Today I have gathered up some of my favorite shots from the engagement photos, the rehearsal, the wedding, the reception, and the Manteo photo shoot and put them all in one big display.  Nothing like going out with a bang, right?  (If you want to see a certain picture full size, just double click on it.)

Thanks so much for taking this journey with our family and for being so kind as to humor me as I have posted innumerable shots of my beloved child and child-in-law on this blog.

And don’t worry.  I’m sure I will be revisiting some of these photos as time goes by which means that Wedding Wednesday will never really and truly be completely over.    And that makes me feel a little better.  (sniff)

It’s been fun!

And my favorite picture of all the ones I posted today?  It’s this one.

Without this one, there would have been no wedding, and therefore no Wedding Wednesdays.  (And also,  no fabulous daughter-in-law.)  I’m so glad that Meagan said yes!

Photo Card Winner

And by the way, the winner of photo card set is Nancy from Toronto!  Nancy, if you will email me your address, I will get your cards mailed within the next few days.

And to make matters even more “fun,” my computer is still doing weird things and will probably need professional attention; also, my beloved Nikon is non functioning and will have to be sent in for repairs.

A sick blogger.  A sick computer.  A sick camera.  Can’t you feel the joy emanating from my corner of the world?

On a happier note, I have plenty of stories to tell and pictures to show of our weekend retreat with Meagan’s parents and will do that on Thursday.  (And yes, I did  feel well enough to make that event; it was after I got home that I started feeling really bad.)

But now?  It’s time for Reader’s Pictures!  The ones posted today are the first ones that came in; the rest will be featured next Tuesday.   Also, tonight I will put all the picture submitter’s names in a hat and Sarah will choose a winner whom we’ll announce tomorrow.  The winner of the drawing will receive a set of my my photo cards.

Let’s get started with the first set of submissions.  It has been great fun seeing where you live and reading what you love about those places.  Thanks to everyone who has sent something in.

 From Gail in Kingsport, TN

Taken from my front porch during the Christmas of 2010, with lots and lots of snow.    I think there is nothing more beautiful than pictures taken in the snow.

At Douglas Lake in Dandridge, TN where we have a camper and spend most of the summer.   Very peaceful and I love being on the water.  We have had a camper there for over 20 years and the campground folks are like family.

From Heidi in North Dakota

Here are pictures from North Dakota during a typical winter (unlike this year where we have no snow.)

A typical summer day!

From Trine in Denmark

I love your picture idea. Here is a picture of my town in snow. My town is from the  1700s and is named after Frederik 6.   Denmark does not often have snow but in the last winter we had a lot of snow.  Last winter we could not even get out.  We are around 20,000 in the town. It is cozy, but it is also a very sleepy town.

I live in the main street (centre of the town) so you always walk near the channel. I can view the channel outside from the balcony.

The church.   I live five minutes away.

From Erin in Nova Scotia

I love being outdoors among God’s creation!

This is a view of Wolfville, Nova Scotia.  It is a university town (Acadia University /Acadia Divinity College.  I’m attending the div college).  Beautiful view.  I love travelling to school on this road because of the awesome view.  I wish I could capture it so much better.  Seeing this view before class and after class calms me down and reminds me of God’s amazing creativity and his love for his creation.

A picture of the same as the above mentioned picture but more of a close up.

This was after our first snow storm.   I loved the tree line and the white of the snow.  This picture was taken beside my house.  There is a beautiful view out my front window, but I can’t capture it well enough to be picture worthy for a blog post!

It’s great to be a part of the blogging community with you!  Visit my blog at Jackman’s Journey

From Cindy in Maryland

Here is a picture of our home in Maryland . . . not quite as beautiful as the OBX (our favorite vacation spot) but a wonderful place we call home.

From Melissa in Sebring, FL

I’ve included a couple photos showing the uniqueness and beauty of central Florida, where I live.

The first is Cypress Gardens, a few minutes north of me in Winter Haven, one of the oldest parks in the state. It’s now open as Legoland, but they kept the gardens. My husband and I were married here.

The second pic, while not necessarily beautiful, shows a very frequent sight in lakes around here! At least it’s unique to the area! This gator was spotted in Palmdale, just south of us.

Thanks to everyone who participated; I have really loved this!  And be sure to leave some comments on the pictures you saw today!

Winner of the drawing announced tomorrow; more picture next Tuesday.

I hear my pillow calling my name . . .

Today was supposed to be the day to post the photos you sent featuring the places you live, but I haven’t been able to muster quite enough energy to get it all together.  Those pictures will be coming soon, though, along with all sorts of other good Smithellaneous stuff!

Thanks for your patience; now it’s back to bed I go.

Rev. Frank and Sheri Hawley are not only our dear friends but also the parents of our wonderful daughter-in- law, Meagan.  (Unfortunately, their arrival at the Norfolk airport did not coincide with the arrival of one of their two suitcases carrying most of their clothes and toiletries.  Yikes. ) 

Since we will be leaving in a few moments for a marriage retreat that they are speaking at, I am pulling out a favorite post from the archives to share today.   It’s especially fun to read this in light of the fact that the  particular boyfriend and girlfriend mentioned in this story really did get married!  

(Also, please excuse the smaller format of the pictures; it was taken from my older blogging days when I wasn’t sure how to change the size of photos)

THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2009

Nathan’s girlfriend, Meagan, emailed me recently and told me that she was planning to fly into Smithfield to surprise Nathan. Since he didn’t think he’d be seeing her again until college started again in a month, I knew he’d be thrilled.  Her flight was due at 6 pm, which meant that I would have to pick her up from the airport which meant I wouldn’t be home for family dinner that night. So I creatively concocted a story for Nathan about how I was going to be meeting a new friend for dinner whom I had met through Smithellaneous. I even wrote it on the calendar, “6 pm. Susan.”   

Susan. My new friend. My new, imaginary friend!

So everything was all planned out. Every piece was in place.

Until late last week when Nathan casually mentioned to me, “Mom, a friend of mine invited me to go to the beach with his family;  I’ll probably be back Tuesday night.”

Meaning he would not be here to be surprised by Meagan on Monday night. Meaning all our careful plans were down the tube.

I stayed calm, played dumb and then immediately e-mailed Meagan. She replied in very mature fashion, “Well, he’ll really enjoy being with his friends and that’ll be a good outing for him. I’ll be okay with not seeing him until Tuesday night.

Fine.

But then Sunday right as he was leaving, Nathan nonchalantly said, “Oh by the way. My work schedule changed so now I’ll be able to stay at the beach until Thursday night.”

NOT so fine.

Once again I stayed calm. Barely. As soon as he left, Meagan and I were in panicked conversation on the phone. She had been okay with him not being back till Tuesday night, but Thursday night? Not so much.

She said, “WHAT are we going to do?”

What were we going to do, indeed?

Steve, Sarah, Meagan and I started thinking, worrying, stressing, discussing, plotting, planning, and pondering.

The big question was: HOW could we get Nathan to come home without giving the surprise away? We didn’t want to say anything that would make him worry (like Dad’s having an unexpected surgical procedure) or make him overly excited (like we found a job for you on Craigslist where you can earn $100 just by working all day Wednesday.)

Nothing we thought of was workable and believe me, we came up with a whole bunch of plots! And yet, I knew I just couldn’t get on the phone and order my mostly grown up son to come home from vacation for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

I could just imagine that conversation!

“Hi Nathan. It’s Mom. Come home. Immediately. Because I said so.”

After some further discussion with Meagan, I finally just took the plunge. I called Nathan Monday morning, chit chatted a few moments, let a long second unwind and then said, “Nathan do you trust me?”

Silence.

Then he said, “Uh. Yeah.”

I then asked, “Nathan, do you love me?”

Another silence.

“Um. Yes.”

I said, “Okay. If you trust me and love me, then please believe me when I say that I need you to come home on Tuesday night, just for two hours. And since you’re having to interrupt your vacation unexpectedly, we’ll pay your gas home and then back to the beach.”

(I put in the “two hour” detail just to confuse him; I knew that once he got home and saw Meagan, there would be no thought of going back to the beach.)

A long silence ensued while he processed this very strange request.

But he agreed!   BIG sigh of relief!

When Meagan talked to him the next time on the phone, he started telling her about this very strange request his mother had made. In fine feminine form, she played along as though she was very puzzled about it as well and said, “Well, be sure to tell me all about it when you find out more details.”

You know, women can be very devious when it comes to plotting surprises for people! In about three days, Meagan and I told Nathan more falsehoods and half-truths than we have told anyone in our entire lives, just to get him home from the beach without suspecting anything.

He was due to arrive at about 5 pm on Tuesday. Steve, Sarah, Meagan and I went through agonies of indecision as we tried to plot out the best way to make the “presentation.” We’d think of something, discard it and think of something else.

Here are two of the “plotting ladies.” Don’t they have such innocent faces?

And here is Meagan, making final preparations for The Great Surprise.

We finally decided we would hide Meagan in Sarah’s closet, one of the places in the house we KNEW Nathan would never go. Sarah and I posted ourselves downstairs a few minutes before five o’clock to listen for the garage door opening so that we could yell up to Meagan to get into position.

Minutes passed. No garage door.

More time passed. No garage door.

And then all of a sudden Steve hollered from upstairs, “I just saw Nathan! He’s coming around the front of the house instead of through the garage!”

I heard panicked running feet from the second floor as Meagan scampered into the closet. Sarah and I burst into action and started furiously doing “normal things” in the kitchen, setting the table, cutting up fruit, etc., trying to look as non-suspicious as possible. (And also trying not to smirk.)

The plan was for Steve, Sarah and I to chat with Nathan a few minutes in the kitchen; then at a certain point, Sarah would excuse herself to go upstairs and get Meagan from her closet. Then Meagan would come down the stairs and suddenly just “appear” in the kitchen,

Which was a good plan.

It was a good plan until suddenly Nathan said, “I need to run upstairs a minute.” Sarah had just that very moment gone up to her room to retrieve Meagan; however, as soon as she heard Nathan’s voice on the stairway, she SHOVED Meagan back into the closet, SLAMMED the door on her and then hid herself beside her book-case to await further instruction. (What we really needed was a bunch of walkie talkies!)

I walked frantically (but calmly) up the stairs behind Nathan, trying to hide my camera, and desperately hoping that Nathan wouldn’t accidentally encounter Meagan before I was able to get myself into prime picture-taking position.

I peeled off from my own personal Nathan Procession as he disappeared down the hall into the bathroom.   Racing into Sarah’s room I retrieved the shoved and hidden Meagan from the closet and said, “That plan didn’t work. WHAT are we going to do now?”

Meagan just said she would stand out in the hallway and wait for Nathan to come out of the bathroom.  She positioned herself at the end of the hallway while Steve, Sarah and I waited at the other end of the hallway, peering anxiously out of various doorways.

As we waited (Meagan said her heart was pounding so loud she could hear it) we three ladies were suddenly attacked by a terrible fit of giggles; Meagan came sprinting back up the hallway and flung herself back into Sarah’s room, trying to get herself under control so that Nathan wouldn’t hear her.

Right about the same time that she disappeared from her hallway waiting point, the bathroom door opened and Nathan emerged, turning the other direction to head into his bedroom. I quickly stepped into the hallway and said in a very serious voice, “Nathan, son. I need to talk to you for just a minute.”

As he turned around to come back toward me, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Meagan who had stepped out into the hallway with me. She was standing there just grinning. And giggling!

Was Nathan excited about that? Was he happy? Thrilled?

Let’s see if you can guess at his emotions from these pictures.

Do you think any human being could possibly smile any bigger?

Here’s Meagan explaining to him everything that went on in The Great Deception and why she’d had to lie to him repeatedly in order to preserve said deception.

The funny thing is that we did SO well keeping the secret from him the entire time.  But you know what? When he was in the bathroom, right before he saw Meagan, he happened to glance at the shower and saw this.

He thought to himself, “Hmmmm. I don’t think Sarah uses those brands.” And a little snigglet of suspicion entered his brain.

For crying out loud! What kind of a guy is so observant that he would notice a particular brand of shampoo and come close to unraveling an entire, well-plotted plan because of it? Fortunately, the unveiling was only thirty seconds away, so he didn’t have too much time to ponder.

I will leave you with one more picture representing a surprise well executed, lies well told, and two very, very happy people.

 

After we had meandered around in the December chill for about a half hour (snapping pictures all the while), we finally decided it was time to call it a day.

As Nathan and Meagan headed back toward the gift shop leading out to the parking lot, I ran along behind them like the rabid mamarazzi that I am.

When our Very Own Personal Royal Couple swept through the doors of the store, they created the same kind of stir as when they first arrived.

It’s always nice to make people smile!

The store’s warmth was so wonderful that Meagan wasn’t too excited about walking back outside into the 45 degree temperature.  So Nathan did his gallant husbandly duty and gave his suit coat to Meagan to wear out to the car.

I’m not sure that anything in his 22 years of life had quite prepared him for the task of applying a suit coat to a woman wearing a wedding gown and a veil.

But they worked as a team and made it happen–much to the delight of the other store patrons who were still casting smiles in their direction.

As we were leaving, an employee held the door open for us and said, “Thanks for coming in and for making us all happy!” And then he added, “Are you going to the reception now?”

I said,  ”Well, no, the reception is already over.”  (Like six MONTHS over!)

Nathan got his suit coat bedecked bride tucked into the car  . . .

. . . and we made our way home.

It took all of us to get Meagan (and her dress) back up the stairs. . .

. . . laughing all the way.

It was so much fun to get to recapture the laughter and beauty of a wedding celebrated in the bright warmth of July, and to commemorate it in the cool, crispness of a December afternoon by the sea.

I’ll close out today’s Wedding Wednesday with one of my favorite shots of the series, which I think I overlooked posting earlier.  It captures so perfectly (calm, lovely) Meagan and (wacky, teasing) Nathan.  What a pair!

In other news, tomorrow Steve and I will head to the airport in Norfolk to pick up some Very Special Guests whom we are incredibly excited about seeing.  (Any guesses at to who it might be?)

Also, I am happy to announce that after  years of motherly nagging,  my very own daughter has started her very own blog.   Be sure to stop by and say hello.  (And also leave a comment.  Because you know how we bloggin’ ladies love comments!)

With that in mind, Sue G, a cyber friend and commenter par excellence sent me some interesting facts about chocolate.

Cocoa does the following things:

• Gives a boost to your mood and concentration
• Improves  the flow of blood to your brain
• Helps you feel more energetic

Sadly, Snickers don’t count because only pure dark chocolate has the great health benefits, especially if you want mood boosting ingredients without the jelly roll around the middle.  (And why is it that the jelly roll around the middle seems to show up the most in “middle” age?  Hmmm. . . . a conspiracy, maybe?)

At any rate, I hope your day is a fun one, and  even if you don’t have a significant other in your life, that you do manage to get your hands on some chocolate so that you can experience all the healthy (delicious) benefits it offers.

Since we’re celebrating chocolate (and Valentine’s Day) today, I thought it would be fun to re-post some pictures from last year’s V-Day Celebration at our house.  As you can see, we all had a really good time celebrating–with the exception of a certain pooch named Snowy. Somehow, he just wasn’t feelin’  the love.

I mean, if  YOU were  a handsome, tough, doggie dude, would YOU want pink rabbit ears installed on your person?

I think not.

 He is so not amused.

Sarah figured that in order to enter into Snowy’s world and to fully share his humiliation, she would don the rabbit ears herself.  Snowy was not placated.

He has been in therapy ever since.

Before I close, let me just remind you to continue sending in favorite pictures of where you live.  On Monday, I will be posting your pictures, comments about your area, and blog address, if you’re a blogger.

All the names of the photo-submitters will be entered into a drawing and the winner  of that drawing will be the very first Smithellaneous reader to receive a set of my brand new photography greeting cards.

Also, it’s been a lot of fun posting your recipes in the Recipe Tab at the top of the page. If you have a recipe you’d like to share, email it to me at smithellaneousATyahooDOTcom and I will get it added to the line up.  In fact, today I am adding a recipe from Sue G. for brownies which she says make the easiest, most delicious brownies she has ever tasted.  She doesn’t share this recipe with just anyone, so just remember–being a Smithellaneous reader does have its benefits.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you, my most fabulous, faithful, chocolate-loving readers!

On Sunday morning, we arrived at our 8:15 am worship team rehearsal to discover that the mixing board for our P.A. system was emitting a not-so-inspiring burning smell.

How many of you know that when an electronics item smells like it’s been smoking Marlboro’s, it’s not a good thing?

The mixing board had been struck by lightening several months ago which fried about half of its thirty channels; on Sunday, another half of them inexplicably gave up the ghost and Charles, our sound guy, spent a busily frantic half hour repatching cables and mikes and guitars and keyboards and trying to make use of the very few working inputs that remained.

We made it through the morning service–just barely–and by Monday morning,  Charles and Steve were deep in the throes of researching sound boards and figuring out what to order so they could get it shipped in and up and running by Sunday.

Which is fine.  No big deal right?

However.

Last week just happened to also be the week that painting crews, scaffolding equipment, and tech people were all due to arrive since our church’s 20-year old, quickly fading projection system was  going to be replaced.

And since my office at church is a part of the sound room and since the sound room was sort of Operation Central for arriving video/technical/soundboard parts, and since there were workers of all kinds in and out of the church and my office all week,  my work life was just a wee bit chaotic.

Since our church has a very tall ceiling, getting the projectors installed was a bit of a trick.  I’m sure glad it wasn’t me up there!

Happily, both installations went flawlessly and were up and running for our service yesterday morning.

On top of that whole experience (which Steve probably invested at least 20 hours into, in addition to his regular pastoral duties) we had the following stuff going on:

Tuesday, Steve attended a monthly pastor’s meeting, and went to the second half of Bring a Parent To School Day that afternoon.  He led singing and taught the Wednesday night Bible study,  prepped for (and led) the church’s Annual Business Meeting and taught his weekly class at Dare Challenge, the nearby center for men in drug/alcohol rehab. He also did a couple hospital visits.

I went to the first half of Bring a Parent to School Day on Tuesday, headed up a monthly women’s dinner Tuesday night, helped Steve compile fifty, 25-page booklets for the Business Meeting, did my regular graphics designing, bulletin printing, and music prep in addition to doing a whole bunch of graphics/sign up sheets for a couple big projects the church has going on.  On Saturday, I left at 7 am  for a women ministers/pastor’s wives meeting I am in charge of.   Got home at 2:30, took a brief nap, and headed back to church to finish up three more hours of work.

Last night we had a  2-hour drama meeting, getting geared up for our Easter production and then tonight, Steve has a monthly board meeting.   We have VIP overnight guests flying in Thursday (more about that later) and then we’ll be staying at a beach house this weekend that rents for $25,000 a week.

Is that busy enough for ya?

To make things all the more lovely, my laptop had some virus/Trojan thingies going on last week and I have spent way too much time trying to figure out how to get those issues resolved.  My brain is officially overloaded by technical stuff   Plus, I woke up this morning with a horribly sore throat and a not-so-peppy, malaise-y sort of feeling.

But other than that, things are grand-n-dandy!

Although the preceding paragraphs of happy, chaotic busyness were written sort of tongue in cheek, there was something more serious that happened this past weekend.   Late Saturday night, my mom was taken by ambulance to the hospital following a grand mal seizure.   In the past, when she has had seizures, she has shattered her collar bone, broken her wrist, gotten nasty hits to the head, etc.  Thankfully, after a thorough checking over, she was discharged from the hospital at about 2 am Sunday morning with no serious injuries.

As much as I love living in North Carolina, one thing that is difficult is not living near any of my family, and  especially not getting to see my mom, who is an amazing, loving, prayerful, brave lady.   (My dad died two years ago.)

I also have five siblings up in Wisconsin/Minnesota, along with aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews, but finances and circumstances limit the opportunities we have to see each other.

I’m especially thankful for my sister, Debbie, who lives in the same town as mom and cares for her with great efficiency, love, and tenderness.  Which is not to say mom needs a lot of care.  Apart from her seizure disorder, she is spunky and strong and loves long walks and watching the birds and deer that wander onto the lawn outside her assisted living facility.   (And if you’ll excuse me for just a moment, since I know that mom reads this blog, I just want to take a moment to say, “I love you, Mom!”)

And if you have a mother nearby whom you get to see pretty often?  Give her a hug next time you see her, in honor of my own mom.  Because after all, moms were made for hugs–both giving them and receiving them.

Sending a sweet, cyber hug to my mom right now . . .

Well, I’m glad I thought to do the whole camera grab thing because I was about halfway home when I happened to glance to my right and see incredible loveliness.  Of course, Mr. Nikon and I had to pull over.

An hour later when I finally walked into our house, I told Steve and Sarah, “I was detoured by a sunset.”

After all these years of living with me, they know exactly what sunset detours are and they know how important they are to me.  Few thing give me greater joy than stepping aside from the crazy pace of life and really appreciating and capturing the beauty God sends our way.

I mean, if I were God?  

And I had created last night’s sunset?  

I’d be pretty happy if a frazzled, busy, middle-aged pastor’s wife pulled off the road for a few minutes to breathe it in, to appreciate it, and to add it to her memory bank of life’s beautiful moments.

It’s kind of scary going back to school after being out a century or two, as I have been.  In fact, it was extra scary for me because you know what the very first class of the day was?

Math.

Yes, math.  My least favorite subject on the planet.

I sat in a front row desk beside Sarah and stared nervously at the handout the teacher had given me,  I just knew that any minute she was going to call on me and ask me to find the gradient of the slope of the A quadrant and solve for the N after diving by 4.753  while simultaneously figuring out the angle of the area of the perimeter of the rhombus and the axis of rotation of the augmented matrix’s square root.

But you know what?  I wasn’t worried.   I was ready.   And I was prepared.

Because no matter the question, I was going to answer “Four.”

Yep.  Just plain four.

I mean, four is a good, solid and highly respectable number isn’t it?  And I figured I would have a one in 2.7 billion chance of being right, so what was there to lose?

Thankfully though, I did not have to bring my astonishing mathematical skills to bear which was a good thing because I really hate making High School math students look bad.

(I’ll pause for a moment while we all share a hearty laugh.)

When the math class finally, mercifully ended (without me having to make even one student look bad),  Sarah led me out to the hall while informing me, “Mom, to get to the next class on time, we’re going to have to hurry.”  

And hurry we did.  Up steep stairs, down long halls, we were jostled by backpacks and by football players whose arms were bigger than my entire body.  For being only five feet tall, that diminutive  daughter of mine can really hustle!  As I sprinted hurriedly and worriedly through the halls trying to keep up with my speedy progeny, I finally realized why 49-year old, flabby woman do not attend High School.  It is not so much for age-based reasons as it is for fitness-based issues.   Getting to each class on time would require far more effort than I am willing to expend at this semi-advanced age in life.  

After breaking every land speed record known to man, Sarah and I skidded around the corner of the next classroom just as the bell rang.  I collapsed wearily into my assigned chair while the teacher graciously wheeled in an oxygen tank and called in a crew of paramedics who waited until my gasping had stopped and my heart rate had gone down from its hallway-sprinting-high of 730 beats per minute.  (Or at least that’s what it felt like.)

But I’m happy to say all the effort was worth it.  It was so very, very well worth it.

Because Sarah’s second class of the day? Photography and Photoshop.

Oh my.   I was in  absolute heaven.   I’m sure that teacher had never in her entire life seen a more rapt and enraptured student being sitting in her classroom.   Utter. Bliss.

However, all bliss has to come to an end and before I knew it, that class was over and my daughter and I launched ourselves out the door for yet another sprint to her next class, Honors Civics.

As I sat and listened to the teacher for an hour I thought to myself, “Hmmm.  Another subject I don’t know much about.”

And then I got to worrying.

I thought, “In just a very short while, the time is going to come when  Sarah is going to hit the tipping point.  One day she will come home from school and she actually be smarter than me.  And Steve. And then what will we do?”

It’s a real worry of mine.   Being outsmarted by my own kid.

And speaking of school and kids?  Sarah was given her 2nd quarter report card  Tuesday.   When I saw it, I had to sit her down for a little lecture on her grades because there were a few things on her card that were a bit worrisome to me.

I don’t want to share too many family secrets with you all because Sarah does need to have her privacy protected, but this is something I feel like I need to talk about.

I sat Sarah down with her report card and I said, “Sarah, honey.  There needs to be some serious changes made here.  You can’t keep on bringing home grades like this.   You’ll need to make some adjustments in your study habits, spend more time on homework, and maybe I could even help you a little bit in math.   Because frankly?    If you could just start earning a few D’s and F’s, we wouldn’t want have to pay you so much money.”

Yes folks, our supposedly learning-challenged student whose brain was supposed to be damaged by massive amounts of chemo has once again brought home straight A’s.

And since we’ve always paid Nathan and Sarah a little something for each A and B they get, that was the reason I felt compelled to sit her down for The Talk.  That was the reason I pleaded, “Just one D, Sarah.  Could you possibly just go ahead and get one D?  It would really help out our budget!”

But no.  She insists on getting A’s. All A’s.  Sigh.

And the reason she’s getting A’s?  Besides having a good work ethic and being a good student?

It’s because I am NOT helping her in math.

Because you can only write four as an answer so many times.

Here are a few recent photos of our sprinting, A-making, almost-smarter-than-us child. (Who we are very proud of.)

And one of my all time favorite pictures of her . . .

To close out this School Post, I just want to say that if you are a teacher, or if you have ever been a teacher, thank you.

I told Sarah that teachers are right up there with doctors, nurses, policemen and missionaries to Africa in my Book of Heroes.  As I sat and watched Sarah’s teachers invest their lives, hearts, knowledge and gifts into Sarah’s life and into the lives of her fellow  students, I wanted to stand up and cheer.  I wanted to raise their salaries to a million dollars a year and send them on paid vacations to the country of their choice.

Because we will never, ever be able to do too much to repay those amazing individuals who partner with us in helping us prepare our precious children for life as adults.

So once again, to any teacher reading this: Thank you.  You are my hero.

The next stop on our Wedding Photography Tour Agenda took us to Jeanette’s Pier in Nags Head, which is a short ten minute drive from our house.

In order to get on to the pier itself, you have to pass through a combo gift store/restaurant/aquarium; as you can imagine, Meagan and Nathan made quite the splash as they entered the room.   One little girl  stared wide-eyed at Meagan for a few moments and then breathed the question, “Are you a princess?”

And then it was time for the princess and her Prince Charming to head outside to the (really) blue and (really) cool seaside air.

I have no idea what Nathan is doing in this picture; it almost looks like he’s making some sort of attempt to catch that bird! (Somehow I don’t think the bird is terribly worried.)

 Here a few of Sarah’s shots.

And finally . . . why do you suppose this man is smiling?

Any guesses?

He’s smiling because he got to go home with The Catch of the Day.

And what a catch she is!