Love Thursday

If you live in our family long enough...


you just might get one...


of your very own.


John bought this 1988 Volvo 240 Station Wagon from a music professor in East Grand Rapids. It came complete with this bumper sticker. Peace.

Love Thursday

This past Monday, the girls were off for winter break and Bridget found some time to experiment with her hair. The result was this fun, fun style which was begging to be preserved in a photograph. It was night time, so I played with some lighting techniques - I have a ways to go on that, I know, but we did have fun together!!!

Love Thursday

We are trying to love the snow! I asked Bridget to stand with the snow as a backdrop the way I had done with Maria a couple of years ago.

Bridgie, Feb 2010

Maria, Feb 2008

Then, I went out and watched a drip from an icicle for awhile and thought how nice it is to feel the warmer (33 degrees) temps.

Then I just admired some snow and the way it sat on this step so geometrically.

Happy Love Thursday!

Love Thursday

Edward leaves on a run through the neighborhood yesterday.

I can't believe this day has arrived! Today is the day I will be bringing Ed to the airport as he begins his epic journey to the fatherland. He will be studying in Amsterdam at the Vrij University and will return home June 11. We are very excited for him!!! (and of course we will miss him.) Maybe I will have to take a million pix of him on the way to the airport so they will last for awhile. Don't worry, I'm not that insane.

Love Thursday

Bubblelicious :)

Love Thursday

I love my teenage girls!
September 2009

Love Thursday

Photo by Maria

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.
--Helen Keller

Leaf Love Thursday

Still out there if you look...

Love Thursday

At first I thought Maria was having a love affair with American Literature as she studied for the final...


... until I realized she had also made herself a pair of matching shoes.

Happy Love Thursday!

Love Thursday

I haven't done a Love Thursday post in awhile. Well...yesterday, I went over see friends of ours from church - Jodie, Justin & their new almost 3 week old baby Joseph -- and of course to take pictures. I couldn't wait! They were having fun being a new family, you could just tell.

Love Thursday

Photo of Maria by her friend Trudy

I love to see photos of my girls taken by their friends: a new perspective. Maria's friend Trudy who is a senior in high school already is a very good photographer. I believe also that Maria may look differently into the camera of her friend. Just a thought.

Love Thursday

Often times when I need a subject to photograph, our cat Leo comes through. I can only do it when he presents himself to me, because if he's not in the mood, well you know cats.



From the time we got him about 8 years ago, he has been a character and he often makes me laugh!



This infamous pose was taken almost 4 years ago - he's provided many photo ops since then! To see some more of them, click here.

Love Thursday

Each year, I'm not so excited about Christmas until I decorate the tree with a favorite Christmas CD in the background to help me meditate on its true meaning. This year the music of choice was Fernando Ortega's new Christmas cd. (I love it!) Every year our tree has been decorated with an assorted collection of ornaments, many of which were made by the kids. Well, when the 13 year old baby of the family says, "Mom, you should just put up the snowflakes", you know it's time you can move on... This year, I just used the gold and white ornaments and bows. The picture on the right was taken with a black piece of paper with a heart cutout over the lens.

Come Thou long-expected Jesus Born to set Thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us, Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art;

Dear desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver, Born a child and yet a King,

Born to reign in us forever, Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit, Rule in all our hearts alone;

By Thine all sufficient merit, Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Click here to listen to part of this beautiful song sung by Fernando.

Love Thursday

Nature is too thin a screen; the glory of the omnipresent God bursts through everywhere.- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy Love Thursday Everyone!

Love Thursday

Tea Time Through The Viewfinder

Do you want an adventure now or shall we have our tea first?"- Peter Pan.

Every night after supper, if I don't have to go anywhere, I partake in the ritual of tea. I love this ritual. I have a big mug of Celestial Seasonings mint green tea which settles my stomach along with my 2 nightly Wintergreen Tums. I might sound like an old lady, but I have been doing this for years.

Love Thursday

I knew Sharon was up to something for my birthday this past Monday at work. Well, I arrived Monday morning to find 5 heart shaped leaves on my desk! I had a feeling it was going to be a great day.

I soon found out that she made a red velvet cake - from scratch - just like my grandma, of twins lens reflex fame, made for me every year. Sharon remembered this and made this work of art:



Oh, and the part that makes it extra -worthy for Love Thursday? She made it in the shape of a heart! Thanks Sharon and Happy Love Thursday!!!


The blogger in her red velvet birthday shirt and the red velvet birthday heart cake.

Love Thursday

Do you know how every fall tree looks so different? When I saw this group of leaves, I fell in love and HAD to take their photo.


I love my walks through the neighborhood during this time of year.


I can never get enough of this color!


And oh, the amazing ones that are full of color!

Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.

-Albert Schweitzer

(saw this quote and other beautiful leaves over at Red or Gray)

Love Thursday

I *heart* my friends

As I mentioned before, Bridget & I went to Emily's birthday party a few week's ago in a hotel suite. The room was decked out (by Cathy, the mom) like a big birthday love bomb for 13 year old girls and included a heart shape that would surround you when you looked in the mirror. My bff cathy joined in as I was taking this photo for Love Thursday! Happy LT!

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart. -Eleanor Roosevelt

Love Thursday

Chicago, Sept, 2008, The Blogger with her True Love

I was so so happy to see this photo be recovered after the big Chicago camera trauma resolved because it was such a happy memory. We were walking around Chicago and I was taking John's picture in front of this statue when a professional came up to us and asked if she could take one of both of us. She was holding a HUGE camera and took my little Rebel XT and said, I know what I'm doing. You can see she did.

Love Thursday

Bridget & Maria, with her new fake glasses, after school yesterday

Maria and Bridget, though they are 3 years apart, are the very best of friends. When I get my camera out, it doesn't take much at all for them to put their arms around each other and smile and I am so thankful for this. Happy Love Thursday!

Love Thursday

This past Saturday. Edward ran in his first Half Marathon. He's never run as far as 13.1 miles before in all his years of distance training, so we were happy when he got the 2nd place trophy in his age group. We took pictures of him with his trophy, but I lost them in the great Chicago camera trauma. He gave me this refrigerator magnet to remember the accomplishment and I thought that was very sweet. When we got home from Chicago, I had this feeling all night of expectation that Edward would be coming home soon. As a friend reminded me today, he has been gone a month already.



After finally giving in yesterday to the fact that our mums are beyond help, this same dear friend surprisingly gave me these mums today. She didn't know yet about the mum story from yesterday, but she did know Edward had been away a month.

Love Thursday

I can't believe it's already Thursday! As I was going on my daily walk and thinking about what I was going to write about today, I thought of this picture I took of a firework that had a little pink heart in the middle of it. (I didn't notice it until I saw it on the computer screen.) As I was walking, I realized it was Thursday and so I thought this would be the perfect post. "Love Thursday" is a weekly feature at Shutter Sisters and today's post there, amazingly, is about how sometimes a heart just appears in your photo.

"We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.” -Mother Teresa