got freedom? thank a veteran!

Happy Memorial Day!

I'm super patriotic.
I love my country.
I love where I live, where I came from.I am truly proud to be an American.
And I know that all of that is possible because of people who have fought for our freedom.

THANK YOU VETERANS AND THOSE CURRENTLY SERVING!

you capture: sky

mmmmm, I love when the daises at my parent's house are in bloom.
Daises are my all-time favorite flower.
"Don't you think daises are just the friendliest flower?"
[name that movie]
Yes, yes I do.

And I love watching them reach into the sky. Stretching out to the sun.

leave it to the song artist

I was just sitting.

The moment strangely reminisciant of my time in Uganda.

I was missing those adorable babies.

Wanting to cuddle and kiss them.



And then this song came on my pandora.


Brooke Fraser said the words that I was trying to say here, but soooo much better. When I posted that blog, I was worried people would think that I meant "burden" as a bad thing. Which was I was not trying to say. At all. I was trying to say....


"Now that I have seen, I am responsible.
Faith without deeds is dead.
Now that I have held you in my arms,
I cannot let go til you are


I am on a plane,
Across a distant sea.
But I carry you with me.
And the dust on, the dust on, the dust on my feet.

I will tell the world.
I willl tell them where I have been.
I will keep my word."

I miss you Uganda. I miss you babies.
But I'll be back.
Someday.
I just know it.

you capture: depth of field

I had a sleepover last night with my 3 year old niece. She is absolutely adorable; extremely shy and anxious around new people and situations (which you can see when she twirls her hair around her little fingers). She keeps to herself most of the time, but always has that look on her face that makes you wonder exactly what is going through her 3 year old mind. And when she does talk...well, she tends to say the cutest things. Take a look at a few of our conversations from last night:

Me: Seraya, do you know what time your bedtime is?
Seraya: Um...normally like 49.

Mom: What do you do at bedtime? (Trying to get a better idea of her bedtime routine)
Seraya: Uh, go to bed.

This morning, I wake up to wide-eyed Seraya right next to my face just looking at me.
Me: Oh, good morning Seraya! Have you been awake for a long time waiting for me?
Seraya: No. I sleep with my eyes open.
Me: So you're sleeping right now?
Seraya: [silence, just looks at me]



I was pretty excited about this week's challenge. It meant learning something new!
I read up on depth of field and how to change the aperture on my camera...only to discover my little ol' cybershot only allows for 2 aperture settings :(


I messed around with it for a while, and the 2 settings my camera had made little difference to the focus/fuzziness ratio (I'm so technical, impressive right?) and having it on manual mode greatly reduces the quality of my pictures. Which I could figure out how to change, but I just wasn't up for it.



So I had to settle for this semi-okay macro shot.
Don't get my wrong, the models (my niece with her awesome bed-head and her curious george stuffed animal) were adorable.

youcapture:DOF

let the "DIY-ing" begin!!

I've finally started with my long list of DIY projects for the wedding!!
It felt so good to be making stuff! I guess being so bogged down with school and RAing, I just didn't have the time to be creative with anything other than projects, programs and bulletin boards [thank the lord that that is done with forever] I had forgotten how much I love to create!

I've learned this about myself: If I'm ever grumpy, just leave me alone with some craft items and let me be creative!

Last night I made the sign for our "goof booth"
It turned out exactly as I had imagined [don't ya just love when that happens]
Sigh, I'm looking forward to the rest of my DIY projects...when I can be alone and let my creative juices run wild!

Love.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
Love does not demand its own way.
Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.
It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
Love never gives up,
Never loses faith,
Is always hopeful, and
Endures every circumstance.

I've been thinking about love lately.
And personally, I think this verse is "over-used" (is that even possible?) and often misquoted or taken out of context, so I don't like to "use" it very much. But the more I thought about love, the more this verse kept coming to my mind.

It blows my mind to think about God's love for us. I know we are made in his image, and the marriage relationship is meant to be a reflection of sorts of Christ's love relationship with His church. But honestly, how often does our human love look like this verse? Can we honestly say all of our actions are out of love? Are we always patient and kind? Are we always pleasant to be around, never irritable or keeping a record of every little thing anyone has ever done to tick us off? Are we always flexible and willing to do things in ways that are different than our own? I know I can answer all those questions for myself with
a BIG FATTY "NO"

Human love rarely looks like this verse. This verse can only 100% describe one kind of love, and that (lucky for us) is the love that our God has for us! How stinkin' incredible right?

Now, I'm not saying that humanly love sucks. Or that we shouldn't strive to look like this verse. But I know that if I put all my hope in human love, I will surely be let down. But it's interesting, because the more and more I'm let down by others' love, the more I am in awe of God's love for me. A love that will never ever ever let me down. No matter what.

Thanks for that, Jesus.
I think you're pretty cool.
Also...if you send me back to Africa soon, I promise to do my very best to show your love to some little cuties over there . Just sayin' ;)

you capture: yellow

Really. This is pathetic. I need to get updating this! I have had so many moments that I've wanted to blog, and just never got to it.
Oh, goodness.

So, for this week's you capture, the theme was "yellow." I wanted to do an outdoor shoot but it's been raining all week, so I had to settle on model-less pictures in my room. Not exactly what I wanted, but whatever. Here's pictures of my favorite yellow scarf.


you capture: yellow

you capture: spring [again]

Spring.
It can be seen in so many things.
Like puddle jumping in fresh spring-rain puddles with two little cuties [and my mom] :)


you capture: spring [again]

going vegan for a bit

So...I've decided to try a vegan diet for 30 days. My friend Sarah is vegan, and wanted our group of friends to "Take the Pledge" [or something] for 30 days. So I said I would do it, for her.

Since I'm back home for the summer, I had to make a deal with my mom to get the food...she buys what I put on the list and I'll make dinner all week. No big deal, I like cooking and I guess it'll be preparation for cooking dinner once Rye and I are married.

Here's what I made for our first meal: Vegan Stir-fry!! Not too bad! Wish me luck to stick with this for a month!!

You Capture: Spring

Took me long enough, right?
I was too busy with finals and checking-out residents and packing up my things to post ANYTHING last week. I went from one you capture post to the next! Ooops :)



This weeks theme was spring. So instead of just taking pictures of flowers, I tried to spell out "Spring" in various things that I think of when I think of spring.
Like graduation, playing frisbee, blooming trees, spring rain and new growth.