Painting with light

Last night, after checking out a friend's blog and seeing the pictures of light painting that she took with her kids recently, I decided to try it out myself.  Its been something that I've wanted to do for a while.  So, lacking a tripod, all by myself, I went out back, set my camera on a bunch of potholders on a table, grabbed my dad's huge maglite, and had some fun!  This is what happened:

Beach or Bust!

There's absolutely no question that my favorite way to spend a summer day is at the beach.  My family and our cousins, the Cambrias, headed down to Rehoboth, DE on Saturday for a day of sand, sun, surf, a 5-mile walk, and some good 'ole seafood.

Playing checkers at Cracker Barrel

Hey there, Daddy-O!

Riding a wave

Catchin' some rays

Digging a hole...

"If you put that on Facebook, I will remove the tag and then hack onto your account and remove the picture"  Heh, yeah.

[insert comment here]

My mom is gorgeous.

Just a little beach reading!

It was a windy day.

I don't know this little munchkin, so call me a creeper, but she was too cute to NOT take her picture!

Summertime

It was just gorgeous outside last weekend, so I thought I'd take the camera out and snap some pictures of the greenery surrounding our humble abode.

He's sort of camera shy.  It took about 15 shots to even get him to consider looking at the camera.

She, on the other hand, loves it.  Who knew?

What are you up to this summer?

A bit of news NOT about Africa.

My high school is doing another summer alumni show.

It's "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown".

I'm playing Lucy.

It's going to be fun.  

And will be performed on July 30 & 31st.  Just in case you were wondering.  :)

I was feeling a little bit lonely today, but then I found this picture.

Now, I'm still feeling a little bit lonely, but with a new perspective.

Antelope sightings: 0

On Thursday and Friday, after a week of ministry, we got a "break" in the form of about 30 hours at Antelope Park.  Situated 2 hours outside of Bulawayo, the park is a game park with a resort incorporated into it.  First off, it is absolutely GORGEOUS.  Secondly, the food was excellent, the lodgings great, and the activities were so much fun.  We had an absolute blast!  From chasing zebras on foot while on a game drive, to a lunar horseback ride, to an early morning walk with two lions, it was 30 hours packed full of awesome experiences!  Here are just some of the 300-400 pictures I took there!

The African sky has no rival.

Yeah, so our lodge was right on the other side of that lake.  Worried, much?

Working pretty hard to catch.....nothing.

This is how they summoned us to meals!

Impala

Hey there, pretty lady.

Ronnie:  Can we get out and chase them?

Iti:  Sure, Ronnie.

A papa Kudu.

Yeah, not exactly a little kitty.

I'm so hardcore I didn't just walk with them, I held their tails.  Yeah, that's right.

Missing Faces

I'm missing Zimbabwe a lot today.  Well, actually, I miss it a lot every day.  But for some reason, today especially.  There were moments in the beginning of the trip, before we had really dug down into ministry and relationships, where I felt like I really wasn't cut out to be there.  I had spent the past decade or so feeling this pull towards Africa and missions and I couldn't understand why I felt so out of place.  I think part of it was that I was with a group of people I didn't know all that well, and the other part was that I wasn't exactly feeling God's presence.  There were two turning points for these feelings, though, and they were when the Mass team got there and we started to bond as a group, and when we were hanging out with the kids.  And today, I'm really missing it all.
There's something beautiful in a relationship built on everything but talking.  There were a bunch of kids that we got to know throughout the course of the trip that we couldn't verbally communicate with.  We, obviously, spoke English and they, Ndebele.  But I learned pretty quickly that communication doesn't have to be verbal.  That three minutes of chasing them around to tickle them, that look during evening service, the hug when we first arrived, they were all ways we built relationships with these kids.  I said a few times during the course of the trip that I am in no place in life to have a child, but I would take a few of them home with me in a heartbeat.  Whether it was through making a balloon flower or handing them a lollipop or praying over them, each kid was, and is, a special, sweet child that I loved spending time with.