into a cottage reminiscent of the English countryside--as much as that's possible in a suburban neighborhood in metro Atlanta! But besides all the fun of decorating (and the joy of the tax write-off), owning a twenty-something year old home also comes with it's share of challenges, and plenty of things that need fixing. Last year we had a severe drought so there wasn't much rain to deal with, but this past winter and on into spring, we've been blessed with much more rain. Great for the plants and trees, and the nearly-empty lakes, but not so great for our leaky back door.

Somewhere along the way, some of the previous owners of our home were under the [false!] impression that they were handy; there are quite a few things that cause us to scratch our heads trying to figuring out why they did all the "handy" things they did. One of those is choosing to use three french doors as a back door. Only the one in the middle opens, and the outer two are sort of installed as tall windows, but none of it was really done properly, so it leaks. A lot. So much so that our carpet splashes if you jump near the back door. Yes, splashes. I have visions of much mold and disgusting things growing there. {shudder} Anyway, it was a priority to fix this, but we after pricing out everything, it turned out that building a back porch--which we wanted eventually anyway--would be a much less expensive option than replacing the whole french door/window deal.

This week, that's what we did. And when I say "we," I mean my Dad and Ken. My Dad got us a fabulous deal on these douglas fir beams from a friend of his. They are from a 49 year old church that was torn down. I love that our brand new porch has a little history already!
Saturday, Ken bought most of the other lumber we'd need.
Dad ventured down from the home--and bears--in the mountains for a few days, and stayed down here to work on our porch. He started Monday morning, and mostly worked on it by himself that day. Except for his little helper, that is. She swept the patio, and helped Granpa measure; I loved that she saw how much math is involved in real life as Dad calculated how to make the corners square, where to cut the pieces of wood, and so on!
Ken was able to work with Dad almost the whole day on Tuesday, which was wonderful because I have no idea how Dad would've lifted those ceiling beams in place without Ken.
Wednesday Dad started on his own, but Ken came home after lunch to help the rest of the day, and they got the porch roof all done except for the actual shingles; they'll do those next weekend, but it should be waterproof now. We still need to sand the beams, and paint the whole shebang, but once the shingles are on, I'll consider it done enough for now. Eventually, we'll screen it in. And we will have to replace that door unit later, but this will stop the water problem and keep us from having soggy carpet and a rotting door. Hurray!

Sealed With A Kiss

As part of the S.W.A.K. carnival, a whole bunch of gals are sharing their love stories, and although there are some great prizes involved, mostly I just think it's a great way to remember why we fell in love with our husbands in the first place. I love hearing other peoples' love stories.

Back in my wandering days, I frequented a western dance club called Cowboys, and ended up on a line dancing team. We didn't compete, but did shows at various places and performed on "Club Dance", which was sort of just a televised dance club. One of the dancers on the team was a guy named Eric. I danced with him, got to know him a little, but never dated him. About that time, my childhood friend Lisa became single again. As she planned her move back into the state, I became determined to provide her with an instant new life: I arranged a part time job for her til she found something better, told her she could move into my house as a roommate, and proceeded to drag her out to all my social hot spots. (Lisa, by the way, would have been perfectly capable of all that on her own, but I've always been a "fixer.") Soon, she and Eric met, and when she wasn't sure how to respond when he asked her out, I urged her on with this single-girl wisdom: "Go on at least one date, because it's a free meal and we're broke!" She agreed to the date, he cooked her dinner, and they were an item from then on. That was back in 1994.

Lisa and Eric often hosted cook-outs, holiday parties, and such, so over the years I got to know many of their other friends. Several of those were guys that Eric had been friends with since high school, and among those was a guy named Ken. Ten or eleven years ago, several of the Cowboy's gang auditioned as dancers for a NBA commercial, and some of us were chosen among the hoard of swing dancers who would appear for about one-tenth of a second in the commercial with a great swing band called Big Bad Voodoo Daddies. Ken and I were both married back then, but not to each other, and not to our dance partners, either; I danced with a guy named Kenny (not to be confused with Ken), and Ken danced with a girl named Sonya. Other than doing that commercial, I can vaguely remember a few conversations with Ken at various cook-outs, and we were both in Lisa & Eric's wedding in 1998.Fast-forward several years, and Ken and I were both going through divorce. We commiserated, as people seem to love to do (just get a few moms in a room and ask about birthing stories, and you'll see what I mean!), and through that, we became friends. Ken walked through a very dark time with me, and helped me in a million big and small ways. At some point we realized we were more than friends, though neither of us can pinpoint when exactly that was. During that time, and even more since then, Ken has encouraged me so much, and we have both grown in our relationship with the Lord. We learned a lot of very difficult lessons through our failed marriages, as I've written about before, and will do more in the future.

Ken proposed on bended knee in a little gazebo in a small town park near here. Because I was wary of getting married again, Ken asked my mom, Lisa, and a couple of other select friends to write a letter of recommendation for him -- something we had joked about before -- and he had those in a file in the car, so when I hesitated after he popped the question, he told me about them and we both laughed. Then I said yes, and we both cried.

Several months later, we were married in that same little gazebo, with just a few of our closest friends and family, including Lisa and Eric. We danced a little right there in the gazebo, and then had a mini reception nearby at my favorite tea room.

I am so blessed to have this super man by my side in marriage, and in life.

Tomorrow is Valentine's day. No matter what your love story looks like, I hope you'll take a few moments to re-live the best parts, thank the Lord for your spouse, and go seal that love with a kiss!


A funny side-story: at Ken's step-brother's wedding, we learned that in the Vietnamese culture, whoever introduced the bride and groom get a special gift: the head of the wedding pig (given by the groom's family to the bride's family on the wedding day). We figured that meant Eric and Lisa were way overdue in giving me a pig's head, but Ken and I would owe them a pig's head, too, so we're happy that it's all worked out evenly now and no porcine parts need be exchanged at this point.

My Husband Rocks

When it comes to decorating, I'm never "done." I like to change things every now and then. So it was time to repaint the kitchen. I liked it before, but I liked the idea in my head even better. It's been four years since we moved in here and I painted it butter yellow. Remember, I come from a family of nomads, and I myself have moved 14 times. Seven of those moves have been in Kathryn's lifetime, and she's only eight!. We intend to stay here a long time, so changing a little paint is no big deal.

My dear husband puts up with all my rearranging and redecorating, and he's a good sport about it. Even more than that, he helps! He's always willing to move one more piece of furniture -- though if I ask him to move one more thing up or down the stairs, he's going to insist we install an elevator. {grin} This week he helped me repaint the kitchen, moved the refrigerator so I could get behind it, cut lengths of beadboard wallpaper for me ( I love this stuff!), and hung a new shelf on the wall. My husband ROCKS!!! And thanks to him, now my kitchen rocks, too!

This is a photo in process (with the fridge pulled out and painting tape still up). But you can see the new color. This one's of the breakfast area, after I got things put back together. See the beadboard under the chair rail? I'll take better photos later, but this gives you an idea of my new and improved kitchen. I've really been enjoying having Ken home on a two-week holiday from work -- and no, not just because he's helped with projects. This kitchen redecorating only took two days, and most of the past two weeks we've been relaxing and just hanging out together. I love my SuperMan!

My Husband Rocks - Caricature

Last night we attended Ken's company Christmas party. The entertainment for the evening, besides conversation and yummy eats, was a caricature artist. I haven't had mine done since I was a kid at Six Flags, and Ken had never had one done! I think it came out cute, and I even told her to add a camera in Ken's hand. {grin} I was wearing a silver snowflake pin on my sweater, and her rendition of that, along with the rather pointyish shoulders she gave me, make me look like I'm wearing a Star Trek uniform. "Enterprise! Come in, Enterprise!" Hee hee!
Ken and I both loved Star Trek:The Next Generation (but not the original series, except to make fun of!), and for you non-Trekkies, I'll explain just a bit. Captain Picard, played by a fabulous stage actor with a beautifully deep Shakespearean voice and accent, had a First Officer named Commander Will Riker. They had a great working relationship and mutual respect. Captain Picard was a great leader, and Riker never questioned the Captain's authority. Because of this, the Captain often consulted Riker for advice. On the rare occasions when the Captain was unable to lead (due to illness or the Borg!), Riker stepped up and took care of things, and when Picard was once again able to lead, Riker willingly turned the authority back over to him. Captain Picard often called Riker by a sort of respectful nickname: "Number One." And his phrase when issuing a command was, "Make it so." Imagine it with that lovely Shakespearean accent I mentioned. (We bounce that phrase around here, too.)

Anyhow, all that background information is to explain why Ken sometimes calls me "Number One." (Except it's in a Southern drawl, instead of the Shakespearean one.) I don't remember exactly how that came about, but in a goofy, Trekkie way, it is an example of what true submission should look like. I used to balk at the idea of submitting to anyone, until I learned that it didn't mean being bossed around and never having any say in anything. One of the biggest reasons my husband rocks is that he is a wonderful leader in the true sense of the word: he is considerate; I know he is looking out for my well-being; he is not bossy; he values my opinions; he treats me with respect; and he sets a great example of being servant-hearted. (Refer to Ephesians 5 for more on that.)

Make it so!

Be sure to visit my husband rocks today!

Super Powers

I live in a family of superheros.
As evidence, I present this photo of SuperMan and WonderDog:


Now, in reality, Lacy the WonderDog actually jumps much higher than this, even from a standing still position. But the really impressive part here is that she has learned to jump at the exact same time as Ken; I can tell by her ear position that she is still heading upwards in this photo. It is dadgum tricky to capture superpowers on film, let me tell you, so this is the best shot I got that day.

I hope you're enjoying your week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A little "turkey day" fun, courtesy of Ken, known around these parts as "the best pancake maker in the whole world" (according to Kathryn)...On this Thanksgiving day, may you recall more blessings than you can count, and may you enjoy more happy moments to add to your precious treasury of memories. And please remember to pray for those who have lost loved ones this year, as they face the holidays for the first time without those special people alongside them.

My Husband Rocks ~ Silly

Aren't we cute? We took this photo one day last weekend, just being silly. It's one of those turn-the-camera-around-and-see-if-you-can-aim-it-in-the-right-direction photos. I just love that we have fun no matter what we're doing. I love that we can be so goofy together. I love that we have so many of the same interests, because we make an effort to learn about the things that the other is interested in, and often end up liking it ourselves! I love that we are able to work together in our photography business, too!

My husband rocks. Just putting up with me and my quirkiness (like using cheesy old-fashioned slang, spazing out when things aren't organized, and pestering him to build me those bookshelves!) is enough to win him some sort of medal. He's the bee's knees! (I warned you about those cheesy words, didn't I?)

Join in at my husband rocks here.

Tea Reflections

I have an awesome and amazing husband. I love that he looks at things differently than the average person. Part of that is due to his artistic side, but part of it is just because he tries to take time to appreciate the world God made. This shot of my cup of tea is a perfect example. I was sitting at my desk yesterday with a full cup of tea within easy reach (the full part is an infrequent occurence!) and Ken noticed the reflection of the tree outside the window as he was standing here talking to me. And that's how this wonderful photo came to be:For more creative examples of my talented hubby's self-imposed "photograph-a-day" challenge, visit his blog: Ken's Place. You won't be disappointed!

My Husband Rocks - Priorities

It's time for another episode of my husband rocks!

One of the many things I love about Ken is that he's affectionate just because, and not only as a prelude to something more. Even though I'm somewhat delirious in the mornings (he gets up BEFORE 5AM, people!!!), he always gives me a good-morning kiss, and we always have a glad-to-see-you hug and kiss when he comes home from work. True, sometimes it's more enthusiastic than others--but that partly depends on whether we have an audience. {grin} We hold hands often. If I'm busy doing something and he walks by, he'll give me a little squeeze or kiss the top of my head if I'm sitting and reading. I really appreciate these little gestures of affection.

(Kathryn took this photo last weekend. She's our budding photographer.)
Recently Ken and I realized that we were allowing ourselves to become too busy on the evenings when we are both home. Whether it was editing pictures, or finishing household chores, etc., we just weren't making a big enough effort to have "face time" together. So lately we've been making sure that we finish whatever needs doing before Kathryn goes to bed, so that after she is in bed, we can just hang out: talk about our day, try to fill in a crossword puzzle, make plans for a weekend getaway sometime soon... it's these little things that help cement our bond, and show each other that we make our marriage a priority. If we don't do it in the little things, we're not very likely to do it in the big things.

So, how does your spouse rock?

Hop on over to Katy's blog to share your own my husband rocks post or to read others.

My Husband Rocks ~ Fun!

I have a lot going on inside this little mind of mine--and in our lives--so there is much to blog about! So please know that my husband rocks even when I don't do a weekly my husband rocks post! I'll devote a post to my super man whenever I can, and I do try to make a point of mentioning the ways in which he rocks within my other posts--like in "Anne of Green Gables" last week!

This week I've been thinking about how how much fun Ken and I have. No matter what we're doing, we enjoy it if we're together. Some things are certainly more fun than others, of course: yard work just isn't as enjoyable as hiking a beautiful mountain trail on a cool fall day, for instance! Earlier this week, we were laughing so much just doing a crossword puzzle. With clues like "foofaraw", who wouldn't be laughing?! And although I hesitate to mention this because you may think we have the most boring life ever, I'll be brave: almost every night when we're both swishing mouthwash, we end up having a goofy hummed-word/miming/bits-of-sign-language type of conversation. It's so goofy that it often ends up in a contest of who can manage to hold back laughing the longest so that we don't spit Listerine all over the bathroom!

Another reason my husband rocks: he makes me banana bread! We love banana bread, but I used to only make it when he was home so he could be the banana smoosher; at some point he volunteered to just make it himself, so he is now the official banana-bread maker in our little family!

Speaking of banana bread...
I think I'll go have a slice right now with this cup of tea I'm drinking!