Life has been crazy as I said. It seems like I blink and a month has gone by. We've been so super busy with everything from family visits, schooling, birthdays, and simple day to day things. Here is a little run down in photos.....
************************************
The end of summer brought certain local traditions. We have a large tri-county fair the end of August every year. Thousands
of locals come to see
what is mainly farmers attractions. Tractors, locally grown crops, and lots of farm animals. There are also rides, LOTS of food stands, and big name attractions in the grand stand. We do not typically go but we got free tickets this year and I'm glad we went. The kids had a blast. The last time we went Merci was only a year old so they both enjoyed it so much. Merci LOVES animals and so getting to see the animals I think was her favorite. Camden enjoyed getting to see his friends and getting to ride rides for the first time ever. We had french fries and Dipin' Dots. It was a great time and we were glad to share the day with my sister from Florida who was in to visit. It was all around a great experience. I think even us grown ups had a blast. :)
************************************
The beginning of September brought the start of school and a visit from both of my sisters from out of state. During their time here we planned a get together with my Aunt and Uncle on my dad's side of the family. We all gathered at their house out in the country. It was a wonderful time of fellowship around food and a fire. My Uncle got out his tractor and gave the kids rides all around the property. Even certain big kids, ehem, got a ride! I haven't been in the back of Uncle Howard's tractor since I was a little girl. I wish we had more opportunities like that to get together. My parents had all of their family there and my aunt and uncle had all of their children and grandchildren there. It was a rare event indeed.
************************************
Just a short week following the big fair is our local street fair. I am from a very small town (about 5,000 people). This fair (for anyone who grew up around here or has moved here and fallen in love with the town like the rest of us) is the one biggest local events we all look forward to. At least half the town (in my opinion) comes out to the fair. It's an opportunity to see people you don't get to see very often and a lot of times it's a chance to reconnect. This year was no different as I finally got to see my wonderful friend Kristen who came up from Columbus. It was the first time I had the opportunity to see her in over seven years!
The street fair kicks off with a parade of local fire trucks, EMT's, classical cars, floats, and marching bands. Lots of candy gets tossed to the little ones and lots of ears get covered to shield from the sounds of the sirens. Then everyone hits the runway for the fair. This year though my sisters and I held an art show during the fair. It was a really great experience.
Our reasons for the art show are just to bring a sense of the arts to community. We were blessed with the opportunity to use a building right on the runway strip of the fair. The building is under construction (the future site of a really cool place called The 2 Brews). We had our work cut out for us but with the creative minds of two of my sisters (whom both have had experience in owning an art gallery) we were able to transform the building into a very artsy gallery for the weekend.
During the duration of the weekend two of my sisters took turns playing music on either the keyboard or guitar. We even did a little bit of singing. At two different times during the weekend we had young musicians come in and ask if they could play. It was AWESOME to do exactly what we wanted which was encourage the arts. So for for a couple of hours at different times we had random musicians sitting on a chair or the floor playing acoustic guitar (which was quite good I might add).
The other attraction was a painting all of my three of my sisters and myself worked on in tandem. We each took an hour of time and sat at the canvas painting something different. It was really interesting to see how each of us played off of each others work. It was definately an interesting experience and it was cool to see how each of us came up with something different. It was an abstract piece that turned out well. Different for sure.
************************************
After all the excitement of family being here we settled back into our normal routine. We had some trouble with Camden's schooling this year. There have been a lot of changes with his eSchool and we prayed long and hard about what to do. I ordered several books with the intent of pulling him out and just building our own curriculum. After a long talk with both administrators and his teacher we have come to a temporary compromise of doing both. I am able to use the curriculum I have already purchased and I basically use their lesson plans as a guide. I don't know how long this will last. It's been pretty disappointing to say the least. I've talked with several other people who have had issues or have heard of others in the same program who have had issues. We are just taking it a day at a time, a week at a time to see where this goes. We know we have the opportunity to pull the plug at any time and just stick with what I'm doing without their overhead. We will see...
************************************
I have been getting a lot of photography jobs. It's been a great blessing to say the least. I know that God knows just when to step in and reassure us when we question whether we are doing what He really wants us to be doing with our lives. I have questioned over and over if this really was an area of my life that God could use me but He's been showing me more and more that it is. I've had the opportunity to bless some wonderful people with free photos. It's not about money to me. I want to bless people. I LOVE using my camera to capturing moments that others can have as a lifetime remembrance. I am excited about some new directions God is taking me on this adventure. I just want mostly to be obedient to Him. Never once do I want what I do to be about me. And that includes this area of my life. I am realizing more and more that it's OK to see it as a gift but I want to be sure I'm using it to glorify Him. What an adventure this truly has been. I can't wait to see where else He takes me.
************************************
There are so many more things I could post about but I must stop here for now. I will be sure to post more soon. I really do want to use this as a chance to get back to blogging. I've missed all my bloggy friends!! :)
Until next time friends...TTFN
1 comment:
Bloggy it up, sister. Great update post. I think everyone should post one of these. :)
Post a Comment