The Rest of the Story

You would never know the full story, just looking at these photos.  Context helps.  Details.  I am determined to ask better questions, give more complements, and to try and school my face. The weird, goofy looks we all make can be funny when the camera catches them.  I was having focusing problems in the dark gym.  The last two photos of Sam are for his mission application.  He chose the bottom one, without glasses.

Beach for a Massage Studio

After photo of a walk down to the ocean (East Coast), a barter job for a massage studio.  The before:

Paint changes everything about a room!  Does the base color make a difference?  Yes, especially if the other 3 walls are that color.  I think it is important to tie everything together and to make sure it looks good with the flooring.  You can's see the carpet in these photos, but know that it meshes well with the blues and grays in this ocean scene.  The sand and sky have a lot of the base color showing through, washes on top layers.

Found this while Pinning...

A Lovely Flock blog: My 1st Best Friend

My comment:

Thank you for honest, real writing.  I am the mother of a son who struggled with addiction (instead of calling him an addict).  We lost him 18 months ago after years of rehab, treatment, program after program, changing the locks, relapse after relapse, endless prayers, counseling & never giving up on him.  Reading the sweet early childhood memories you have of your brother was uplifting & a good reminder of what our Maxwell had with his siblings before the drugs.  I agree about NOT enabling, but loving and forgiving.  Good LDS link quotes, too!

Happy New Year!

 This is not just because NieNie's family does it, but I will admit I love her family tradition of a Sunday family photo.  Good ideas are meant to be shared/copied/passed on.

We got all the way home from Church and I remembered that I really want to start a new tradition of taking a family photo every Sunday---realizing it would be easier at Church, easy to find a willing phone holder.  John was a good sport and grabbed the ladder from the garage, set up the timer...

This is my favorite portrait photo spot:  just inside the front door.  Notice the black background behind the guys' heads.  The house interior disappears and the natural light flooding in from the open screen door makes us look good...

No flash here.  Everyone showing teeth but Roxie.

I want a way to document who is here/visiting.  How we change/grow up.  Haircuts.  Weight loss/healthy lifestyle.  And use it as a way to keep the Sabbath Day holy.  Sundays are for gathering, connecting with family, rejoicing together, discussing what we learned at Church.  Planning, brainstorming service we can do throughout the week.  And for us, it is eating together, reading scriptures, playing together, and squeezing in Seminary preparation for the week.

We are off to a great start!

(yes, astronaut space man earrings.  If you can drill a hole for a wire into something lightweight, it can become an earring!  Lots of compliments on these today.)

Blog vs Instagram's Instantness

It has been a month since I blogged?  Weeks since I journaled.  Days since I exercised.  Only two days since Instagramming.  Faster, easier.  This blogging takes more effort, plugging in camera, downloading, filing...

John & I did go out this morning---NOT shopping, but walking our neighborhood route.  I forgot to put on my fitbit, so that is 4,000+ steps plus 11 flights of stairs unrecorded.  We are trying to be healthier.

This photo is from the Trunk or Treat night at Church.  We went with Day of the Dead theme, sugar skull makeup, dark suits with fedoras for the guys, flowers in our hair and black lace for Roxie & I.  The lip temporary tattoos were cheater makeup, easier to stick & stay on our lips through a chili cook-off meal.  I loved the "Book of Life" film with the culture of remembering family dead.

My little friend, 18 month old King Henry did not recognize us.  When we talked to him, he gave a startled 2nd look.  Didn't try to hold him...

For a "trick" gift I made skull earrings to pass out to the young women.  Erasers from Target were the perfect softness to push in and glue the earring findings.

Nice People

Aegis Newspaper Photo

I sneaked a look at blog visitors, and was suprised....I have not been a regular poster lately, and still have friends come to look at what we are doing???

Top photo:  flowers from Tiffany, along with a musical note locket to remember Max.
Middle photo:  fruit boquet from Carey remembering Max this summer.
Bottom photo:  Candlelight Vigil.   You can see me behind the lady in red t shirt wearing my florescent green jeans (!), and Sam with head bowed in background.  I've got my arm around Roxie, hugging her closely as she sobbed.  John's head behind mine, looking at slide show of all those who died from drug use in the county.  Last year the vigil was held in the park.  This year it rained, so we were inside the white bubble Zion church tent.

My technical goal today is to try and figure out how to make that cute little PIN button on photos on my blog...Originally trying to figure out how to Instagram something from a Pin and vice versa.

We have a drug-sobriety talk on Thursday at North Harford Middle School.  I have over a 100 t shirts done and ready to give away that night and at next presentation.  Family members that want shirts need to text me orders with sizes.  Guessing is hardwork when I don't see nieces and nephews often enough to see them growing!

They are still free--but we have been blessed with some generous donations to help pay for bleach, vinegar, and thrifted 100% cotton dark shirts (they work best).  At a yard sale Saturday my neighbor gathered up all the shirts that qualified and didn't charge me.  "It's for a good cause," said Dawn Carver.

From the Local Paper

We keep telling the same story.  A little different every time.  This last one, at the middle school where 3 of our children attended, we spoke last Tuesday night.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/abingdon/ph-ag-aberdeen-heroin-forum-1016-20151014-story.html

I made sure all of the students attending left with a Defiance t-shirt.  Gave out the rest of our supply to parents on the way out the door.  And the sheriff's office ordered 16 shirts for their entire task force.  They loved the idea, the image, the word, Defiance, and the meaning we are attaching to it.

And that is the reason I am bleaching more today!  Trying to restock, have enough for next week in the northern part of the county where some of our children attended school before we moved here.

Same message:  be sober.  I always pray like crazy to know what to emphasize, what to say, what to leave out.