For Jingle :)

I love the talks we have. I love that you can finish my sentences half of the time, and the other half you have no idea what I'm trying to say. Our miscommunications are hysterical. Our memories...memorable, to say the least. :) Our adventures epic.  Thanks for talking to me, laughing at my corny jokes, tolerating me when I'm not the nicest person to be around. Thanks for hanging up my towel in the bathroom when I forget. Thanks for letting me bounce on your bed when you're half asleep and talk to you. Thanks for telling me what to buy and not to buy when we're shopping, telling me what to wear, and for knowing where things in the grocery store are when I have no idea where to look. Thanks for being brutally honest with me, and expecting me to do the same. Thanks for hanging out with me, singing musicals with me, supervising when I'm 'cleaning' my room. Thanks for praying for me, and writing notes for me.

Thank you for being the best friend and little sister I could ask for. You're awesome.

{photo credit - Zac Foreman }

I wonder...

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

There is no music during a musical rest, but the rest is part of the making of the music. In the melody of our life, the music is separated here and there by rests. During those rests, we foolishly believe we have come to the end of the song. God sends us times of forced leisure by allowing sickness, disappointed plans, and frustrated efforts. He brings a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives, and we lament that our voices must be silent. We grieve that our part is missing in the music that continually rises to the ear of our Creator. Yet how does a musician read the rest? He counts the break with unwavering precision and plays his next note with confidence, as if no pause were ever there.
God does not write the music of our lives without a plan. Our part is to learn the tune and not be discouraged during the rests. They are not to be slurred over or omitted, nor used to destroy the melody or to change the key. If we will only look up, God Himself will count the time for us. With our eyes on Him, our next note will be full and clear. If we sorrowfully say to ourselves, “There is no music in a rest,” let us not forget that the rest is part of the making of the music. The process is often slow and painful in this life, yet how patiently God works to teach us! And how long He waits for us to learn the lesson!
~John Ruskin

Coffee

One of the easiest assignments in the world. Not to mention the fact that by the end of the shoot my hands smelled totally awesome. There's still a faint scent of coffee in the room. 

{Btw, playing with an off camera flash is way more fun with inanimate objects than people. They don't complain about the flash being too bright, or strobe lighting...or being moved around over nine thousand times. }  

In Acceptance Lies Peace

He said, "I will forget the dying faces;
The empty places,
They shall be filed again.
O voices moaning deep within me, cease,"
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in forgetting lieth peace. 

He said, "I will crowd action upon action,
The strife of faction shall stir me and sustain;
O tears that drown the fire of manhood, cease."
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in endeavor lieth peace.

He said, "I will withdraw me and be quiet,
Why meddle in life's riot?
Shut be my door to pain.
Desire, thou dost befool me, thou shalt cease."
Not in aloofness lieth peace.

He said, "I will submit; I am defeated.
God hath depleted My life of its rich gain.
O futile murmurings, why will ye not cease?"
But vain the word; vain, vain:
Not in submission lieth peace.

He said, "I will accept the breaking sorrow
Which God tomorrow will to His Son explain."
Then did the turmoil deep within him cease.
Not vain the word, not vain;
For in Acceptance lieth peace.

 -Amy Carmichael