365, 43-49 Main Street, USA

One of my favorite things about this area is historic Jonesborough, Tennessee. It's about a 20 minute drive from our front door to Main Street! I get to go there lots these days as Caleb is practicing for "High School Musical" at Jonesborough Repertory Theatre.




These pictures were all taken Saturday afternoon on Main Street.

First of all, the Courthouse, where I recently was sworn in as a notary public and where I go to pay for our car licenses and property taxes (and though I hate to pay property taxes, I think it's kind of interesting that our county clerk's name is Jack Daniels):



Next up, the Historic the 1797 Chester Inn, the oldest still standing inn in Tennessee, which housed presidents traveling through the Appalachian Mountains on the Great Stage Road, including Jackson, Andrew Johnson and James K. Polk.



Here is a log cabin (right on Main Street) that Andrew Jackson himself used to live in when he practiced law:



And here is the "Parson's Table" where Terry and I had our first date over 21 years ago:



And here are some more of my favorites from Main Street (including yet another "Senior Photo" shot of Rebecca):

365, 36-42 Senior Photos Part 2

Rebecca and I were in downtown Bristol this past week, so I took the opportunity to take some more photos of her. I was going to try for some urban alleyway shots ,which really doesn't fit her personality, but I wanted to give it a try. Instead the old train station caught my eye,and thought it would be a neat backdrop. I loved all the architectural elements with the big doors and the railings.

Here again, I can't really make up my mind between the black and white and the color photos. I think I like the B&W better.

365, 29-35 Tune Up Pomp and Circumstance

This week Rebecca's diploma, cap and gown arrived. It's a little early since her graduation is not until May 20th, but the days are flying fast.







I remember well the day we started homeschooling kindergarten. I have easily learned as much as she has during these past thirteen years. She told me she was going to make me my own diploma to celebrate relearning all that stuff that may not have stuck the first time around.

I have really cherished the time we have spent together. The relationship that we share has been the neatest part of our homeschool experience. I'll blog about that more about that later as I just am not ready to deal with all those emotions right now.

I've had fun doing some "Senior Portrait Sessions" with her this year. Below are my best efforts to date. I love our new pancake lens (courtesy of Panasonic) and used it for all of these. I've had a hard time choosing a favorite!














We tried some "city shots" downtown, but it was cold and windy and the late afternoon sun ruined the lighting. We'll try again when we get a sunny, spring-like day. We also have an antique dress (from my great aunt Pansy) to use for some photos - I think those would look really cool in a sepia tone.

While the World Watched

This memoir, written by a survivor of a Klan-planted bomb that went off in her church and killed four of her teenage girlfriends, both inspired and educated me. Carolyn Maull McKinstry tells of growing up in Birmingham (called "Bombingham" by many at the time) and how the tragic bombing of September 15, 1963 shaped her life for years to come. And though this tragedy occured in church, she looked to Jesus to heal her and help her forgive.

This well-written personal story contains a timeline, photos, copies of Jim Crow Laws and excerpts of speeches from Martin Luther King, Jr., John Kennedy and Governor George Wallace. It is very helpful in getting an overall picture of the segregated south and the Civil Rights Movement.

365* 22-28, Snow Shrine, Snow Whine

Snowfall is magical to me! I can never get enough of it. Now, if I lived in Wisconsin, I'm sure I'd get my fill, but here in the south there is always a special excitement when snow is in the forecast and a feeling of disappointment if the snow does not materialize (or if our neighbors in surrounding counties get more than we do). At our house, we have a tabletop display that I have jokingly referred to as our "snow shrine" (which obviously does not work well).




And though I don't really collect snowmen (really, I don't), I practiced taking close-up photos this week on some of the snowmen around the house (including one that decorates the back of a toilet, one that holds mail, and one that contains this week's Mommytography "I Spy" object).











We were predicted to get up to 3 inches of snow this past Wednesday night. Instead, we got this "dusting" which looked more like a bad case of dandruff on our deck table.






Did we whine? You bet we did! Even if we had gotten the predicted 3", we would have complained to hear that Elizabethton got 4". Here is my son Noah watching for snow and giving his famous snow pout:

Thoughts on Happy Thoughts

I'm going to make a departure from my usual posts with photos, family news, or book reviews to share my thoughts about something.

For me, it started a few years ago. When listening to the Today Show, I heard Matt Lauer (or was it Ann Curry?) saying after some tragic event that they were "sending our prayers and happy thoughts." Now, I often hear them just sending "happy thoughts."

Is this the new politically-correct version of prayer? When someone doesn't really believe in the power of prayer (and doesn't want to be hypocritical) but wants to show they care, I guess this has become the appropriate thing to say. But if someone doesn't believe in prayer, do they seriously believe that "happy thoughts" are going to telepathically come to the rescue? I don't think so. I guess that they really don't know what to say, and they feel the need to say something.

Sometimes Christians (me included) are bad about saying that they are going to pray about something and then not doing it. In that case, they may believe in the power of prayer but be too lazy or forgetful to actually do it. In that case, they might as well have sent "happy thoughts."

For those of you who have prayed for us and Terry's job situation, I sincerely thank you! I also thank you that none of you have sent me "happy thoughts." If you do ever tell me you're sending me "happy thoughts," I won't be offended. But I hope you don't mind if I send up a prayer for you to come to know the God who truly answers prayer.

The Goodness of God

I have really loved Randy Alcorn's books, so I was thrilled to get a chance to review "The Goodness of God: Assurance of Purpose in the Midst of Suffering." I was not disappointed. This is a small book on a big subject, but Randy Alcorn did a good job of making every word count. A lot of theology is covered, but it never took on a boring tone.

I would recommend this book to anyone wrestling with this issue, but better yet, read this book to prepare yourself when suffering inevitably comes!

Reading this review after the fact, it seems like one of the lamest ever. I guess I was just being lazy. I really did think this was an incredible book - and since it's barely over a hundred pages, it is an easy read. It was full of examples - some of Randy Alcorn's own life - and it left me with such a grand view of God's sovereignty. One of my favorite quotes was near the beginning. Hopefully, it will whet your appetite for more:

"Evil and suffering have a way of exposing our inadequate theology. When affliction comes, a weak or nominal Christian often discovers that his faith doesn't account for it or prepare him for it. His faith has been in his church, denomination, or family tradition, or in his own religious ideas - but not in Christ. As he faces evil and suffering, he may, in fact, lose his faith.

But that's actually a good thing; any faith that leaves us unprepared for suffering is a false faith that deserves to be abandoned. Genuine faith will be tested by suffering; false faith will be lost - the sooner, the better.

Believing God exists isn't the same as trusting the God who exists. If you base your faith on lack of affliction, your faith lives on the brink of extinction . . ."

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group in return for reviewing it on my blog

365* 15-21 Beginnings

Sorry, that was the only theme I could come up with for this week's photos. I know I don't have to have a theme, but just humor me.

This week I took tons of pictures at the wedding of a daughter of a dear friend of mine. I was not the wedding photographer - in fact, I tried to be wherever she wasn't in order to catch something that she might miss (like the groom using his laptop to try to capture the wedding on Skype, an effort that failed due to low signal strength). I also got caught up taking lots of pictures of the wedding cake topper and cupcakes. The DELICIOUS cupcakes were provided by a local shop, "The Ugly Cupcake," and they asked me to take some photos for their website.

It was so fun to capture the beginning of this couple's new life together, and I think the shot of the bride and groom together captures the excitement that was in the air.







My other shots were taken at the beginning of the day on two different days this week.

On this first one, the sky was so pink, that I looked up from my reading and ran outside for a photo.



For this second shot, the moon was setting as the sun was rising. It made for a very wintery scene and reminded me of the book "Owl Moon."