Heisann - that may or may not mean something in Norwegian. Either way we are very glad relieved to hear from Rachel and Joshua. They arrived safe and sound in Norway in the afternoon our time (which was late in the night for them) and will now begin the next phase of their World Travel Adventures.

This little guy joined us at the park today but would NOT smile for the camera.

Back at home in Washington, we try to keep ourselves occupied with school, play dates and chocolate. I made a double batch of chocolate crinkle dough this morning. It’s sitting in the fridge, all ready to be made into delicious cookies. I’m sure that will help take our minds off our beloved missing children.

Can you hear Daniel sniffling and crying in the background at the thought of his older siblings? Or maybe it’s chuckling and snorting. Let’s not listen too closely.

There were a couple more kids included in our park outing but they were off playing and didn’t have time to be photographed. Too busy for a photo shoot? Shameful!

Thank you for praying for our two precious traveling babies children.

Kathy
Project 366 - Day 129

Tim and I are eager to hear from our intrepid travelers. Our prayers and thoughts are with them as they arrive in Norway today.

At least we hope they have made it safely through Germany and are on to Norway. We’ll know for certain if they ever email to tell us they are safe.

Or alive.

Daniel can’t hold still, he’s so concerned about his brother and sister.

That’s the problem with sending children off on whirl wind adventures, they are too busy experiencing new sights and sounds to connect with the family back at home.

Not that I am fussing.

Or revving up the Guilt Trip Machine.

Nope, I’m having fun imagining the excitement mingled with jet lag fatigue that is surely distracting Joshua and Rachel.

As for us left behind in WA, this is how we are drowning our sorrows. Good old fashioned ice cream therapy.

I hope the children aren’t gone too long or we’ll all gain 10 pounds in their absence.

Kathy

Lest the title of this blog mislead readers, I should inform you that this week at Rocks in My Dryer, Shannon is hosting What DOESN’T Work for Me. Hearing the week’s theme, I hemmed and hawed, trying to think of something to post. Obviously my life is too full of glorious success stories to come up with something that doesn’t work. I was completely stumped.

Or maybe the list of possibilities was just too long.
And pathetic.

Dying houseplants, lawn full of weeds, eternally messy home (bless it’s heart and hearth), arguing children, jeans fitting a little too snugly, cereal for dinner (again).

It was all a bit depressing. Plus, who wants to read about those dreadful topics? I decided to forget the Works for Me Wednesday post and instead download the day’s pictures. As I scrolled through my shots, I immediately recognized the subject for the day’s post.

That fancy aperture setting didn’t quite capture the “look” I was going for.

Photography.

More specifically, self-taught photography. Tim bought me a wonderful camera for Christmas, the Nikon D40X. It’s a digital SLR, comes with two lenses and takes incredible pictures.

Great pictures unless you try to mess with the manual settings and end up in the dark.

If only I could figure out how to use it. Beyond my two favorite settings, that is - auto and flash off. Yep, I end up taking most of my pictures either in auto mode (which tends to mean “flash”) and flash off (for my outside, brighter lit pictures).

Today I pulled out my Nikon D40/D40x Digital Field Guide by David D. Busch. It’s a beautiful book with full-color illustrations, detailed instructions and chapters full of information.

I still don’t get it. I get lost in ISO settings, aperture and f/stops. Oh, I understand the concepts, it’s the application that trip me. Undeterred by past failures (I’m nothing if not an optimist - it usually Works For Me. Har, har.)

I went outside, book in one hand, tripod in the other and my camera around my neck. I tried, really I did, to change my settings and experiment with the manual features.

Even this picture taken on the Children setting looks a bit ‘off’ to me.

It wasn’t pretty. I guess, until I can get some professional help (HEY, I heard that snort!), I’ll stick to my basic settings and continue my study of Photoshop. A little photo-editing goes a LONG way.

If this exercise in voyeuristic failure viewing appealed to your dark sense of humor, please by all means, visit Rocks in My Dryer and check out what else doesn’t work for people.

Kathy
Project 366 - Day 127

My babies are leaving for Norway. Gasp! I’m not ready. I’m not prepared. I’m not packed. I’m not going. Hey, there’s something wrong with this picture!

Sarah is going to miss her big brother!

I probably shouldn’t call them babies. At ages 12 and 14, they might not exactly appreciate it. Or truly resemble the epithet. Still, to a mother it doesn’t seem to matter the age (or height and shoe size, which in Joshua’s case are considerable) of the child, in a flicker of an eye lash they are in diapers again.

And much too young to be flying to Norway!

Tim’s parents promise me they will take good care of my precious children during their weeks abroad. They say reassuring things like, “We’ll be all together. We won’t let anything happen to them. It will be an adventure.”

It’s that last part that scares me. How do parents let their children grow up? How do they let them try out new things and brave new frontiers? What about the ones who want to be missionaries in foreign lands or even go to college in another state?

These are big steps for some of us parents.

The best way to spend a nature walk is with a good book in hand.

So, if you happen to think of me tomorrow (or over the next few weeks) say a prayer for my babies and give your own a little hug and kiss.

Kathy
Project 366 - Day 126

We had dinner tonight at our pastor’s home, farewelling one of our elders (and his family) who is moving away. We talked of many things, enjoyed a delicious meal, and prayed over the family. It was a lovely evening, albeit bittersweet.

I had occasion to speak with one of my friends about many silly things, including this icebreaker personality question:

“If you had to smell like a vegetable, which would you choose?”

Loyal to my recent horticultural efforts, I chose the tomato (yes, I know that some misguided folk think the tomato is a fruit, in defiance of the Supreme Court*), while Kathy chose pumpkin. Other interesting choices were rhubarb and celery — I’m not sure what that reveals about the personalities who chose those vegetables, but it can’t be good.

Captain America tries to put a good face on it, but you can see he’s one cigarette from a firing squad.

As our discourse wandered, my friend admitted that his obsessive-compulsive nature extends its tentacles deeply into his life. Observing a Super Heroes game that his son brought to the party, he confided that, in the unhappy event that one of the game pieces were lost, he would have to throw away the whole game, since any replacement pieces would not fully match.

Naturally, I spent the rest of the evening stealing pieces and hiding them about my person. I managed to leave the party with Captain America still in my possession.

Don’t make us get rough …

So, Mr. L, if you ever want to see the good Captain back in his box, both halves attached properly, please leave a jar of Nutella in the Church Library, behind the Veggie Tales videos.

Tim
Project 365, Day 124

*The U.S. Supreme Court settled the controversy in 1893 by declaring that the tomato is a vegetable, based on the popular definition that classifies vegetables by use, that they are generally served with dinner and not dessert (Nix v. Hedden (149 U.S. 304)).