beautiful light

I mentioned in the last post that I am taking a photography course on-line.

... So, you can only imagine how THRILLED I was at the weather this week.

Untypical of the winter in the Northwest, we had three, perfectly clear days! 

We got out a number of times to take walks. On this particular evening as we were walking,

we passed, what I thought would be, the most perfect place to take some pictures

.... and put into practice some of the advice that I've been getting from the fabulous 

Kristin Rogers!!

An empty corner lot, with direct sunlight from the setting sun, simply beckoned me. 

I quickly rushed home to grab my camera (and some children), and jumped into the car

to get back to the field before the sun set (which here is about 4:30!) 

They all willingly came and donned their Christmas animal hats .....

least you think I forced them :)

Very spontaneous!! 

Boy, we had to be quick .... And getting good pictures in manual,

under the pressure of the setting sun,

is SO hard.

My hat goes off to all you photographers out there! I have much to learn. 

So, so thankful for the opportunity to grow and be challenged!! 

visitors

We had two waves of visitors over the holiday this year. 

We had the joy of spending

both Thanksgiving and Christmas day at Num Num and Papa's house. 

How I love heading to the country! 

Usually they come our way for Christmas, so it was a first for our family to be there. 

Of course, we have loved being close to them since moving to the Northwest,

but it has been an adjustment not to be near at least some of my family. 

So what a joy it was for me this year, to have my WHOLE family come here! 

My only brother and his family arrived the Friday after Christmas with their two

kids, cousin Chase and baby brudder Beck .... They came from San Diego.

AND then, the following Wednesday, my folks arrived from Georgia,

overlapping two days with them. Talk about a crazy house!! 

But we are so thankful the Lord has provided us with a rental

that is big enough for everyone to stay in. 

This was our first time all being together since our move to the Northwest. 

Sweet times, again shared from (mostly) camera pictures: 

  

I'll have to share some of this years family pictures in another post real soon ...

We actually had nice ones taken of both sides of the family! 

On another note, this month I'm taking an online photography course by a fabulous lady

by the name of Kristin Rogers. The class is called "The Inspired Home"
and is given through an online school called The Define School.
I fell in love with her and her photography through Instagram and jumped
at the opportunity to learn from her. This is really a first for me, and has been
quite doable since I can make my own study hours .... and a lot of the class simply
involves taking pictures (which I love :) posting them, and getting feedback from
the other students and the instructor. Last week I learned some of the coolest
things about taking and editing pictures with my phone. My habits are
forever changed! I submitted that last black and white picture of Ellie's hands,
and the picture of Abby laying on her bed with a book, looking out her window,
for last week's homework.
THIS week, we've moved on to the big girl camera,
and I've had such fun pulling it out, as I've neglected it as of late.
The sun has been SHINING and so yesterday and today proved to be
wonderful opportunities to get outside and take pictures.
The next two weeks in the class, we will be focusing a bit more on the home,
documenting family life, and making it an inspiring place.

If you can't already tell, I'm loving this opportunity to learn and focus a bit
on being creative. It is so good for me to do so!!
And Lord willing, you will be seeing some more of the fruit of this
class in the weeks ahead!! 

catching up

I've been slowing down with the blog for the last month .... and to my dear mom

and mother-in-law specifically, I apologize!! I posted pretty regularly for the first two

years ~ 2-3 times a week. Times are always changing, and for whatever reason

this is a season that has been different for me in regard to this journal. I'm still

trying to figure out how it will look in the future, and what works for me to document our life. 

I'm not quitting, so don't worry!! I just may not be posting as much, that's all. 

I've been posting regularly on Instagram, taking phone pictures. Since I often carry my phone in my

back pocket, it is so convenient! And it's easy to post from there to Facebook,

so you may have already seen some of these pictures. Just thought if would be

nice to share a bit of our December, as I've shared nothing about our Christmas this year! 

A bit of snow-fall always brightens these dreary months! 

In the post before this, I shared that the kids had made a tent in the backyard.... 

love it when they love on each other and enjoy one another!! 

We had a lot of little "elves" this year. Another thing I love to see:

Creative minds working and wanting to GIVE to each other. 

A bit of our Christmas flare .... we enjoyed having a number of families from church

into our home this Season, including an open-house for our whole church body. 

.... and of course lots of entertaining means lots of prepping. 

Good thing I still have a couple of willing helpers!! 

We drank so much coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and home-made late's this Season!! 

And I got to enjoy some one on one time with the children. 

 These were taken Christmas Eve. Ellie sung in her first choir, which was so very lovely. 

And sweet Abby left out goodies and a note for "Santa!" 

The children all received hats for Christmas .... the animal ones,

and Abby also received some which were a bit fancier. My, she has color. 

O, sweet, sweet sisters. 

I love it when they show affection for each other.

It warms my heart.