it's held together by masking tape

my camera, that is. i have a little canon powershot digital camera that i earned with my credit card points. less than a week after receiving it, i dropped it on the sidewalk and cracked the battery cover. of course, the battery cover wouldn't close tightly enough to maintain enough pressure for the batteries to power the camera...but with just enough masking tape and a little pressure from my hand, it will take pictures...(and if you click on the photos below to view them "large", they're not too bad).



bleeding heart. can you honestly think of another living thing on the planet that is more accurately named?



i have my most emotional and spiritual encounters when lilacs bloom. yes, that sounds crazy, but...i don't know. there's just something about them. tonight, when i smelled these lilacs, i literally raised my fists in the air victoriously and called out, "yes!!! thank you god!!!" then i cried like a baby and praised him for the yearly miracle.



the butterfly above and i played hide-and-seek for at least ten minutes. he was not intimidated by my presence, and happily gathered pollen while i talked to him incessantly.



i wish i could eloquently and poetically express the pure and abundant joy god's lilacs and bleeding hearts and pink dogwoods brought me this evening. but alas, i am no poet. so instead, i'll lift these lines of worship from jennifer knapp...

sing alleluia, sing alleluia
praise the father above
sing alleluia
sing alleluia, sing alleluia
for his infinite love
sing alleluia

praise to the giver of good things
merciful father, holy king
join with the angels, sing out loud
praise him who reigns above the clouds

o praise him (when the morning comes)
alleluia (for the rising sun)
o praise him (when the day is done)
alleluia (praise the Lord of love)
o praise him (alleluia)
alleluia (alleluia)

all creatures of our god and king
lift up your voice and with us sing!

beautiful kate

my red-headed, free spirited baby girl...happy birthday! i love you!

so i had this dream last night...

that jen ford bleached my hair white-blonde, then proceeded to give me an afro. she then parted my afro hair down the middle and gave me two large poofy "pony-tails" on either side. only they weren't traditional pony tails...they were more like giant blonde mickey mouse ears. afro mickey mouse ears.

(no kidding. i promise i had this dream.)

then, she became incredibly angry at me because i didn't like the way she had done my hair. and we were on three locks road near chillicothe and she called the police to have me arrested because i was being mean about my ugly hair. leo picked me up in a get-away car, but we were pulled over by the patrol within seconds. they captured me and placed a red and blue wire up one of my nostrils and pulled it out the other one. this wire, they said, was like a gps system, and if i tried to get away they would be able to track me down by sending a signal to the wire that was in my nose.

so the wire was put in, and it embarassed me, so i pulled it out and went to a steakhouse where my dental hygienist was eating dinner. i told her husband that jen ford was mad at me because i was a jerk about my blonde afro. the police then discovered i had removed my wire, found me in the steakhouse, and inserted another one into my nose. my dental hygienist's husband told me not to worry about it...i looked okay, even with the red and blue wire hanging off my face.

then i woke up.

and i've been worried all day that jen is still angry at me over that afro.

dream interpretation, anyone?

suzanne's card

“When we cast our bread upon the waters, we can presume that someone downstream whose face we will never know will benefit from our action..." - maya angelou

party time ~ excellent

my wonderfully loving niece, taylor, organized a birthday party for me today at school and invited some of my favorite 8th grade chicks! we had a great time! these girls exemplify just a few of the reasons why i love my job so much. yes, junior high kids are wired and hormonal...but we also have some amazing parents out there raising equally amazing, grounded, and responsible children with terrific senses of humor and compassion for the world around them.

here they are, in all their glory...

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