New Year...New Me!

Happy New Year!! 

It's 2016, so hard to believe that 2015 is over.  It was a hard year for our family for many reasons, but it was also a great year. 

What made it so difficult?

•   Rob's job situation
•   Having no family nearby
•   Missing our son who is away at college
•   Having a hard time making 'real' friends
•   Losing our sweet dog, Cody
•   Missing the colder New England weather
•   Not feeling like our house is our home yet
•   Being sick for most of the summer
•   The heat...oh the awful humid heat!
•   Financial difficulties

What made it a great year?

•   Having my sister and her family visit us
•   Being part of an amazing church family
•   Making new friends 
•   Being a part of the women's Bible study at church
•   Getting some great photography jobs
•   Having our son home for the summer & breaks
•   Enjoying girl time with my daughter
•   Skype & Facetime calls with faraway family/friends
•   Feeling closer to God than ever before
•   Our family vacation to Colorado
•   and lots more moments throughout the year!

I truly have so much to be thankful for, and I need to count my blessings! 
These two are what I'm most proud of...






I know that God has blessed my life with an amazing husband who loves me (and to this day I have NO clue why!), and two kids who continue to amaze me on a daily basis.  I am so in love with my family, and I couldn't ask for more than that. 

So, why a new me?  I want to be different...better than ever!

I want to....

• Grow in my walk with the Lord
• Pray more for my husband & kids
• Be the best mom I can possibly be
• Work on the outward me...lose weight, feel good etc.
• Show kindness and reach out more to others
• Keep up with this blog and write from my heart
• Live my life for the Lord & be completely transparent
• Care about what matters most, not what doesn't
• Not worry about what others think of me as much as I do
• Improve on my photography skills
• Get out of debt!
• Communicate better with others & not be so introverted

This is going to take some time!!  It won't happen overnight, and it may not even happen this year, but it sure is something to work towards.  This is NOT any sort of New Year's resolution!  It's just a list of things I'd like to work on without pressure of time, or putting any sort of label on it. 

So if you think of it, pray for me. I'll be doing a lot of that myself!

Flyboy

Zachary really should have a new nickname. It should be Flyboy. He LOVES to fly. He is passionate about it, and is determined to get his pilots license before his driver's license. It's kind of exciting really. I couldn't be prouder!! He began to take flying lessons last August, so it's been nearly 1 year already. He is now an official flying club member, has his medical pilot certificate and just the other day, got his own brand new headset.



He has been doing well in his lessons. He's been taking off and landing since his very first time up (they don't waste time!) and now he knows how to do all the pre-flight and weather checks. He is learning so much and he has a wonderful Flight Instructor, so I have every confidence he will do well.

Here he is with one of the planes he flies:


Doing the pre-flight check. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT part about flying! Taking-off and landing are minor compared to this, believe it or not. Safety first!




Once the pre-flight check is done, he can head out towards the runway and prepare to take off after a simple engine check.


Zachary has done a great job landing the plane! I love flying with him.

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

18mm

Aperture

f/10

Exposure

1/100s

ISO

200

After the flight is over, they put the plane back into place and tie it down.

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

28mm

Aperture

f/13

Exposure

1/160s

ISO

200

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

22mm

Aperture

f/13

Exposure

1/160s

ISO

200

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

50mm

Aperture

f/14

Exposure

1/200s

ISO

200

Some of the best moments are while we're up in the air. Everything looks so different from the air, it's incredible!! I will post some of my favorite photos in my next post.

Pray with me as I continue to pray for my son. Pray that God will bless him with safe flights, knowledge on how to fly, and wisdom when needed. There are days when he flies without me as a passenger in the back. Those are the days I seem to pray most. It's not that I can do anything to help him while we're up in the plane together, but watching him take off into the 'wild blue yonder' alone (with his instructor but no parent) is very difficult for me. We, as parents need to hold our children with open arms. They belong to God alone. I am literally letting my son 'fly from the nest' as he grows and matures. It's not easy, but God gives me the grace, the peace and the comfort when I need it most. It's all about faith, and trusting Christ in ALL things!!

Snippets from the past year

Like I mentioned last night, I'm not going to take the time to write about everything that happened last year, but after thinking it through I decided to mention some of the highlights month by month. This way when I look back on my blog there's not a huge gaping hole of information. I'm such a Type-A person, that it would bug me to no end if I didn't. It's like reading a book and finding a few chapters missing in the middle. They're not ultra important, but they are still a part of what makes my life...'my life', so I'd like to remember them just like I want to remember the other parts. Make sense? Probably not, but that's OK, not everyone understands me. =) Anyhow, here's a quick year(and a half)-in-review. Feel free to completely skip reading this entry if you want to. I won't be offended at all because it's really here for me.

Here goes:

• January 2010: I injured my foot and spent a while on crutches. Nothing else exciting.
• February 2010: Enjoyed time with friends and family over fun game nights, Valentine's dinner and more.
• March 2010: Zachary turned 15 years old! He also had major surgery on his knee. He did well, but it wasn't without lots of pain and lots of physical therapy after. I'm happy to say that his knee is perfectly fine today and he's not had a problem since.

• April 2010: Rob celebrated another birthday. Zachary got to put his Biology tools to good use as he dissected a few specimens, and Hannah and I got to meet some great skaters face to face after seeing the Stars on Ice performance. Here she is with one of them...Sasha Cohen.

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

18mm

Aperture

f/5

Exposure

1/160s

ISO

1600

• May 2010: The definite highlight of our year...a 2 week vacation in Walt Disney World!! We saved up for years just to go on this trip. It wasn't the first time I'd been there (my parents brought us several times while growing up) but Rob and I had never been together, and the kids had never been at all. It was so exciting experiencing it through their eyes. We had a blast! Soon after coming home, Rob and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary too. =)

• June 2010: This month was when Zachary made the decision to take flying lessons. He is now pursuing his dream of flying planes with the hopes of eventually going to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. Lord willing he will!! We are so very excited for him! He also went to Ohio this month with the youth group (and our church's Bible quiz team - who won 1st place!) for a National Conference. He came back a changed young man, and we were so very proud of him.
• July 2010: Hannaah turned 9 this month! She celebrated by having an American Girl slumber party...her first one. The girls had a great time together. I also got to spend a "sister's weekend" with my older sister. We hadn't talked in almost 2 years, so we took the time to reconnect, heal and move forward. It was the best thing we did and I am so thankful to God for the opportunity! I'm going again next month for another great weekend away with her...can't wait. Here we are posing for a funny photo together just to laugh about how silly it was to waste those 2 years apart (I'm the one on the right with the knife!! Ha ha!)

• August 2010: My sister and her family (all 6 of them) came up to spend a few days with us. We had an awesome visit with them all, and the cousins were so excited to finally spend quality time together. I also got to go up to Camp-of-the-Woods with a friend (and my 2 kids) for a day, just to take photos and walk around. I worked there for 10 years as a teen and loved every minute of it. Such a great place! The highlight of this month...Zachary officially started his flying lessons!!

• September 2010: Homeschooling had already begun in August, but we activities resumed with the homeschool group that I lead, with a family picnic, great boating field trip around the local islands and more! We did a few family hikes up to Kent Falls, and enjoyed the cooler weather. Hannah also continued her skating and Zachary resumed his violin lessons after a short break. Life was back in full-swing after a nice relaxing summer.

• October 2010: Autumn is the best time of year! We took a few nice family day trips to some of our favorite places....Sturbridge Village, Yankee Candle, Deerfield and more. We truly enjoy being together as a family and we take advantage of it every minute we can. I'm so thankful for children and a husband who love family, field trips, and travel as much as I do!!
• November 2010: We enjoyed the first snow of the year in early November. I had yet another birthday (right on Thanksgiving Day)....goodness, they just keep popping up every year! =) I turned the big 45 in 2010....does that mean I've reached the top of the hill, or is that at 50? Either way, you're only as old as you feel and I don't feel a day over 100. Ha ha Actually I don't feel old at all...I'm enjoying life and aside from a few signs of wear and tear on my body, I still feel rather young. Thanksgiving was rather dull aside from my birthday. It was the first one we spent all alone - just the 4 of us. To be honest, it was kind of sad. All my life I had huge family Thanksgivings, but this year it was not meant to be. Sigh...
• December 2010: We had a homeschool-free month this year! No schooling at all...just for fun. We started extra early this year, so we enjoyed a guilt-free holiday that lasted for 5 weeks! We baked, decorated, baked, cleaned, baked, visited with friends and oh yeah...we baked! ha ha! Christmas was wonderful. We had the in-laws over and we celebrated with lots of fun, family and food!

• January 2011: New Year's Day was SO MUCH FUN!! We had an Open House for family and friends. It was so much fun, that we can't wait until New Year's Day 2012 to do it all over again. It was also a NYC month for us. Zachary flew he and I over NYC. All I can say is "WOW!" If you ever get the chance to go over the city in a plane (only 1,000 ft up) then do it!!! I also got to spend a day in the city with Rob as we went to see the Phantom of the Opera, my absolute favorite Broadway Musical!! We had a great day and enjoyed the city while snow fell on us.

One of the photos I took while flying over NYC:

Waiting for the Phantom to begin!

• February 2011: SNOW!!! To say we got a lot of snow this winter would be an understatement. It snowed long and hard. Know what though? I loved it! I enjoyed every minute of it, even the shoveling. Watching the snow get higher and higher was a riot. At one point we had to walk through a narrow path about 3 1/2' high just to get to our front door. We haven't had snow like that in years. Zachary also started to make progress on his HUGE Lionel train layout. Photos coming in a later post I'm sure. Here I am standing in the snow...barely!

• March 2011: Tea parties, flying, Play Doh, museums, photography, and field trips sums up the bulk of March. Zachary turned 16 this year which was very exciting!! We celebrated big and he got to open up his Time Capsule that we had stored away from when he was 1 year old. Inside were letters from my parents (both deceased), Rob's parents, Rob and I. Also included was a letter written to him from our Pastor from the day he was dedicated to the Lord. It was a very tearful afternoon, especially when he read the letters from my parents and from our pastor. Pastor Dave passed away only 1 week earlier after a long battle with cancer. These letters will always be precious to Lionel, I'm sure.

Getting a little emotional while listening to the letters being read out loud to him. He started to read them but couldn't make it through...not that it was easier for us either. =)

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

105mm

Aperture

f/5.6

Exposure

1/60s

ISO

3200

• April 2011:Hannah  and I got to go meet more skaters at the Stars On Ice show once again. This year was better than last! We got there early, talked to several of them and got to watch the show from the front row, right in the center of the rink. The only better place to be would've been right on the ice with the skaters! Rob celebrated his birthday this month, Zachary had his 16th birthday party (a couple weeks after his actual birthday) with friends, and we had our big homeschool Literature Fair, where both our kids brought home 1st place trophies for their work!! What a great month!

Sweet-Pea and Kurt Browning!!

Zachary as 'Sherlock Holmes'

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

24mm

Aperture

f/3.8

Exposure

1/60s

ISO

200

Hannah as 'Jane Austen'
I made this dress for her too! First time sewing like that ever!!

• May 2011: May flew by, mainly because we went away for a couple weeks down to Virginia. What a great trip! We went to Williamsburg, Newport News and Virginia Beach/Chesapeake Bay areas. We enjoyed seeing the many places full of history, before heading home via Charlottesville where we stopped in to see the Waltons Mountain Museum...such a fun place! When we got home, we had our homeschool group graduation and before we knew it, June and the heat of summer arrived!

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

18mm

Aperture

f/10

Exposure

1/400s

ISO

250

Phew! That pretty much brings the blog up-to-date...sort of. I took you on the turbo tour of my life from the past year and a half. Lord willing I won't ever let time go by again like I did. Now...on to our regularly scheduled posts.... thanks for being so patient with me and sorry for such a long post.

Photo Hunt #157 - Stripes

At first I wasn't sure what to put down for stripes, but then I saw these photos from our trip to Disney and thought they were perfect, especially the last one!!

Zachary, Hannah and Tigger...


Hannah and Piglet....
these two are SO much alike it's not funny!!


You can't live in American and hear the word 'stripes' without thinking of our flag! I took this photo outside the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum down in Georgia. I still get chills when I see it and think of all the men who have served, especially those who have given their lives, for our freedom.

Bible Quizzing

Zachary has been on our church's Bible quiz team now for 3 years. Each year, he improves just a little bit, but this year he's doing extremely well! We are SO very proud of him. The teens are studying the book of John this year (last year it was I & II Corinthians, two years ago it was Luke, and the year before that, it was Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon.) It's such a great thing to see your teenage son walk around the house with the Bible in his hand while studying so intently!!

They had their first quiz meet of the year last weekend and they did pretty well. There weren't many teams there, but they still had a LOT of fun! Here are a few photos:

Zachary, getting in some last minute studying before quizzing begins.


Part of our church team...ready to quiz.


Zachary answering one of the questions. During this particular quiz, he got 3 in a row...woo hoo...way to go Zachary!!!

Camera

NIKON D90

Focal Length

45mm

Aperture

f/8

Exposure

1/60s

ISO

1250

Jumping for yet another question. Keep in mind, these kids are quick! They hear one word (or actually 'part' of one word) and jump to answer the question before most of us adults would even be able to process it! Ahh, youth!


Here is the team enjoying a bit of fun and games before lunch. These are truly a great group of kids!!! I'm so glad Zachary is enjoying quiz team so much this year.


A few more photos....




I look forward to seeing how the team does this year. Even if they don't win first place like they did last year (at Nationals!!!), they are still #1 in my eyes. These teens are treasuring God's Word as they continue to hide it in their hearts. I pray that Zachary will always keep it with him as he grows into the man God intends for him to be. I'm so proud of him already...can't wait to see how much more he grows over the years.

P.S. Thanks to Coach Mark for a few of the photos above. Most are mine, but I have to give credit where credit is due. =)

What's Been Happining??

Wow, it's been over a month and a half since I've blogged. I don't know what happened, but I suppose I've just been in need of some 'time off'. I have missed it, but I think the time away did me some good.

I have been wanting to post about our family vacation to Disney World as well as other things we've been up to, but it's kind of late now. Instead, I'll post a few of my favorite photos...highlights from the past few months.

Summer flowers in bloom, simply gorgeous!! I love taking photos of flowers. They're so beautiful and have so many details that really pop when photographed. I took these photos at a flower farm near us.


I went on an overnight trip to PA with my sister and we had a total blast! We spent a couple hours driving around simply taking photos of the beautiful scenery. The best part was the quality time we got to spend together.


Ahhh, Camp-of-the-Woods, my home away from home for so many years. I have been going there every summer with my family since I was born, and I had the privilege of working up there on music staff for 10 summers. Such a great place where I've met so many wonderful people...many who are still a huge part of my life today. I am truly blessed!! I was able to escape for a few days with the kids to head up north to camp simply for the purpose of taking photos. So...here are some of my favorites...


As you can see, Camp is a beautiful place. The memories I made up here will last a lifetime. I cherish them every day of my life and am thankful for each and every one of them.


The kids and I up at Camp-of-the-Woods...


My sister and her family came for a visit in August. We had a wonderful time laughing, playing games, and simply hanging out together...something we haven't been able to do for a very long time. As you can see, we're quite the crazy family!!


All the cousins had a blast playing together...literally!!!


Our homeschool group had a family picnic and unfortunately not many families were able to join us, so a few of us took a hike through the woods just for fun despite the humidity and heat!


Our family LOVES going on hikes together through the woods! On this hike we went up to the top of a waterfall and back down the other side. It was a beautiful day out and we were able to get some really great photos and have a lot of laughs along the way!!


We've been homeschooling already since the end of July!! We started extra early this year because we love taking the month of December off for the holidays. The kids also have been keeping up with their extra curricular activities for the most part. Hannah has continued her skating and is improving more and more each week.


Zachary started something new in August!!!! He is now a pilot in training! It's almost hard to believe, but he's loving it. He has been up twice so far, and is due to go again soon. He's hoping to get his pilots license before his driver's license. What a trip, huh? His dream to attend the Air Force Academy is slowly becoming a reality...at least the flying part. So far he's already taken off twice, he flew the plane for almost the entire ride both times and on his next trip up, he will be landing the plane! Keep him (and me as his nervous Mom) in your prayers for safety, wisdom and peace while he's learning to fly. You can catch a video of his very first take off in my previous post. He flew a Piper Archer ii then, and in the photos below (his 2nd flight) he flew a Piper Warrior.


Our homeschool group also began our field trips. On this particular trip we took a boat tour around a bunch of nearby Islands. It was VERY fun and we got some wonderful photos since it was such a beautiful day!!


So, as you can see, the past few months I've been keeping busy. Life has been full, crazy, busy and interesting. Hopefully things will settle down a little bit now that Autumn has arrived. The weather is still pretty warm out, but we're looking forward to seeing the leaves change color soon. It's my favorite time of year...the crisp air, gorgeous colors, scents of fall, warm fires, and falling leaves. Ahhhhh!

Thanks for being patient with me as I took a little break from blogging. My family has been getting after me to continue, so Lord willing, I will be more faithful in the days to come.