Project 366 -- Family & Flowers

Days 80 - 90

Our neighborhood's first tulip

Lissie playing with praise team on Easter Sunday

 

Daria (17)

Alexander (12)

Love the reflections of Daria and Amy in this water goblet

Noticed these "birds" of light created by my water goblet on our dining room table

Our beloved Aunt Jean calls these "Daffer-down-dillies"

Ready garage access for the many pairs of shoes used by the 12 in our family

Project 366 -- Tulips to His Glory

Days 76-79

Tulips don't grow especially well in our home town so I was thrilled to see bed upon bed of them when we visited Kansas City this weekend. As always seems to happen when I have the chance to study flowers through a camera lens, my awe for our Creator grows!

Project 366 -- Perfect Backdrop

Day 75 -- April 1, 2012

My friend, Jason, (a talented photographer whose work I study) says that much of people photography is being in the right place at the right time. His understanding of his craft certainly applies to this photo!

Our family was saying good-bye to the dear aunt and uncle we visited this weekend in Kansas City. As everyone was hugging one another and exchanging farewells, I noticed that Cassandra (17) was standing in front of an American flag waving gently in the breeze. I had the camera hanging 'round my neck so the shot was easy to catch. I'm so grateful to God that He had this mom in just the right place at just the right time!

Project 366 -- Lunch Preps

Day 74

As an extra large family that home schools, we've found that traditional American lunch foods like sandwiches take too long to prepare. Instead, our mid day fare is often a simple casserole. The kids cook lunch on a rotating basis in the late morning while I read aloud to the whole tribe in the adjoining room. Today my 20-year-old daughter, Lissie, was the head of the food-prep team. She was combing a favorite, free cooking magazine which we get from Kraft Foods once a quarter looking for ideas when I snapped this picture of her.

Project 366 -- Spring Blossoms at Sunset

Day 73

Project 366 -- Former Orphanage Mates

Day 72

Natasha (on the left - 12) and Tatiana (14) are biological sisters whom we adopted from Russia seven years ago.

The girls didn't live together when they were little. They were separated by the dysfunctionality of their mother's life, and there was no father figure. Natasha lived with her younger sister, Amy (now 9), and their mother in a western region of the vast country, very close to the borders of Ukraine and Belarus, while Tatiana lived in Moscow with a grandmother. What united them? A better question is who united them. The Lord abounds in lovingkindness (Neh 9:17), and He demonstrated it in the lives of these two sisters when He caused their paths to intersect such that they were placed in the same orphanage. There they became fast friends. Yesterday, as we waited for our order at the Blue Bunny ice cream parlor, I snapped this photo of their continuing friendship as they shared the side of a booth and happy conversation.

Project 366 -- International Geographic

Days 69-71

After lunch clean-up is finished each school day, I read a chapter book to our four youngest, Alexander (12), Natasha (12), Amy (9), and Oksana (7). Today while I read a biography about British missionary William Carey, the youngest girls played with Play-Doh. Alexander dabbled happily at the Play-Doh, but his interest was truly sparked when I gave him a geography assignment.

The biography mentioned young Carey's fascination with William Cook's first-time exploration of the Western coast of Australia and the island of Tahiti. I asked Alexander to find Tahiti on our globe. I couldn't resist taking photos of his effort to find the elusive land form.

Even between the two of us we never did find Tahiti, but while I continued to read Alexander enjoyed exploring the globe further on his own. He is a dedicated, curious learner and a delight to our family.

Project 366 -- Devotion

When big sister Katie returned from Ethiopia earlier this week, five-year-old "Peaches" smile stretched all the way to her eyes. A year ago, Peaches was living in an orphanage. But God had a big plan for the little girl whose Ethiopian name means "I have a sister." That big plan included the love and security of a family--including a sister who adores her.

Project 366 -- Reunion

Day 66 -- March 13

Tonight my dear friend returned from 10 days in Ethiopia. I was privileged enough to catch the reunion between Tanya and her youngest child at the Omaha airport. Our family was there to welcome home the entire team from our church who went to love on the people of that country, including our 20-year-old son, John.

Project 366 -- Arizona Wonders

Days 59-65

Traveling with my husband to Tucson last week gave me the opportunity to photograph many plants that definitely don't make their home in the upper Midwest. We were in awe of our great God's creativity and majesty!

Project 366 -- Reflections

Days 57 & 58 -- March 4-5, 2012

Lissie

The most recent post on our family blog, Unto Him We Live, tells how we took our 20-year-old son, John, to the Omaha airport yesterday for a 10-day trip to Ethiopia with others from our church. I took the photo above as Lissie watched for one of the team members to arrive.

When Lissie gave me her permission to use this picture, she told me that the photo captures what she'll look like in nine days as she eagerly watches for her twin's plane to land.

Lissie misses John terribly, and this is just his first full day gone. What a bond the two share--begun in the womb and still strong more than 20 years later! I have no doubt that some of the movement that I felt while pregnant with the two of them was John cracking a joke and Lissie giggling riotously. In our family, we frequently say that Lissie's always been John's greatest audience. Her consistent willingness to laugh at his puns and quips has probably contributed significantly to the development of John's winning sense of humor that his whole family appreciates and is currently missing.

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This second photo lacks the human interest but is also a reflection I captured at the airport yesterday:

The photo was taken of an empty store front in the Omaha Airport (at the bottom of the photo you can see some of the wiring left when the souvenir shop went out of business.) I was facing the interior of the airport, but the bright sun reflecting on the parking garage makes it look as though I was photographing the exterior. The seams in the store's glass frontage caused the parking garage to look rent (as in ripped) or rippled. The picture feels all too much like modern art for my taste. But in this year when I'm trying to practice nearly daily with my camera to increase my skill and abilities, my experiment of photographing an empty shop was an effective learning experience.

Project 366 -- White Wonder

Days 53-56

I like how little Oksana appears a bit fairy-like as she's peeking through the bushes at me in these first two photos.

In the third photo, I was enchanted by the tenacity of the ice on the curved branches of the Weeping Hickory. In the final photograph, the luminous, little ice sculptures clung to the branches just where crabapple blossoms will appear in a few weeks.

Project 366 -- Snow Frog

Day 52

When I went out snapping photos last week, this guy brought a smile to my face.

Project 366 -- Snow Wonder

Days 49-51

"Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let those who love your salvation say continually,
The Lord be magnified!"                   Psalm 40:16

Project 366 -- My God Has Answered

Day 48

When my husband and I were moved to adopt yet again in late 2009, our hearts were captured by the story of the boy who would become our son, Alexander. We saw his tale at The Russian Orphan Lighthouse Project Blog. As we began the adoption process, we also felt tugged to add one more little girl to our family (we already had seven daughters--our family blog can be found at Unto Him We Live).

When we told the program's coordinator, Becky, that in addition to Alexander we also had our hearts set on a little girl, she told us not to get out hopes up. There'd been changes to the Russian foster system since we'd adopted our three daughters, Tatiana, Natasha and Amy, in 2005. More Russians were taking children into their homes to foster, and Becky told us that little girls were chosen first by foster parents.

We told Becky we understood what she was saying, but that we felt certain the Lord had one more little girl for us and we were going to pray with an audacious spirit that He would bring her into our lives. Although the story is too long to share here in a Project 366 photo post, our great God did a mighty work through tangled circumstances to give us that precious daughter (we also adopted a 15-year-old girl--that too is a future post). Oksana was five when we first met her and is growing up way too fast. She is a precious gift from the Lord, and part of the name we gave her even means "My God Has Answered."

To this adoptive mother, my little girl's eyelashes are beautiful. I've watched them thicken and lengthen with the improvement in her nutrition since her adoption. Today I captured those lashes illumined by "snow light" as the white precipitation fell heavily outside.

Project 366 -- Back to Georgia

Day 47

Didn't get the camera out today so I'm going to share some photos I took of the interior of the hotel in which I stayed when attending "Created for Care," a conference for adoptive moms.

Project 366 -- Rare Opportunity

Day 46

Today I had the opportunity to photograph a normally elusive subject--my husband. Like many adults, he doesn't enjoy having the camera turned on him. However, today I caught him with my request at the happiest time of his day--just after he returns from work. Each evening 10 children surround him as he walks in the door. Each evening 10 hugs await him as soon as he sets down his computer. Each evening 10 inquiries greet his ear asking how his day went. Each evening I impatiently wait my turn to wrap my arms around my best friend of 28 years. It's the happiest time of MY day also.

Tonight we went upstairs to cuddle for a few minutes on the small sofa in our room. (Its hard for the parents of 12 to get much time alone!) The lighting in the early evening was just what photography books recommend for getting a portrait-type photo. Jim surprised me with a "Yes," when I asked him. I struggled getting the picture I wanted of the man who means everything to me--too much light, wrong angle, too little light, backdrop that was too pale. Through my photographic struggles, my man laughed and let me carry on until finally the 42nd exposure met my expectations.

Project 366 -- Blah

Day 46

Today has been blah--heavy, overcast skies...rain melting the bit of snow cover we did have...wind. Just grey, grey, grey.

What did I learn  about photography on Day 46 of this year-long project? It's hard to make blah interesting!

Project 366 -- Days 43-45

Day 43

I continue to be fascinated with this perfume bottle. I just love the way the facets catch the late afternoon light. Even with this second attempt, I'm still not sure I've done the bottle's beauty justice.

Day 44

Lissie helped Oksana make her first batch of cookies, which we happily devoured at lunch yesterday. I missed getting photos of the baking. I did however caught my little one and her sister serving the warm goodies straight from the oven.

Day 45

Our family tradition for more than a decade is to prepare a brunch on Saturday that we then enjoy together before we go to church on Sunday. The photography is poor since the picture is back lit, but I'm including it anyway since it speaks to an important event in our family each week.

Our bruch always includes a sweet, and this week we were treated to carmel roles crafted by Natasha (11). They were SCRUMPTIOUS!

After breakfast I spent some time reading my Bible. Sunshine enjoyed the opportunity to both see and smell the world through the cracked window near where I was sitting.

Sunshine then had the audacity to jump on my bed and settle in for a mid-morning nap. Her eyes spoke of guilt over being where she's not allowed, but she didn't budge.