Hope

"Without hope men are only half alive. With hope they dream and think and work."

-Charles Sawyer

"The important think is not that we can live on hope alone, but that life is not worth living

without it." -Harvey Milk

"We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes." -John F. Kennedy

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." -Dale Carnegie

"If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream."

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I found these quotes in an old Woman's Day magazine today. I thought they would be appropriate to post.

A new path

The past few months our family has been through so much. But through it all I held out Hope. Hope that things would return to normal (or somewhat normal), Hope that we would not lose our way, Hope that we would get over the mountain (or at least reach the top of the mountain), Hope that we would become stronger as a family, Hope that my faith in God would be renewed.

Deep down I always knew God was with us, but I did not always feel him there. I could not help but think "was he trying to teach me/us a lesson"? What kind of lesson would God be wanting to teach us? What did we do wrong? I knew/know that God all along has had a plan for our family, I often wondered what it was? What path are you taking us down?

Well today my husband got some great news, news that we really needed. It is not the path that God used to have us on, but it is a new path he is sending us down. Through everything over the past two and a half years we have become stronger as a family and as a couple. We have learned to hold our heads high no matter what is thrown our way and to hold on to what really matters in life, the little things in life..............

All Gave Some..Some Gave All

Our VFW just finished this Veterans Memorial. I thought it was only appropriate to visit it on this Veterans Day and reflect on what our Military have done and continue to do for us. I know in my everyday life I take our Veterans and active Military for granted, but on this day and everyday I am truly thankful for our Military. Thank you for keeping us safe and out of harms way.

Fix it Friday

This is my first time participating in the Fix it Friday at I heart faces. Check out all the other Fix it Friday participants.

Here is my first take on fixing this photo.
Here is my second take on fixing this photo. Not my favorite, but decided to post it anyway.
Here is the original photo.

All Aboard

Since my son has a love for Thomas the Train I wanted to find him some kind of costume that went along with trains this year. I was at Target and found this cute Thomas the Train bucket, I already had the engineer hat and the red bandanas. I simply added the overalls and this is what I came up with. Best of all it was cheap and my little guy absolutely loves it. He says he is the train driver for Halloween and loves to say "All Aboard". Happy Halloween everyone.

1st Photo session

I have also had a love for photography, I guess you could say it runs in the family. My Grandpa loved cameras and taking pictures, my aunt also dabbled in the hobby, my cousin has her own photography business and now I have started to take more pictures of family and friends.

I by no means am going to jump in full force with this, but I think I will learn the ropes little by little. I feel that it is so special for families to have their portraits displayed in their houses, and unfortunately it is so very expensive. My plan is to dabble in this business here and there and to give families great pictures at a very reasonable price. So please give me some feedback good and bad, I really want to know how I can improve my photography taken skills. I look forward to hearing from everyone.

Pink Week

This week at I heart faces the theme is Pink. This is my beautiful daughter, I took these pics on Sunday for some new family photos. Head on over to see all the wonderful pictures.

150 years

Happy 150th anniversary of Holy Family Parish
This past weekend our church parish celebrated it's 150th year. Our old historic church was opened to the parishioners and since we have never been inside we took advantage of the opportunity. I enjoyed taking pictures of all the beautiful stained glass windows and this was my favorite one.
The alter in the old Holy Family Church was very pretty. The floor was very intricate with detailing on the floor.
The view from the outside of the church was beautiful as well. There is a gorgeous stained glass window above the front door that says "Holy Family" on it.

To be continued part 2

So when I left you yesterday I had just learned my husband had something up his sleeve for our anniversary.....

Since we were married for 13 years he planned to go to 13 different significant locations that played a key part in our lives together. I know what your thinking...how sweet not many men think of doing something so meaningful. I could not believe my husband thought of it either.
stop #1 Mike's high school where we met at a basketball game. I was cheering and he was playing for the opposing team.

stop #2 was my old high school. Mike came here to a wrestling tournament the day after we first met each other.

stop #3 my child hood home.

stop #4 Mikes child hood home.
stop #5 was Winsteads restaurant. This is where we ate on our first date.

stop #6 was a hang out of ours in high school. Mike worked here and I would hang out and wait for him to get off work.

stop #7 was a place called "Leaps and Bounds" Mike and I worked here together after High School.
stop #8 was Mike's Aunt and Uncles house. Mike asked me to marry him during Thanksgiving dinner with all our family around.
stop #9 was the first house we bought together a few months before our wedding. And where our 1st child was conceived.
stop #10 was the church we were married at.
stop #11 is where the first of our 3 children were born.
stop #12 was our second house we bought and where our 2nd child was conceived.
stop #13 is our present house we live in and where our 3rd child was conceived.
At the end our journey down Memory Lane. It was a lot of fun and one of the best anniversaries so far.