We are quite shaken up. There was a certain, motherless, young lady that often walked past our house to get to work. As far as we could figure out, she didn’t have a good job or a good life. We called her the ‘Tomgirl’. I don’t know exactly why. It was a sad site to see her life go down, down, down. This forenoon sometime, she crossed the train tracks in front of the train. She didn’t survive. (They say she had earbuds and was reading a book, this doesn’t quite click with me since a train is so very loud.)
As I think about her, my heart aches. Did we do our part? Did we pray for her? Did our lives portray a better life? Although this opportunity is past, I want to remember to pray for the people that go past our window. She and her brother were people I hardly considered praying for. They seemed like ‘hopeless’ cases to me. But I’m sure that God did not see them as hopeless.
“Lord, please help me to remember to pray for the people that I meet, no matter how hopeless the case.”
P.S. I’m sure that we will cross the train tracks with double care from now on.
P.P.S. Sorry for handing out incorrect information.
I need some advice. You see, I have been saving up for a camera for about a year. My amount is getting bigger and I’m starting to think of the camera I want. The problem is, I don’t know ‘which’ one I want. Canon vs. Nikon? Very expensive vs. less expensive. If you were in my shoes, what would you get. I’ve always wanted a camera and now I don’t want to get something that I’m not happy with. I enjoy taking pictures with our family camera. My favourite things to photograph are nature (as you’ve probably noticed) and people (especially children). If you have any suggestions as to what you would get (or wish you had gotten) for your first camera, please comment here or email me. Or if you know of someone who ‘knows his way’ in photography, you are welcome to link him to my blog for some answers.
Any other photography suggestions are welcome as well. What kind of camera you wouldn’t get. The pros and cons of your current camera (or your dream one). What kind of tripod to get. What kind of lenses to buy. Which type of bag to acquire. Where to buy your camera and gear. And anything else that has to do with a camera or photography.
~Yesenia~
P.S. I am looking for a good photography course. If you know of any considerable ones, pleas let me know.
Oh, the denotation and the grammar isn’t so exciting.
But think of the connotation. (The thoughts and ideas that are brought on by a word.)
For me, the connotation of summer is, simply put, ‘busy’.
We love to be busy because we know that busyness brings fulfillment and fulfillment brings happiness.
Thus far, the summer has brought many good things to us.
A weekend in Great Falls. (What a Treat!)
A disco with family and the employees last Sunday.
A day spent helping Tante Janice put in her garden (or at least part of it).
Lots of beautiful, warm weather. (In fact, it’s so warm that we are thankful for every shower that we get.)
A new barbecuer.
The time to put school books away for the summer.
(Oh, the freedom that ‘not doing school’ brings.
I want to continue with some electives through the summer, but it is so fun to be able to spend time at something else than school.)
Little snatches of time to practice photography.
(I got a new book on photography that gave me quite a bit of insight.
Now I’m thoroughly enjoying the chance to put my ‘skills’ to practice.
In fact, we’ve taken so many beautiful pictures already that I don’t know when and where to post them. 🙂 )
One more of God’s wonderful ‘Faithfulness’ things.
Mama thought that the one part of our neighbour lady’s yard would work so well for a garden.
She has almost more yard than she cares for and there was a big patch that was mostly weeds.
Mama never asked her because our neighbour is just renting the place.
Now, on Friday, she came up and offered that piece of her yard to us as a garden.
She doesn’t enjoy mowing off all the weeds there each week and her landlord had told her that she could have a garden there if she wanted to.
Being a newspaper writer/photographer/reporter, she doesn’t have time for a garden.
Since she noticed that we were looking for garden space, she figured we could use hers.
Isn’t it neat how God answers our prayers when we haven’t even really prayed them?
So that was our project today, tilling up the space,
putting manure/topsoil on it,
and tilling it again.
Walking in Daddy’s footprints
It was the perfect day.
The slight drizzle made it nice and cool to work outside.
Samuel’s vantage pointEdgar and Blancita (Edgar thoroughly enjoys taking care of our neighbour lady’s Cockapoo)Leandro is ‘screeding’. How does he know what that is? 🙂
We had an absolutely wonderful Saturday. And we thank God for it.
My best days are the ones when I feel like I have accomplished something.
That feeling of fulfillment, of satisfaction.
Yesterday was one of ‘those’ days.
We have a very small yard.
In fact, it’s so small, that we don’t have room for a garden in it.
Of course, we would love to have a ‘huge’ garden. But in order to do that, we would need a far bigger yard. We have been praying for an acreage for a few years already. But we haven’t been able to sell our house yet. And that needs to happen first.
We have been trying and trying to sell our house. But it doesn’t want to sell. No, it isn’t the house’s fault. In fact, all of the people that have looked at our house, have really liked it. And hardly anybody complains about the price.
So we have decided that it isn’t God’s will that we move. Yet.
We do want some homegrown vegetables though. So…
We have been using the space behind our fence to grow a bit of a garden for a couple of years now already.
This year, Mama wanted some raised beds there.
(I asked Daddy if God had wanted us to make the most of our space here before giving us more. 🙂 The Bible does say that we must be faithful in the least before we will be given more.)
Since we had lent our van to the youth group, we actually ‘had’ to stay home.
That made it the perfect day to this project.
The weather was also so beautiful. (We even got sunburnt :-))
In the morning, Daddy took some of the children along to Grassy Lake to get a tool trailer and some lumber. After they got back, the work started.
First, some concrete blocks had to be moved. Then the ground had to be levelled.
Afterwards, Daddy started building the frame.
The children filled these frames with dirt, compost, and ashes.
Daddy and I also built two flower beds onto the railing of our deck.
I enjoy working with Daddy. It’s how we build a relationship.In the late afternoon, we went to Grassy Lake again for some diry.
Edgar was ever so proud to be allowed to drive the skid steer to and from the dirt pile.
I’ll leave you with some portraits and spring shoots.
This past Wednesday, 16 years passed since I joined this wonderful family. Of course it was just me and Mama and Daddy, but that was the beginning. The more time we spend together, the more I come to realize how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family. The following poem, although written in past tense, is so true to me:
Our Family Tree
We may have had our ups and downs, but always found a way to mend our fences and call a day, a day.
We weren’t picture perfect, There were times we even fought; When I look back I see we were much closer than I thought.
For all the test and trials, I would never trade those years, I learned so much because of them, The laughter and the tears.
So I’ve come to appreciate my unique family tree, and I am blessed and thankful for the one God gave to me.
~Alda Maria~
When I think of the 3-year-old girl whose tracks led her family to the dugout, where she fell in and drowned, or the boy who died during the night after complaining of chest pain to his parents and being sent back to bed, and of our dear cousin Caleb, who has spent 2 years in heaven, I become even more thankful for our complete family.
We have made so many happy memories together.
I sometimes wonder if we are exceptional in being so close to each other, but I found the words of Becky Mcgurrin so true. In her book, From Streetlights to Stars, (a very good read), she says, “Anyone who has had experience with homeschoolers knows that we tend to be pretty attached to each other, and we tend to most things as a family.”
I think homeschooling is one of the reasons that we are so close. We enjoy it and wouldn’t have it any other way. (Especially when you can finish at the end of April)
I have been very busy working on the last of my grade 10 schoolwork, which is one of the reasons that this blog hasn’t gotten more attention.
BTW, I’m writing this blog post on a brand new Macbook Pro. I am enjoying it immensely. Our old computer was sooooo slow after 6 years of use.
We wanted to spend some time enjoying nature and each other on Good Friday, so we went to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump.
This site is located about 20 km. from Fort Macleod so we had a two hour drive to get there. The interpretive centre is very informative and interesting, but the outdoors with its clear sunshine and beautiful scenery, had a far greater appeal. In fact, our experience far exceeded our expectations, and we thank God for it.
We girls enjoyed photographing nature and each other, so here is a sample of our photography.
Alberta’s Wide Prairies with their Wonderful Views. (Can you see the hint of the rockies?)
Great Is Thy Faithfulness 