In Honor of Those Whom Have Gone Before Us

I got the great honor today to be able to go and put flags by the graves of many brave men and women at Fort Custer National Cemetery, with about four-hundred or so other soles. When I first arrived it looked blank and like there was no one buried there, because all the stones are laying flat on the ground. After only a few minutes I could clearly see that my first impression was far from right, being able to slowly see the flags accumulate.

            About an hour and a half after we started we were finished every grave accounted for with a flag boldly waving in the wind. And as I walked by each section on my way back to the car, it was almost a haunting feeling. I was able to share that experience with a member of the US Army, and friend of mine. As he walked by each section he observed the men and women whom had gone before him, those whom had been just as willing to die for the freedom of this country and its people.

And as I walked beside him I couldn’t help but think how thankful I was that he was willing to fight for me, my freedom, and my family. So I wish to thank all of the brave men and women from all walks of life that decided to listen to the call and fight for us, because they don’t get thanked nearly enough.

And I’d like to encourage each and every one of you who read this Blog post to thank some one for all they do, and have done for you.

Butterflies

I don’t know about you but Butterflies are my favorite insects. They remind me of fairies and I was always a big fan of them as well.

I was lucky enough to be able to go to “Frederik Meijer Gardens” located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with one of my best friends recently. Now any time of year is a great time to go to “Frederik Meijer Gardens,” because there is always something going on there. One of their special events they have every year is a butterfly display of exotic butterflies from all around the world. And that was the main reason why my friend and I went.

I was expecting something great, but when we walked into the green house to see hundreds of butterflies floating around, I was taken back. There is no way to describe how amazing and breath taking it was to see everything contained in that room. It was easy to spend hours in there and we did. I hope if you have never been to see the exhibit that someday you will go, because there is no way to describe it to you that you could possibly feel what I did. Some times you just have to go and see for yourself and let the beauty of God’s creation stare you in the face.

And one of the many cool things about the exhibit is you don’t have to be lucky to have one land on you, it is quite common. I even had one that liked my camera very much.

Enjoy your Spring everyone, I know I am!!

Picture taken by: Tim Ulman

To see more pictures visit us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=218529&id=149661450766&ref=mf

Senior Banquets

One fateful day a couple years back a friend of mine called me up and informed me that she had been put in charge of creating a placemat for our churches Senior Banquet, celebrating their graduation. Not knowing what to say I congratulated her on being chosen, and she swiftly informed me that they had picked her because she said that I would make it. And that it had to be done that week, so she was coming over with pictures and a ruff sketch. When she arrived she gave me all the information I would need to know to make the placemat, like the size, the theme of the night and all the pictures and names of the Seniors. Monopoly was the theme so after spending a few hours trying to make a Monopoly board in Photoshop with the dimensions of the placemat, I finally decided to do what I should have done in the first place. Go and take a picture of one of the Monopoly boards that I own. Making it much easier for me, since now all I had to do was change the names of some of the squares to fit with the local hang-out spots, add the pictures, and type in all the names. After a few drafts being sent back and forth with the big man in charge, they finally decided on the one I’m displaying here.

The next year I found out through another one of my friends that they needed help with the Senior Banquet. I really wanted to help but unfortunately I was going to be in Colorado during the time the Senior Banquet was taking place. So I told my friend I would help in any way I could before hand and to just let me know. When she started going through the list of things that needed to be done, one struck me and I knew I had to do it. They needed the placemats made. Despite the interesting way I ended up doing the placemats the year before I had really enjoyed it. The theme for this year was completely different, it was The Red Carpet. It needed to be sleek and have all of the Seniors in at least one picture. Thinking that that would be no problem I took up the task. I soon found out that only two Seniors had turned in pictures on a CD, so I tried to find pictures of all the Seniors without having too many of the two that turned pictures in. You can probably tell the two that turned in pictures though.

And I’ll probably be doing this for at least a few more years to come. Though volunteering can be hard work it’s never not interesting, and that’s what I love.

Don't forget you can check us out on Facebook too.

Josh 2010

Josh asked if we could do his senior picture in January because he wanted his pictures out in the snow. Which kind of intrigued me because I had never taken or seen anyone’s Senior Pictures done out in the snow. But shortly before I showed up to take his Senior Pictures I started envisioning bad things like he was going to have a coat he absolutely wouldn’t want his pictures taken in or that he would have to take his coat off real quick as we snapped a few shots. But to my delight when I arrived he had a very stylish coat, and had coordinated everything to go with it.

Now I’ve done his family’s pictures before so I knew he was very easy to coach into the position I was looking for. But I have to say he still surprised me anyway. He explained to me that he had done his research and knew what he liked and what he wanted, so all I had to do was point out a good background and he would snap into the perfect pose, making each one look perfectly natural. Never have I had someone so easy to photograph. Way to go JD!

To see more pictures go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=192352&id=149661450766&saved

Samara

I had the honor of doing Samara’s pictures a few months ago. And if you’re wondering what took me so long to get them up, well her Father brought her to get her pictures taken as a surprise for his wife’s Christmas gift, so I had to wait till after Christmas to put them up. But isn’t that the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?

Samara was very well behaved throughout the photo shoot. At that point in time she was about 3 months old and unable to hold herself up and didn’t like being on her tummy so we did all of the shots of her on her back, other then the one we did of her and Daddy. I also got to do one of my favorite things a chalk drawing of one of her pictures. Now what else can I say, other then she is completely adorable and I had so much fun!

To see more pictures visit us @ http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=192348&id=149661450766&saved

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Yes, Thanksgiving, anyone who’s gone to school and listened in History class knows about how this holiday started. But yet we forget or we don’t understand, what truly was going on. You see “Thanksgiving” means “overflowing with gratitude to the point that you have to give thanks.” And they had so much gratitude that they set aside an entire day to celebrate and express it. They had made it so far and they were hopeful and joyous about what was to come even though they knew it would be a tough road ahead.
Now fast-forward almost four-hundred years and Thanksgiving is nothing more then a day to get together with family, if that in some homes. I’m not saying a family focus is bad, in fact I believe that family should be very high on our list of priorities all the time. The whole point of Thanksgiving is to give thanks for what you have, even when you don’t think you have a lot, and family should be one of the things your thankful for, even if you don’t think you have that great of a family. Some one once said “There is always someone worse off then you,” and it’s very true.
So my suggestion this Holiday season is to try and rethink what you do for Thanksgiving, maybe go and volunteer at a soup kitchen, or ask everyone around your table to share what they are most thankful for. Or maybe you invite someone you know doesn’t have anyone to spend the holiday with, to join you and your family. Maybe you do a couple of these ideas or all of them; perhaps you come up with your own ideas. I know I’m going to do a few of these and I’m also going to writing a thank you notes to some of the people that mean the most to me, I’m going to tell them why I’m thankful for them. Let’s make this Thanksgiving not about us, or food, but about whom it really should be about, the one who gave us everything we have, God. For He deserves all our thanks-giving.

Laura

Laura is quiet and reserved, but I soon discovered she was quite at home in nature, and had a quiet playful side. We apparently chose quite the day for taking pictures, the park we went to was full of Photographers, all of us dancing around each other, to get our pictures without disrupting any one else. None of use could blame any of the others for coming to the same park it was absolutely beautiful, with vibrant colors from the trees; every shot had such great added possibility. Laura has what I call a quiet strength, she’s cute but when you look in her eyes you can tell there is something more. And there is so much more. Laura plans on going into Forensic Science, sure we’ve all seen them on TV and its strongly dramatized but she plans on doing the real thing. Talk to her for five minutes and you too will know she is more them smart enough, and quite cut out for the task. And I for one would want her on my side if I was ever falsely accused of murder.

You can find more of her pictures at; http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=175585&id=149661450766&ref=mf