Day 14 - A reminder of blessings

Today I wanted to take a photo of either a rainbow or a butterfly... but didn't manage to see either. So instead went with blossom. Blossom is a reminder of the blessings of changing seasons and the provision of food or flowers. And it is so very pretty. I found a random poem called A Blessing by James Wright that gave me the idea from the last line! I have pasted the poem at the bottom of the post if you want to read it.

It was actually quite hard to take photos of trees in other peoples property. I felt a bit random! 

I also took a picture of a lily from the bottom of my garden. In the gospels (Matt 6 v 25 - 34 and Luke 12 v 27) Jesus tells us not to worry about things like food and clothing but encourages us to look at the lilies of the field and from their beauty be reminded that He will look after us and provide for us. I have found this to be so true in my life and lilies are a reminder of the incredible blessings of faith and love in Jesus. 

A Blessing

BY JAMES WRIGHT

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,

Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.

And the eyes of those two Indian ponies

Darken with kindness.

They have come gladly out of the willows

To welcome my friend and me.

We step over the barbed wire into the pasture

Where they have been grazing all day, alone.

They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness   

That we have come.

They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.

There is no loneliness like theirs.   

At home once more,

They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.   

I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,

For she has walked over to me   

And nuzzled my left hand.   

She is black and white,

Her mane falls wild on her forehead,

And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear

That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.

Suddenly I realize

That if I stepped out of my body I would break

Into blossom.

Day 13 - Something to look forward too

I am soooooooooo looking forward to a much needed holiday with my awesome sister-in-law and brother! Bring on swimming everyday, relaxing, shopping and lots of food and talking in Sydney! Some real cheap flights meant I was shouted the trip which is in less than 3 weeks time! Woo hoo!!

I also can't wait for summer and summer holidays! Ice cream and strawberries sums up summer nicely for me!!

Day 12 - Something that overwhelms you

The first thing that jumped into my head when I read the topic today was my housework! I was never a particularly tidy person and now that I am responsible for tidying up after small children it often gets totally out of control! But after taking a few photos it just felt like the blog of shame. Ha ha

Anyway it got me thinking and I realised one of the reasons that it gets so messy is that we just have so much stuff! Without even trying its so easy to buy into the idea that you need more and more and you forget you have to find a place to keep it. My job for the day was to sort out the pantry and as I was doing it I noticed photos of our sponsor children on the fridge - it suddenly struck me as pretty ironic! This gave me the following idea...

It was actually quite hard to make it look cool with the photos in the pantry and they definitely look better after a bit of cropping and enhancing.

I guess it can be pretty overwhelming thinking about all the issues in the world and what we can do to make a difference. I am fortunate to live in New Zealand where my first world problems are caused by to much stuff. I think its important to remember we didn't choose where we were born but we can choose what we do with it. And I am happy for the reminder today that there is more to life than just housework and tidying!! 

This is me in Zambia in 2003 - this trip changed my life and my views on what is important in life. 

Day 11 - Something that makes you smile...

I'm purposely trying to not make this blog all about my kids. But it's not always easy because as a stay at home mum my life pretty much revolves around them! Yesterday (when this blog was suppose to be posted) they were driving me pretty crazy!! But this morning my two year old has taken all her clothes off and is playing happily naked and I have to admit it makes me smile! Kids are so awesome and fun and innocent and crazy and full on. Someone said to me this week that the days are long but the years are short and I have a feeling they are right!

Anyway one of the things that I love about being a mum is the way you get to see them learning things right in front of your eyes. I had forgotten how amazing it was until recently when my baby all of a sudden noticed she had hands! She stared at them for a few days and now has started trying to hold and grab things. The intense concentration makes me smile. It's like you can see her little brain trying to figure out how to do it.

So for my photo today I wanted to try and capture the look of concentration so I wouldn't forget just how cool it is! Not totally happy with my efforts - I'm definitely better at taking photos of things that don't move! 

Wanted to also get a shot of the toy in focus and Milly out of focus but she wouldn't hold the toy in the exact right place - come on Milly! Ha ha

Day 10 - Your home

We live in a little rental house that is great for us but not really anything to look at! Its pretty run down and dated. So today I decided to take photos of some of the details and textures found in our home. I like the top two the best. 

I had to include these photos of our carpet and wallpaper as we look at them everyday and as such they have become a big part of our home!

And lastly one of the outside of our house and our wild backyard!

Day 9 - Someone you call friend

I was going to take photos of all the foods that I consider my "friends" today but then read the title again and realised it said someone... I assume that means it has to be human! It might sound a little sad that I consider food my friend but I'm going to blame it on all my food restrictions while feeding my baby! So here is my compromise. Strawberries are my food friend, Brendan is my best friend and Evie is just so cute so she makes the cut too!

Day 8 - A gift from someone

Today's topic was easy for me to choose what to photograph. My awesome brother in Canada gave us Auckland zoo passes this year for Christmas and we love going. We go most weeks. What I love about it is that every time we go we get to see different things. And there is no pressure to get around the whole zoo at once. Today's highlights included seeing the baby giraffe feeding from its mum, a beautiful peacock spreading its feathers, two kea's sweep past only meters away and the hippos swimming.

While it was fun taking pictures of the animals it was quite hard to get really cool angles because of the fences and distances you had to shot from. They also would move! So all the shots ended up being straight on pictures and needed cropping afterwards. Still I'm pretty happy with the outcome (and have to give credit to my husband for several of these shots too). Thanks babe.

Day 7 - Your guilty pleasure...

I had a bit of fun with this topic asking people what they thought my guilty pleasure would be!

My mother said it would be having two long hot showers everyday if I could - my husband quickly piped up that I would use a fresh towel every time and then leave it hanging on the door (I have to confess there were three towels hanging on our door this morning.... they know me well).

My darling sister in law had plenty of suggestions when I asked her. Some of them I won't repeat! The one she was most right about is my obsession with always having my drinks in a large glass and filled right to the top... can't stand it when the tide is out!!

The guilty pleasure that I thought of was spending far to much time on facebook instead of doing my housework!! Ha ha

Don't think my photos are going to win any awards today! I have been lacking a bit of creative inspiration the last couple of days. I am keen this week to try and extend my skills a bit more maybe by playing with light, shutter speed and getting my camera off auto!! We will see how that goes!

Day 6 - Sacrifice

I didn't really like the topic today and didn't have any inspiration for a good photo idea! So my photo is something I have thought would be cool to try and capture for ages. One thing I love when I'm having cuddles with my two year old is the way I can see myself reflected in her eyes. Today I got my husband to see if he could capture that image and this is what we got.

If you enlarge the photo you will be able to see me in her eye! I'm pulling a bit of a funny face as was trying to get her to look at me and not the camera so it would work. This does tie in with the theme I guess because all parents make a lot of sacrifices for their children. It can be hard sometimes but then it is all worth is when you gaze into their trusting eyes. That was cheesy eh!

On another note I think its interesting doing this photo challenge and finding out what kind of things I really like taking photos of. I really love refections of things in other images. I also really like images of the sky. Fun times!

Day 5 - Something you might take for granted...

I think something we often take for granted or fail to notice is the beauty that exists in the "normalness" of every day life and routine. I like this quote and used it as inspiration for my photos today.

“children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” 
― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Would have liked to have a bit more time with these photos to experiment with getting the daisy's in focus but Evie would only hold Milly for about 20 seconds!!

Really wanted to get a sunset or moonlight but had to go out and it was not dark enough yet so another picture of the sunshine! 

Day 4 - A recent achievement

So today it was pretty hard to choose which achievement to photograph... was it that I had managed to get the dishes done before 9am.... or maybe that I didn't lose the plot when both the girls had melt downs at the same time... or maybe that I managed a lunch break in a completely quiet and still house (lasted almost half an hour!!) or maybe.... guess you get the drift my daily achievements are not anything photo worthy!! Ha ha

In the end I decided to celebrate one of my two year old's recent achievements - toilet training!! And it kind of includes another achievement of mine too - clean washing!!!

Anyway a bit of fun and I like the way the photos have turned out!

Day 3 - Something you can't live without.

Today I decided to go with something we literally can't live without - air! Fun topic to try and figure what to photograph!! But this is what I came up with. 

With the wind blowing the clouds were awesome today. Very airy!! He he

The other thing I thought of was the way a bird uses the air under its wing to fly. However this was super hard to photograph! My camera was not fast enough and this was the best I could get.

Lastly I really liked this photo of the sun peaking through the clouds and they were really fun to capture as I just kind of closed my eyes and pointed my camera up and they came out so cool! I guess we can't live without the sun either huh!

Day 2 - Your favourite colour...

I don't have a favourite colour. I like most of them and have always found it hard to choose just one to like. So that made today's topic a bit hard. Anyway in the end I decided to go with pink as I have 2 small girls and we have so much pink stuff!!

Evie and I headed outside for a play and this is what I snapped.

I enjoyed trying to get a good shot of a flower as was not something I had really photographed before. Lots of wind movement and trying to get the focus right was good learning!

 

And just for fun - Evie's favourite shoes - her pink gumboots and her bestie Tammy!

Day 1 - One of your greatest blessings...

Ok so after a night of nearly no sleep with a teething 2 year old and a hungry 4 month old my greatest blessings definitely fell into the comfort category!! I nearly just took a picture of my bed! However managed to be slightly more creative!

A lil excited about my new camera I have put up more than one image for today!

Camera in a coffee cup!

This picture is of my cup of coffee! Coffee is definitely one of my greatest blessings.... this cup was the last teaspoon of coffee with the last of the milk for a tired mother with a big headache! Definitely a blessing as I needed it a lot today! Reflected in the mug is my new camera. A gift from my family and friends for the lastest big 0 birthday! My friends and family are a BIG blessing to me!

Dummy in front of a non sleeping baby!

Lots of hidden blessings in this picture! A dummy which helps me get my baby to sleep is the most obvious! But I also chose the dummy with a sheep on it because I am so thankful to live in NZ! And of course my beautiful daughter is a huge blessing to me!

Bible verse

Another "greatest" blessing has got to be my faith. Love that the bible always has something encouraging for me to read. In this picture I was intending to point to the passage that says "I have strength" but it looks more like I am pointing to the bit that says "share my difficulties with me"... Maybe that is even more appropriate for today.