Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's scavenger hunt items are:

1. Pattern
2. Sunglasses
3. Round
4. Looking in
5. Crunchy

Pattern

This was an awesome pattern to see tonight at our church:  Operation Christmas Child boxes ready to be filled at the packing party.

The boxes looked even better filled...

(So far, our church has collected at least 120 boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  November 25th is the deadline for dropping off boxes--It's not too late to put together a box that will make a difference in the life of a child!  Click over for more information on drop off locations, or make a donation to help cover shipping costs.  You can find a video of Si Robertson packing an OCC box at that link, too.)

Sunglasses

Here's Grace (7) sporting her sunglasses...

Round

Poor Bono has had the cone of shame for the last couple of weeks because of a wound he caused on his hip.  He gets around well with it now, and actually stands still when it has had to be put back on because of him chewing at the site again, but it was quite an adjustment for him at first.  (Think:  Large puppy...smallish house...lots of furniture.)

Looking in

Grace received her very own Bible after memorizing the books of the Bible last week!  (Yes, all of them--Old and New Testaments!)

Now she is "looking in" God's word.

Crunchy

It's crunchy leaves, of course...

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in on the fun!  

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

It's time for Scavenger Hunt Sunday again!  Here are my interpretations for this week's photography prompts.

Table

This photo is from July 2012, when Bono was 4 months old and would sometimes sleep with his head underneath a chair at the kitchen table.  He can't do this anymore...he's too big!

Bono the Bouvier des Flanders

I decided to use a photo from archives, because otherwise this is all I have for "table":   pretty much my favorite thing to see on my kitchen table!  

Grace (7) has said for a while, "They spell it wrong on the label!"  I asked her what she meant, and she said it should read "Mom's Favorite Cookie."

I collect

I don't really collect anything in particular, but I do like snow globes.  In particular, I like the snow globes that my husband finds for me, like this one that is from Italy.  (There's a movie reference here...While You Were Sleeping.)

Music

We have a resident guitar player (Robert, 16) who not only plays guitar but draws 'em, too.

He also has sheets of musical things posted on his wall for reference.

Yes!

When I saw my friend Nancy's Facebook post, saying "YES!" with the image she posted, I knew I had found my photo for this prompt.

Someone I miss

I didn't want to take a picture of a picture, so here's a doll that was my mom's.  It was probably the last doll she received, and she had picked it out as a gift from her father when they went to a festival/craft fair together several years before her death.  (She passed away when my oldest, Robert, now 16, was 9 months old.)  Also, the record behind the doll was my grandfather's (her father).

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in on the fun!  

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I'm a little late in joining in with this week's scavenger hunt!  Here are my interpretations.

(All photos are SOOC [straight out of the camera] except for cropping.)

M is for...morning glories.  There are still a few blooming each day in our yard.

What you saw today:  A boy loving on our puppy.

Josiah (11) with Bono (18 mos. old).  Bono is a Bouvier des Flandres and weighs over 80 lbs.

Corner:  This one is from a couple of weeks ago, when I took a bunch of photos of a local historic church.  (Click over to see more.)

Pink:  A pink sunset over our church.

Hands:  I've said before how it's a little freaky impressive how often Grace (7) can catch butterflies with her bare hands.  She did it again last Friday...and didn't want to let her go.  She named the butterfly Angel and said she was her most favorite one.  She let little Angel go...it just took a while.  And judging by the look on her face, it was among the most difficult things she has ever had to do.

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in on the fun!  

Walking Bono

...in our backyard.

Grace (7) in July 2013

Grace loves walking Bono, even if it's only in our backyard.  

Bono doesn't mind.   He's a pretty laid back puppy and puts up with nearly everything

...which is a really good thing considering his size!  

I wish this photo weren't so blurry.  It would have made a cute shot.  

I'll have to post some more recent photos of Bono.  These were taken earlier this summer, and Bono has really filled out since then.

Attitude

Bono has started sitting with his front legs crossed...which makes him look like he has an attitude with his tongue hanging sticking out if you catch him at the right angle.

This was before his summer cut, and around the time that a neighborhood boy asked if he was a bear!  Because, obviously, if we had a pet bear, we would have our 11 year old walk him through the neighborhood every day...

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

The scavenger hunt items for this week were

• Relaxing
• Inspiring person
• Written words
• Memories
• Best friend

Relaxing

 How about a beautiful, relaxing sunset?

Grace (7) is relaxing while watching a video with her "new" horse, with our puppy Bono feeling a little left out and wondering, "Who's this guy?"  (Correction:  Grace says it should read "Who's this girl?" because the horse's name is Lady Rose.)

Inspiring person

Well, for me, that would be Jesus Christ.  He is "God come looking for us" and is our example.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2:5-11 NIV, emphasis added)


Written words

How about the written word of God?  

This is an idea I've used in our church nursery/preschool ministry...Bible verses on wristbands.  More often than not, the verse at least makes it out the door with the child.  :)

The photo features one of my favorite verses:

My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:2)

Make sure the verse is printed off-center to allow an overlap of the ends, and secure with dot stickers.  

Memories

Memories come from the everyday things, like exploring at the edge of a parking lot...

Grace

Grace...airborne!

as well as the special things, like camp.  (Click on the link to see photos from Josiah's camp experience last year.)

Josiah's and the other campers' bags outside their cabin

Best friend

Josiah's best friend came to camp with him this year.  These two will talk and talk and talk and talk...

Josiah (11) and his best friend

Here's a better photo of the two of them that I took in April 2013:

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in on the fun!  

Flashback: St. Simons Island

Since it's summer and we have no vacation in sight (we typically go off-season), I thought I'd reminisce about the trip to St. Simons Island we took last July with my dad and stepmom.

We stayed at Epworth By the Sea

My dad and Miss Kathleen while we were all waiting for the dolphin tour to begin...

Our family climbed to the top of the St. Simons lighthouse with my dad.  

The view from the top of the lighthouse

Incidentally, the pier in the above photo was where we found the old pelican that is dubbed "the most photographed thing on St. Simons Island."  

These were my "hold my camera over my head to get the shot and pray I don't drop it" photos.  :)

A slight peek into the lantern room

Just beyond the lighthouse, this was as close as you could get to the water without falling in...which almost happened, according to my dad.  The stairs at the very bottom were, of course, slippery.

We almost got Robert to smile for a photo.  Almost.

Robert (15), Grace (6) and Josiah (10) in July 2012

At least he smiled ever-so-slightly for Miss Kathleen's photo.  :)

We ventured into the downtown area...

Grace the bookworm found a reading nook

Each evening, we visited Bono, who was staying at a local kennel...

The kids kinda missed Bono!

and stopped to see Christ Church, too.  Here's a tip:  don't go at dusk if you hope to get any good photos.  ;)  This was my best shot, looking at an entrance to the property.  

Once we got on the property, the trees and Spanish moss made the photos dark, which worked well enough for a silhouette.

Here's my dad with the only non-Hawaiian shirt I've seen him in in a while.  The t-shirt says, "Just be happy I'm not your kid"...

because, as he says, "then you'd be older than dirt."

Click on the links in this post to see more photos, like ones about the beach, our trip in general, quirky things (including something about a velociraptor), and Spanish moss...lots of Spanish moss.