just some photos

Graham was being funny.. he wouldn't smile
Can you believe Quinn, was this little just 6 1/2 months ago?

Ok, now Graham is smiling. That kid won't give me decent picture

Miss posey..

Immanuel's Veins

I love to read.

Simply put, I used to read, no devour a book a day. And although my everyday life does not allow that. I still hunger for a great book. For many years we had this awesome book club. I think we read and sometimes re-read some of the greatest books ever written. They impacted our lives for ever. It's the like the first moment you opened, Anne of Green Gables and realized you loved and wanted to live in Avonlea and dive into the depths of despair with your best friend Diana, or when you went into Hogwarts with Harry and battled Voldemort, yes, I am Harry Potter fan. I cannot help myself. I love so many types of books. Well, anyways, this week my entire family got the flu and in this moment of laying around recovering and letting the house go and the laundry pile up. I gave into some amazing books. yep two...I haven't read this much since all four Twilight books. A few thousand pages in a matter of days. This wasn't so different. My eyes are blurry after the 378 pages since yesterday. I am a huge Ted Dekker fan. This may seem strange since I HATE scary movies, and in turn cringe at every scary reference in a book. I'm a wimp..I stick to the old Hitchcock movies. They are enough to frighten me. See, so Ted Dekker and me, we have this strange relationship. I know I can trust him, I know he writes the truth, it's just I have to decide to dive in and hang on til the end. Then I can breathe again. If I stop short, I may not have the courage to pick it up and reap its benefits. This week I was in that kind of mood. I am a huge Circle fan. These are an amazing adventure! A mythical journey into another world that makes an allegory seem week in describing what he does in this trilogy. Well, he wrote a fourth book, that...get this! You can read before or after the other three. My suggestion: Read Black, Red, White and then Green.. then you have to move on to the Paradise series, which for me, I could only (and barely that) read Showdown. That book was too much for me. I mean I get it, but oh my, Ted Dekker can really write EVIL. However, it does help you appreciate the book Green. OK, so after I read Green, and so appreciated more story added to the Circle. I grabbed Immanuel's Veins. Now if you are a die hard Twilight fan...READ THIS BOOK! I was gripped, I couldn't put it down and I wanted more. AND..if you are not a Twilight fan..READ IT! I am sounding silly, when really this book can be life changing if you haven't thought about the reality that he writes about.

First off the book is a total challenge to you when the cover says: This story is for everyone, but everyone is not for this story. I mean come on! How can you not read it now. But to be serious, its pretty intense and although I love Anne of Green Gables, Redeeming Love, Harry Potter, Bella and Edward, A Voice in the Wind, and...I'm terrified of a scary movie..please don't let me deter you from trying this tasteful telling of an amazing story about the richness of love and loss and a compelling tale of Good vs. Evil. If you've read Dekker before, you will be surprised at this one. Ok, its 10pm and I'm exhausted from all this intense reading. I have intense laundry and house cleaning to catch up on tomorrow. I'm no book critic but I will leave you with this:

A dangerous tale of time past. A love story full of deep seduction. A story of terrible longing and bold sacrifice. With a kiss, evil will ravage the body, soul and mind. Yet, there remains hope, because the heart knows no bounds. Love will prove greater than lust. Sacrifice will overcome seduction. And blood will flow...But remember, not everyone is for this story.

Ted Dekker

Immanuel's veins

Halloween Pictures

These pictures look better on Doni's blog, but I had to re-post these on mine for keepsakes.

It just occurred to me, that last year Noah was wearing a helmet to hide his face! I don't have one new picture of him, that I can actually see his beautiful face! Oh, well. I have some picture work to do and some catching up with Doni, to get some more recent pics! How time flys, just one year ago we were doing Halloween in North Carolina. We miss the Fall there and the fair and our wonderful friends. But we are very settled and happy to be home.

Happy Fall

Halloween!

http://x.jimanddoni.com/?p=4415 visit this page on Doni's. You know I don't take my camera out of the bag when Doni is shooting. I mean what's the point? When you check this out, you will see that her shots are fabulous!

Halloween, what fun!
Noah made his own costume he was a robot, Graham was an army man/hunter, Braxtyn was a masquerade princess, Cozy was a lady bug and Quinn was a bumble bee. I was a Geisha and Daniel, was his very own wonderful self:)

The day was Monday, so we had to school, right? NO! Public schools do parties, so we did too! We baked and made adorable little salt dough pumpkins. The kids had a blast and minimal cleanup!
About 3pm, my sweet friend, Michelle came over to help me get the troops ready. We had a photo shoot at 4:30, which I was late too anyways. Well, it wasn't for trying, Michelle and I were up to our elbows in curlers, tights, fake eyelashes and silver cardboard.
We met up with the other cousins and took lots of beautiful pics and then we headed to In & Out Burger and to Josh and Brittany's for a little party. We trick or Treated and ate lots of goodies! Cozy was so excited about getting candy at other people's houses she began just walking right in the front doors and asking for some! She did say a loud thank you and waved good bye!
She won't stop talking about the wolf mask my dad wore, he about scared her to death. She was not happy about that and let him know that it had to GO!
Quinn was a happy bee, she loved all the attention and cuddles. The older three were running with their friends and having a blast in their costumes.
All in all, it was an excellent Halloween night.
We chose to buy the candy off the kids! This idea came from some of our good friends, the Mains. The kids kept 10 pieces and we gave them $2 for the rest. So, no more fighting over candy every day, it's almost gone....And the purchased candy? Where is that? Well I've frozen the chocolate for late night parent raids and movie dates:)

Now go check out the pics at www.jimanddoni.com