instead of saying, we took a walk - I will say we did PhyEd.

 Ant herdsmen keeping an eye on their flock of aphids.

A female crab spider guards her leaf-wrapped egg sac.

 

The girls decided that Yuuko needs a blossom behind her ear. 

First Day of School - PhyEd

I have a friend who is an Obgyn. She believes that PhyEd should about real world sustainable activities not games that no one plays after high school. Here is to Sarah  - we got you covered. :)

summer summary (...thus far)

Rather than repost all the photos from vacation that I've already shared, I am writing a quick summary of events and including links to all the previously posted entries on my other blog, those northern skies. Each link will take you to a different post (I did a series of three posts about our time visiting the sequoias).



While in California, we went to Sequoia National Park to see the big trees.



We explored a cold mountain stream.



We also visited Sequoia's neighbor, King's Canyon.



We spent a week at my in-laws' timeshare at Lake Tahoe. Where we did some exploring as well as simply enjoyed the location.



We spent some time in Virginia City with Tim's Dad, Keith. Where among many cool things, we rode an old steam engine.



The day we flew home, we visited the San Diego Maritime Museum.

The week we returned was dedicated to VBS for which I spent a ridiculous amount of time working on a music photo montage video from the photos I took.

The next week, I tried to catch up and prepare for the seminar I was going to teach. We also spent the Fourth at our next door neighbors' home (you see our neighbor and his son in the photo above).

This week, I've tried to catch up and I taught a photo seminar (I think this is my fifth year) at the library where my sister works.

This year's subject was painting with light.

The photo above was taken the weekend before the seminar with sparklers. The photo below was taken at Tahoe. One night, we all stayed up and dressed in dark clothes and went into the woods. C is making the skirt, K is making the wings, and Tim is making the halo for our angel.

In addition to all the photographed events, there were of course the unphotographed moments; like watching Kyler, while April and Randy took classes in preparation for bringing the twins home (which they did on Tuesday, Praise The Lord), countless walks with the dogs, long hours pulling weeds hoping to perhaps return the garden to its pre-trip state, loads and loads of laundry and so much more.

Before we flew away

On Saturday (over a week ago) before we flew to California:

On Saturday, when we should have been packing for our trip to California, we went to the KTIS Family Fun Fest. Some of you may remember that we went last year because Peter Furler was performing and K wanted to see him. She even got her picture taken with him. Well, he performed again this year. Since Phil Joel and Go Fish were performing too, we just had to go.

The first performing we saw was Phil Joel, above. He and Peter Furler both used to be members of the band the Newsboys. 

After Phil Joel's performance, we went to the bounce house area.

The girls bounced to their hearts content.

 C was grinning from ear to ear the whole way down - I am glad she liked it because we waited in line for a very long time.

Both the girls climbing up. 

K's dress flew up (she was wearing bike shorts underneath) and she got a bad burn on her back!! 

 Of course, they rode the fair classic, the carousel.

C tried the bull-ride.

After a picnic lunch, we watched Go Fish. After supper, which we ate at home in air-conditioned bliss while watching two episodes of the old Avatar cartoon, we came back for the main event (to us - we didn't stay for Toby Mac because it would have been too late).

Waiting for the Furler show meant I got to do a lot of my favorite thing, people watching. Look at the babies - I bet they were exhausted that night. 

Furler is always good and we love his music. At the Fun Fest, he took the stage with his old friend Phil Joel. They looked like they were have a great time, which made the performance exceptional.

K takes her own photo of Peter.

While K is ecstatic and enjoys the music with Daddy, C sprays her face with water. She finally asked if she could go sit under the bleachers. Tim doesn't think we should waste money on concerts for her anymore. He has a point, she doesn't seem to appreciate them.  

Can you see me now?  I like giant screens - it makes photographing a performer who is too far away to get a good shot, much easier? :)

We were all very tired Saturday night. Tim and I did some packing but not too much. Sunday was yet to come with the girls' piano recital.

We are in California now. Today we rested and caught our breath (and took a short trip to the beach). We will stay at Tim's parent's house for two more days then we will leave to drive to Sequoia and Lake Tahoe.

On Sunday before we flew to California (one week ago yesterday): The girls had their piano recital the Sunday before we left to fly out to California. I was proud of them. While they didn't perform flawlessly, they didn't let their mistakes rattle them and played their songs all the way through.

K often restarted phrases when she made a mistake but she still made it straight through her two numbers.

C was kind of funny. At home she pounds out her pieces loud and proud but with volume dynamics...at the recital she played very quietly but still maintained her dynamics.

The girls with Mary, their piano teacher. You couldn't find a more bubbly person or a less intimidating teacher but they still listen and strive to satisfy her.

Mary and her students. Several of the older boys were particularly good pianists. I hope the girls listened and were inspired. :)

We had a great time at Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon - I took lots of cool photos - that I hope to work on tonight. Yesterday, we arrived at Lake Tahoe. Now is time to relax and chill. 

when Christ's light shines through us

Jesus is light. Agreed?

Light is generally perceived as white although there are many colors of light. In fact, the sum of all the colors of light add up to white. This is additive color theory.

I often pray that I could be transparent so that God can be seen through me. I don't want my ego or some form of false humility to get in the way. (Of course, these thoughts only win out in my 'purest' moments which are rare).

Sin and the fact that I am not whole - smudges my glass over with the fingerprints of self. The light shining through me will never shine through perfectly or clearly because of the murkiness of my sinful soul.

I am only part of God's image just as you are. Only through the totality of the Body can the Church can even come close to the full spectrum of light that is Christ. So perhaps we can imagine our unique talents and gifts as angles in the prism - we are here to spread certain colors of light so that when we unite with the body and are perfected in Christ - the Church becomes a beacon shining white on the hill.

The additive color theory that leads to pure white light - resembles the fact that we are all parts of a body, doesn't it? It is super-cool how God takes even science and makes it fit into the logic of faith.

Thinking about rainbows in that way makes me wonder about those who use rainbows as a symbol of pride and activism - but that is definitely for another time. :)

This a repost of an old meditative post on my other blog. I reposted it because of a gift of a beaded prism suncatcher I received from a blog friend; it led to photo play with K.