A current project of mine.

Three guesses as to what this is:

The rehydration of the Pod People?   No.

Sticks that met an untimely demise?   No.

Another one of those crazy homeschool things?   No.  Weelllll.....  No.  Not really.  Maybe kinda.

I'm making homemade vanilla extract.  Yes, I am.  I've found this very addictive not-so-little blog called Heavenly Homemakers.  She's all about natural, whole-food eating, and I've been getting some good bread recipes from her.  (More on that later).  But this little 6 month project is very easy.  No experience required.  You just have to have the gumption to buy a lot of vodka at one time.  (Or, you have to have a sweet spouse who is willing to do it for you).  :-D  My only question about this whole thing is that most, if not all, of the high-quality, pure extracts that I know of do contain a little bit of water.  And this is all alcohol and vanilla beans.  But, I've got until June to figure all that out.  In the meantime, I try to remember to do a "Vanilla Shake" every once in a while.  And that cabinet is taking on quite a lovely aroma - so, bonus!

Just thought I'd share.  I'm not 100% sure just how much money this is saving.  It's definitely saving some, but I'm not sure just how much yet.  This is really more for the cool factor of it all.  Anyone can do it!

Proud of you, Phillip!

This is my cousin-in-love (Jmk's 1st cousin), Phillip Chapman.  Catcher for the Memphis Tigers.  Proud of you, big guy!

Diversity.

A couple of weeks ago, a Facebook connection made a comment about how she didn't feel very kindly towards homeschooling, linking to an article from FoxNews about how the face of homeschooling is changing.

I didn't comment on her innocent post, because it really wasn't necessary.  BUT, I was nosy enough to see what others were saying.  Most of the comments came from homeschooling friends of hers and they were, naturally, supporting their position and educational choices.  But one person, who I know to be a teacher, left a comment to the effect of "how are homeschooled kids supposed to learn about diversity?"

This particular question comes from the same place as does "how are homeschooled kids going to get socialized or how are they supposed to learn social skills?"  And, in all fairness, I was asking the very same questions about 4 years ago.  You know, back in the days of my life where there was NO WAY I was going to homeschool, and I really wish people would get off my back about it, thankyouverymuch.

I'll leave the "socialized" question alone for now, but I'd love to speak about how my children experienced True, Beautiful Diversity this week.  And, at the same time, I hope to memorialize a special man who was a friend to my family and to so very many others.

Terry Wray, Sr was so many things to our community.  He was first a Christian and a Catholic and a husband and a father.  But he was also a community leader.  A political motivator.  An encourager.  A friend.
He was a Republican and a conservative, married to an incredible woman with whom he helped to create a true family Enterprise that has fingers in all sorts of things, both civic and political.  He was the county's president of the Rotary Club.

Can you picture him?  If I hadn't begun my post with the title "Diversity", 10 bucks says that you would be picturing a white guy, right?  That's okay, I'll admit that I probably would have too, unfortunately.

Mr. Wray was also a member of 100 Black Men, a successful mentoring program.  He was a truly active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and involved in the local leadership.  .....  I'm about to start quoting his obituary, and I need to quit.  He was a role model for so many, there is no doubt.

My point is that he was a PERSON.  And SUCH a person he was.  (To borrow from Mrs. Katz and Tush).  His political beliefs, civic beliefs, personal beliefs, religious beliefs, family beliefs - none of them was defined by his skin color.  All of them were defined by his clearly stated visions of right and wrong and the future.  They were defined by his experiences and his expectations.  He did not require others to agree with him in order to simply fellowship with them.  And, as my children and I sat through his beautiful Homegoing Celebration on Tuesday, they were able to see a church house full of Diversity.  Equal numbers of black, white, young, old.  Grown men in their group's regalia.  Priests and nuns.  Political leaders of our county and state.  Friends galore.  So Many Friends.  And his family?  Oh, there were tears.  There was heartbreak.  He was so young and died so unexpectedly.  But, the life he lived was one of Christian charity and of joy.  He was never stingy with a smile.  He was honored by his family.  He was loved and appreciated.  And as the church ushers were trying to find places for people to sit because the church was so full for the funeral mass, it had to have been so obvious to everyone - This man lived his life defined not by his skin color.  But By His Character.  And you could almost feel those aspects of his life giving his family strength, though they cried, in this most difficult time.

What a beautiful life.  And I'm so very humbled that my children got to see what people are capable of being, if only they choose to be so.  This is Diversity, as experienced by 3 little homeschooled children.

I'm so excited!

Years and years ago, back when Mississippi Ballet Theatre still WAS, we'd take advantage of our break times during long Saturdays of rehearsals when we had to stay all day, and we'd go around the corner to Campbell's Bakery for a cookie.  (Yes, ballet dancers did that when they were pre-teen/early teenagers and had the metabolism that we all wish we could get back!)

Oh, it was sad to see and hear how it had declined over the recent years.

But, how exciting is to hear that it is about to be reborn, but not made utterly unrecognizable!  I'm looking forward to seeing it again!  (Thanks EatJxn for the head's up).

Photo by Dr. Mark Reed
Go see his other work at:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=100000589187567&aid=7198

We Did.

I've learned over the past nine years:
1)  Never take a good marriage for granted.  The blessing of such a thing is worth more than all the gold in the world.
2)  It is possible for someone to know all the icky parts of you and love you anyway.
3)  Marriage, to the right person, is the easiest thing in the world.  If you find comfort and peace and joy and laughter in your marriage, then God has blessed you mightily and you had better get about praising Him for it!

Thank you, Lord, for Jason.  Thank you for saving me from my dumb self all those years until I finally met him.  Thank you for giving me this awesome man to call my own!

Happy Anniversary my Lobster!!!

Wedding Photography? You betcha!

I feel like I have to make this disclaimer every time I share pictures or talk about pictures or my camera or discuss anything photography related:  I am not under the impression that I have any particularly outstanding skills for photography!  Most of my picture sharing revolves around pictures of the kids, and of course, THEY are the most outstanding subjects, so they must be shared.  ::ahem::  ;-)

My beautiful SIL Leah taking a break from the formal portraits just before her and David's actual wedding.

However, I have recently been asked to photograph a wedding for a sweet church member-friend who is getting married in August.  Now, let me tell you, most of the time I think about this assignment, I break out in cold sweats.  Mental cold sweats, but cold sweats nonetheless.  I, obviously, have never done this before, and I don't intend to begin doing this (wedding photography) regularly.  But, the bride-to-be's mother is precious and wonderful and a sister Mary Kay consultant (actually a Senior Director), and quite frankly, she asked.  And unless it involved jumping out of a cake in a swimsuit, I wasn't going to say no to Cathy!  (Nor am I charging anyone anything for this - the idea of that sends the nervousness off the charts).

They were up at the front of the church getting photographed with everyone.  But were very sweet to look over at me so I could grab one for myself.  Aren't they gorgeous?  They're gonna have some puh-retty babies.  And, no, that's not a hint about anything!  I'm just saying that ONE day....  

Plus.  ::ahem again::  I will have a reason to buy an external flash, at the very least.  (grin!)  MAYBE even another lens, but I suspect the one that I would "need" is gonna be upwards of one grand, and even I won't be able to justify that.  Oh, I'll try, but I'm pretty tight with the purse strings.

End of the evening.  All the official "stuff" was done.  They were Just Dancing.    I love how they are looking at each other.  She - utterly happy and content and in love.  He - so satisfied and completed and in love.  Sigh...

Christine wants a photojournalistic'y sort of style, which I like to do.  And I have months to continue to practice with the thing that matters most in photography - capturing the light properly.  So, I'm excited!  Utterly nervous, and very very out of my comfort zone, but excited.

And Lollypop is going to LOVE seeing this one day when she's older and she realizes just how much and for how long her Daddy has loved loved loved her.

Those of you who are getting in to photography (KAT!), wanna come and be an assistant for the day?  You will be paid with my undying devotion and heartfelt friendship.  And chocolate.  Lots of chocolate.
Plus, the bridesmaids will be in red.  Can you just SEE the black and whites that can come out of red dresses up against the bridal white?  Yummy.

Top 3 favorite pictures from Robert and Kiri's wedding.  (The wedding was completely private, but then we all met them at their house for a wonderful, casual celebration of love!)  You can't see her dress, but she was a vision.  Just beautiful!  And I love Robert's heartfelt protective embrace of her.  May God bless my brothers and their wives!

Published! 'Cause my Jenn asked.

My sweet, dear friend Jenn has been writing for the local Parents and Kids magazine for years now, and I've always thought it was a very cool thing.  Well, SHE'S very cool, so it automatically goes that anything she writes will be cool.  It also helps that she's witty and talented.  :-)

Well!  A couple of months ago, she sent an email asking if I'd be interested in contributing to the magazine myself.

Heehee!  Little did she know, (and God bless her, she's also a copy editor), I *was* interested.  And here you go!  Mama got published.  Yay!

While there won't be any pulitzer prize winning poetry or novels being created on my trusty computer, I do hope I can continue to be a contributor to the magazine AND learn about some new things in the process.  Thanks BFF's Mama!  I owe you one.  This was really fun.