Hi there! I’ve decided to move my blog over to wordpress. I have a couple other ones there and it would just be nice to manage them all from one site. So, go to my new blog titled, "Out of the Cave" over at simplydar.wordpress.com.
I know my updates are unorganized and erratic at best, but that’s just going to be the way it is for awhile. As I’ve said before, in one of my various blogs, that I think of many blogs in my head. They pretty much get stuck there. Sometimes they make into a file titled “blogs-in-waiting”. I have several there with all kinds of interesting titles like: What color is love? or Letter to the Quiet People. I wrote that last one after someone came over and I talked about myself the ENTIRE time. I didn’t even ask how he was doing! Can you believe it? I was so embarrassed. My husband told him of that incident when we saw him at the Sheridan days parade. I’m ashamed to say that much hasn’t changed. I am daily reminded of how I blabber about myself far too much.
I have pretty much been working on editing photos. I’m 2/3 done with the June wedding. I told the bride that it was really to her advantage that it has taken so long. I know so much more about photoshop now. I’d like to be a purist and never use photo editing software, but I’m not. I’d have to invest in filters and such to create some of the cool effects, anyway. Now I am working on the ceremony pictures. Rachel and I took over 400. Wow. Then I have 2 family photo sessions I need to get done by the weekend. It has taken me far too long. After I finish those I’ll only have 3 more sessions to finish up before being done. Hopefully I’ll have more work to do. It is good to work for money. I ordered business cards yesterday. I did it as inexpensively as I could so it’ll probably be 3 weeks before I actually get them.
I had an eye exam recently. It is good to see. It is also good to see without pain. I had forgotten what that was like. I also had about 6 inches of my hair cut off.
So many things are changing around here. I feel like I’m in a whirlwind. The appearance of my house is slowly changing. My heart and spirit is being stretched, challenged, and smashed on a daily basis. In fact, I think that’s the biggest challenge right now. I know good stuff is happening. I know that I’m not alone and that I have the Holy Spirit. I like that Jesus calls it our Comforter. I’ve asked a friend to meet with me weekly to pray. I’ve never done that before. I’ve also agreed to be part of a group where we will hold each other accountable and pray for one another. We’ll also be praying for the lost. I don’t relish the idea of being so transparent with others. It is easy to look good on the outside, but to reveal my thought life is a totally different matter! And yet, I have asked Jesus to make me more like Him. I have asked Him for deeper relationships in the body. This is where the rubber hits the road, I guess.
I am excited for Oct. 3rd. Okay, I’m excited for October in general. That’s when the leaves are really red and golden, the wind is blustery, and the rain has yet to really set in. I love walking down 3rd Street in McMinnville swooshing my feet through the fallen leaves. I’m not sure that there is anything better. I bet I would even choose walking through crispy leaves over eating Ol’ South Fudge Pie ice cream. Okay, so October 3rd I will be scrapbooking with a bunch of gals from my church. I don’t know exactly what I’ll be scrapbooking yet, but I will begin the planning process very soon. I have far too many supplies to go without a plan. Well, and I have far too many pictures as well. I’d like to start something fresh and new. I really want to make more of an effort to be creative every day. Putting on makeup can’t be considered creative anymore. (Did you know that I used to want to be a theatrical make-up artist? That is, if I wasn’t good enough to be in the actual theater production.) October is also my birthday month. That’s right. I’m reminding all of you. I know it’s silly, but I spent most of my life feeling important on my birthday. My dad and ALL my friends did forget my 19th birthday, though. I thought it was a joke, but nobody came out and said “Smile, you’re on candid camera!” Anyway, now I usually go to the Brew Pub with my friends, two of them have birthdays within a few days of mine so it is a little party. Wow. What a big paragraph all about my birthday. Okay, one more thing. I’d really like to this Swing Dancing thing in Portland on my birthday, but I won’t. It would be the coolest thing. I’ve always wanted to do swing dancing.
Well, I must get back to editing photos, folding laundry, loading the dishwasher, looking at my haircut, clearing off my desk, balancing my checkbook, checking out my makeup job, edit photos, rearrange some more stuff, break up arguments, make dinner, and oh, I can’t forget to pick up Christopher. I better set an alarm for that one! Oh, and I’ll edit photos.
You know what? For being a photographer, I don’t post many pictures. I don’t particularly enjoy sharing them. Isn’t that weird?
*Christopher is 12, by the way. My younger boy, Sage, is 7. He’ll be 8 in November.
Well, there is always so much happening around here. Some good; some bad. First of all, I want to ask you all to pray for me in the evenings. I don’t know what happens, but no matter how good I feel during the day i get really depressed every evening. I think horrible things. It is crippling, actually. Many ask how they can help me. Pray for me. Call and pray with me. Email me. Remind me of verses that come to your mind while praying for me. I can say with my mouth that this is a spiritual battle and that I’m ready to fight, but in the evening I’m ready to lie down and let it all sweep over me. Things are not going well. I won’t be chronicling the struggles I have here on a public blog, but I want to ask you all to pray. Feel free to email me if you have questions.
I have had a horrible time teaching my oldest child to read and it haunts us to this day. We are both sensitive about it and I find that I say hurtful things to him due to my poor job of teaching him to read. He did spend 1 year in a school outside our home. It was still considered homeschool. There was 1 teacher and 10 students, 8 of them from one family. His reading took off like a rocket. I had 3 new kids in the home and couldn’t even let them out of my sight without an injury happening. However, my children are much better now…on most days. This year I will teach my younger son to read. I hope. If not, I’m not going to freak out as much as I did with Christopher. I can be intense sometimes.
Isaiah 40:29-31
He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But to those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Check out a song by my friend Lennox at www.myspace.com/lennoxmusic. It’s called "Wings".
Well, I’m a bit late on this one! I’ve having a sketchy internet connection for some reason, but I’m here now.
Why did I chose to homeschool? Well, way back in 1992 I went to a small Bible School in McMinnville where 2 of the staff families homeschooled. The Mason family from Australia were there my year and I enjoyed their children immensely. Somewhere along the way I decided that it was my job to teach my children and disciple them alongside me. I didn’t have a horrible school experience, but it wasn’t stellar either. The most hurtful things didn’t happen at school. They occurred in my family circle. I don’t have many memories of my mom who died when I was 9. Perhaps if she would’ve been able to homeschool me I’d have more memories. That is honestly one reason that spurs me. If you and I were speaking face to face I would tell you the first reason I homeschool so that I can teach my children about Jesus without distraction, so that my children can bond as siblings and become best friends, and that I want to spend time with my kids. I want to go take long walks in the spring and fall. I want to head to the beach on the first hot day of the year. I want to snuggle and read books when we feel sick. I want to visit friends in far places whenever I want. I want to be the one who talks to them about sex and their period…even though it makes me blush!
My kids won’t be sheltered from what the real world is out there. They’ve already seen too much of it anyway. They will get to see it from a godly perspective. They won’t live in a bubble. I want them to see the hurting people and be moved to compassion for them. Our neighbor boy isn’t saved, but he’s like my second son. I love that boy and so do my kids. Churched kids aren’t all that different from unchurched kids. They just know how to act at church.
Darlene