thinking...

"Learn to do right!

Seek justice,

encourage the oppressed.

Defend the cause of the fatherless,

plead the case of the widow."

-Isaiah 1:17

family walk

As promised, pictures from our family walk on Sunday afternoon!

Trails along Hines Drive

Model #1

Amazing colors

Model #2

Maybe my favorite picture of myself ever. Also love the sun through Zoo's ears.

Daddy's little girl :)

Zoo spotting Doug

Rolling hills

Perfect day

Of course, a self-portrait.

& 2 more pics of our awesome pup. Please excuse the poor picture quality - they were taken with my broken lens (still being repaired; I'm borrowing one in the meantime!).

Our dawg is sweet!

Up next... some pictures of the apartment.

i heart visitors

This past weekend was absolutely delightful. It all started on Friday with the arrival of Jeremy & Victoria. And Victoria has such an adorable baby bump, housing what is sure to be the world's most delectable little morsel - and I mean that in the most non-cannibalistic, healthy baby-adoring sense possible. Anyway, we had such a fun weekend: crafting (really, do I even need to mention this whenever V & I get together?), IKEAing, eating, chatting, watching the pups terrorize one another... suffice to say, I wish we were neighbors.

Bannister Babes

IKEA... & we match the store...

You are what you eat...

Making Oreo truffles

Our little Cider n' Donut party

V & the kids

V & Jer - we had an awesome weekend with you guys. Thanks again for driving all the way out here. We love you!

Coming later, some pictures from our family walk on Sunday afternoon...

crawling out of the hole

I just Skyped with my folks a couple days ago & my dad mentioned that I "must be busy" because I haven't "blogged or Facebooked" - true. There is a lot going on these days. Also, the inevitable has finally occurred & some of my students discovered my blog. So I hoped that if I didn't update for a while they'd get bored and forget about it. That also means I have to stop writing bad things about my students, I suppose...

Carrying on...

I took fall family pics for my friend Marisa again last week. I borrowed my friend Sara's Canon since my lens is still broken. :( Yes, an emoticon. That's how upset I am. Anyway - some favorites:

Kallie, Brenden, Riley

In other news, we had our first phone conference with the Africa team this afternoon! As Scott (team leader from W.O.) was discussing a medical clinic we'll be helping with, I grabbed Doug's arm and excitedly mouthed "WE ARE GOING TO AFRICA!!" We leave in 25 days.

sleepy sunday afternoon

Do you remember how Sunday afternoons in autumn used to feel when you were a teenager - thinking about all the homework you still needed to get done but just wanting to crash on the couch and listen to the drone of football on tv while you slipped in and out of consciousness? Yeah, pretty much all I wanted to do this afternoon. Except homework, in this case, is approximately 90 essays to grade. Well, probably closer to 70 now.

Anyway, since I'm still just as much of a procrastinator now as I was when I was a teenager, here are some random thoughts that float through my mind when I read sentences like, "When in the book they are together they are stronger than when they are apart so yes, it is true that 'The strongest man is he who stands most alone.'" Barf.

-Book of the month! Shamefully, I didn't do as much reading over the summer as I had hoped. I did read another Mark Helprin book, which I think I talked about awhile ago. I also read through The Prodigal God by Tim Keller - I don't remember if I wrote about that or not. Anyway, I would definitely recommend it to people of all shapes and sizes, but especially Christians who have grown up in the church their whole lives. Finally, my book for September was Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. Really awesome TRUE story of a rich art dealer (Hall) who meets a homeless man (Moore) and the impact they have on one another.

-I want to write a children's book! My friend Sara just gave me an awesome idea last night, so look for my name on the shelves in about... 25-40 years.

-Two bad things, both about my beloved camera. 1. I lost my lens cap! At SLR a couple weeks ago. 2. The zoom on my lens is now broken! It's stuck somehow (& no, it doesn't have a lock). This is very sad, as yesterday I tried to take a picture of the yummy apple waffles and apple pie I made and they look wretched. I tried to tell Doug that this a sign that I should buy a new lens (currently drooling over a few Nikkors), but he remains unconvinced.

-Zooey: the bad. She has developed an annoying habit of barking around 3am. I have no idea where this came from, but it needs to stop. Any suggestions?

-Zooey: the good. Doug took her to her first obedience class last week and has made huge strides in training her to respond to commands. The only thing she knew before the class was "sit", "NO" and "wait" (for a snack). Since last Monday, she now knows "lie down", "stay", "shake" and "kiss". For those of you grossed out by the last one - it's really not bad. I'm not the type of person who enjoys being licked by animals, so her "kiss" is really just touching her nose to your cheek, then looking around wildly for the anticipated treat. Oh - and she's learned to stand by the door when she needs to go out! Aside from the 3am barking nonsense, she's pretty much perfect. If she'd stop eating rocks and learn to bathe herself, she'd be totally perfect.

-Last but not least! Happy 26th birthday to my dear cousin Becca and happy birthday to my favorite sister-in-law, Michele! Love both of you girls so much!