I'll give you grace

I overheard this while I was cleaning up something in another room:

Caleb: "I'll give you grace, Joshua. But you have to promise not to put it in your mouth. Can you do that?"
Joshua: "Yeah."
Caleb: "You want this grace? I'll give it to you. Don't put it in your mouth and don't lose it."

Joshua: "Okay."

So funny and sweet. Then I walked in the room to see Caleb handing Joshua a penny.

Two nights ago I was praying with Caleb before bed when he interjected this prayer:

"Dear God, when I eat food, please me help me grow tall and strong into a Dada. Amen."

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Twinbelly- 29 weeks

Getting Rounder. The good news is that the babies are now big enough for me to feel justified to have such a big belly. They should each weigh in around 2 and a half pounds now, "about the size of a butternut squash," I'm told. Each.

A front and back shot to see if the waist (or so-called waist) is still there. Well, it's definitely wider but I could look un-pregnant from behind, maybe.

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Michael and Kerry's Wedding

Here are a few of the 2000+ photos I shot at Michael and Kerry's wedding down in South Beach in Miami three weeks ago. I finally finished editing the photos. I'm so glad to be done before Kevin gets home. There are things I missed, but this was only my second wedding. I also think there are things I caught that most photogs wouldn't, because the family let me hang pretty close to them all day. And I learned so much. Mostly, that I'd love a better camera (wouldn't we all?) and that a dedicated assistant of some sort is invaluable.

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Words to help me through

My friend Lindsey asked if I had any good "deployment songs" and I thought about these. I found this old draft of a blog post I'd written during the last deployment (below). The songs still help...

I am not a music snob. I don't know anything about the cool, up and coming acts. But I know that I (still) love anything that Don and Lori Chaffer make. And there are some songs from their album "Heart Attack Time Machine" that help me through.

Close The Door
Every time that I get down
I am like a salmon on
An upstream journey, then
Death to follow once I spawn

I have seen the big fish climb
The ladder at the reservoir
Watch ‘em work like devils
Half delirious do they even know where they are?

CHORUS
Jesus I’m a sucker; I
Wish I believed less of the lies
Did anything I thought I knew
Turn out to be true?

Baby boys and little toys are all that I see anymore
Will somebody close the door?
It’s cold outside

Every single time I thought that
I had figured it all out
I was run aground again and
Floundering with crazy doubt

Maybe every way I’d learned
To deal with the tragedy
Was just another junkyard find
Rust-eaten and raggedy

I have paced the floor at night
Staring in his tiny face
Swearing that I’ll do my best
To make for him a solid place
Barring acts of God or even
Acts of other men, I’ll be
The father that I always wished
I had been allowed to see


The last song on the album is called "Good, Good End." It is a good reminder of what my goal is.

It’s a long hard road
With a good, good end
And if I keep on walking on past the crooked bend
I will meet my Maker
I will meet my Friend
It’s a long hard road
With a good, good end

You have gone so far away
For all I know it’s outer space
...
Pining for yesterday
Feeling like an empty plate
...
He went away today
And I don’t know when he’ll be back.

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South Beach Wedding- The hair

After two days of slogging through photos for about 8 hours a day, I am at number 800 of the 2000 pictures I took at the wedding in Miami. I love the Getting Ready photos, so I've spent some time playing with these pictures. (I wish the rest of a wedding is as laid back as those few hours of hanging out.) But now my question is, with all of these different finishes- color, black and white, sepia- is it okay to mix and match for which ever looks best for the photo, or do you think I should stick with one color scheme? I'm going to post the wedding photos on my photo blog and I'm worried about it not looking cohesive. I'm cool with some being straight color and some being black and white, but the whacked out colors on some of them are throwing me off. Should I stick with more traditional color treatment?

(Also, just a side note, the hair was a little bit of an issue, and I love the messed up face the bride has in the fifth photo. She so hates her hair at that minute.)

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