Hi! You're probably wondering what on earth the photo with the acrobats is for. Well, I've spent all day--and I mean ALL day--uploading photos to Photo Mission, an organization of photographers of whom I am a member. They're requesting photos of China for a particular project which deadlines April 1. Whew! I just made it. Anyway, these are two images from the hundreds and hundreds I took when I was there in October of 2005.

I really hope I get a few photos selected for the project; it pays $25 per image. I uploaded 40.
This is the Mekong River. A might sight to behold! Man. Talk about feeling like a hobbit!! We sure did.

I can't believe it's been nearly two years since we went to China. That trip changed my life. Last year's trip to Turkey was very similar. How? I've never felt as close to God as I did on those trips. My ability to hear from Him and pray His words over situations, situations involving people I'd only just met, was incredible! So one can imagine the level of anticipation I have for returning to Turkey this June. I've got almost $800 for my plane ticket; the whole $1700 is due May 1. My car needed a few minor repairs this week so I had the fun of taking care of that, but really I was unconcerned. Ah, the tremendous peace that comes from having a mechanic you can trust!! God bless you, Gary Becker.

We were supposed to go camping this week but sadly, it's raining. Yup, still raining! Oh and I found a huge field of bluebonnets!! I can't wait to go photograph it! Remember when I said all that yuck and ice and rain in January would be worth it? Well I was right. :) Look later for photos!

Have a great day! --Rachael

Hi again,
Here's a fun thing I put together Friday and today (Monday) in about 3 hours' time. I'd slaved all week on the new WIM display (see previous post) and had an hour left at work on Friday afternoon. What to do? Nothing to read, no email to check, nothing.

Suddenly this idea dropped into my head: Advertising for the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) in a fun, Old Navy--style way. If you've seen a t-shirt from Old Navy, you know what I mean. I'd gotten some cool fonts from Font Diner, and Googled some fruit photos, and voila! The finished product. I got the wood texture from Mayang.

I'm tickled over the whole thing; definitely was a divine inspiration and I'm not sure what to do with it now, except print a few for myself and friends, maybe. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, too.

We had a great weekend: Friday night Hannah and I went to Grace and Julie's for Texas Hold 'Em. Girl poker! Gotta love it. What is "girl poker?" Instead of beer and cigars, we had milk and cookies (macadamia nut) and when Courtney ran out of chips, Julie just popped open the case and gave her some more. Hannah was winning for a long time but then I smote them all.

Saturday Lanier and Hannah and I went to Zach and Cheri's for pizza and Scattagories. We tried playing Trivia Pursuit but none of us knew any of the answers. We gave up after 15 minutes.

Sunday after church we played tennis!! My legs are still sore from all the running around. Lanier worked with Hannah for about 30 minutes, while Grace and I had a semi-decent game, then she played him while Hannah and I acted like the little kids you see dart across the court, snatching dead balls during real tennis matches. It was fun. Oh and I DID make those calzones. (Whole-wheat flour worked great, Mom, they were perfect.)

We're listening to a new CD--if you're interested in some good music, check out Jason Morant. He's pretty awesome!

Have a great week,
Rachael

Hi (Insert Your Name Here)!

It's been a long week. A good week, but long. I've been struggling to come up with a design for a new WIM display. This week I was really under the gun; my boss needed to take a hard copy with him to St. Mary's, GA, to show the directors at their semi-annual board meeting. Yikes! I had nothing!

I love it when I share my challenges with folks; they pray immediately for God-inspired creativity! And I think it works. I'm sitting on this pretty design right now and Steve's taking it with him to Georgia. Am I 100% satisfied? I dunno. I like it pretty well and I guess I'll chew on it over the weekend...the thing is, I have to like it enough to want to gaze at a 5x5--foot version of it for the next three years at least.

In other news, Hannah had a meeting last night at her school concerning Electives next year for 7th grade. I was pumped: this is when the fun begins! Now that she's familiar with middle school and learned to handle the stress, she can get into Theatre, Yearbook, even Highschool Spanish! I'm pushing her to do Spanish; it gets her highschool credit and a jump-start on learning another language. And Mom can learn along for FREE. Que bueno!! Hannah was interested in Life Skills (translation: Home Ec) but realized Grandma teaches her all kinds of stuff during the summer when she goes home so she put that one low on the list. Same for Art.

TURKEY: I'm gathering funds for Turkey in June; so far I'm $680 into my goal of $2500. The biggest deadline is to have $1700 in by May 1 for airfare. In preparation, I've been taking Farsi (Persian) lessons in Austin on Saturdays and also reading whatever books I can find on the Middle East. Currently reading "The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East," by Robert Fisk, a British journalist who's covered the M.E. for 30 years. This is not light reading at all!

I've taken some photos of Hannah holding Izzy, her parakeet, and they're quite lovely. I'd like to try and paint one of them...

We'll be home in GA for a long Easter weekend. It's my BigMama's 90th birthday and the whole Nutt clan is gathering from the four corners of the U.S., even as far as Alaska. It'll be the first family Egg Hunt I've ever seen with extended family (it's BYOB, "Bring Your Own Basket") and I'm delighted to be at New Covenant for Easter Sunday. Hannah's counting the days til she sees all her grandparents and her best friend, Megan.

Plans for the weekend? Not much. Prob'ly hang out with friends, vacuum my car, make calzones and rent a movie. It's too rainy for outside stuff and we have no obligations this weekend!! A first in a looong time.

Have a nice weekend yourself.

Peace,
Rachael

Here's my latest drawing. I did one of Hannah two days ago, but we were in a hurry to get to her dance class on time and she was really impatient, so the drawing was pretty terrible. I liked the pose she did though, so I asked her to repeat it. This drawing is better, but I'm not happy with the black areas behind her--I think they flattened the image instead of pushing the figure forward. Oh well. Maddie was there, watching, and I think it sort of made Hannah uncomfortable so again, she was in a hurry to be done.

I hope to do more drawings on Saturday. Tonight is "Cinderella" and call is at 6:00pm. Three more shows and we're done!

Have a great weekend.

"Cinderella" opens this Friday night at the Brauntex Theatre! Hannah and all the other children have been working HARD in rehearsals. These are a few photos I snapped during dress rehearsal this past week. I got to paint the pumpkin coach!! Isn't it loverly? I didn't do the "wheels" though, my new friend Julie did them.
Here's Hannah with the Sweetest Lil' Pumpkin you'll ever meet! Her name is Summer, and she is 3 years old.
Cinderella at the far right, with the Fairy Godmother, after she's spun her magic.
Hannah, a beautiful Townsperson, greeting Prince Charming and the King during the ball scene.
Expressing indignation over the ugly Stepsisters fighting for the Prince's attention.
Everyone freezes in place while the Stepmother and Stepsisters sing a song.
Ball scene: dancing the waltz for the Midnight Minuet.

More photos to come! Say a prayer for tonight's opening show! Hannah got on her bottom braces yesterday (Thursday) and is in a lot of pain. "Cinderella" runs this weekend and next weekend, too.

Howdy, y'all! The weather here has been so wonderful! Hannah had spring break all last week so I took Thursday off. We, along with Grace and Madison (little next door neighbor) went hiking at Enchanted Rock! It was a blast.

Yesterday (Sunday), I had a free afternoon while Hannah was at rehearsal for "Cinderella." My good friend Cheri just bought the Canon 20D and was anxious to try it out. I grabbed my 10D and the three of us (Lanier included) went to a sort-of run down area of New Braunfels near the Guadalupe River to shoot pictures. The buildings are really interesting and great for portraits! We had 2 cameras between the three of us so I'll try and keep photo credits straight. The photo above of me was taken by Lanier.




He also caught this one of me and Cheri, checking out a pic she had just taken.

This one of Cheri is mine. I overexposed it slightly to blow out the white wall behind her and jazzed the saturation in Photoshop.


Lanier took this one of us in front of the whole warehouse. Cool place, huh?!
This one's mine!

Cheri captured this one with her 20D. I like it a lot! Her camera lets her shoot in B/W. Mine can't do that. :(


But this cool one is mine. Lanier said it's really hard, to be so beautiful all the time. ;)

And I got this one, too.

I'll post photos from Enchanted Rock in a day or two; I've run out of time! Hannah's play "Cinderella" opens this weekend and runs 6 shows: Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees. They've got rehearsal nearly every day now and I've been helping with the set! I got to paint Cinderella's carriage! It's so much fun!

Have a blessed day,
Rachael

Hello to all! Sorry I haven't blogged in forever. I've been busy. I take dance on Wednesdays and I'm in the play Cinderella. I'm a townsperson. I must learn the waltz (I trip over my own feet sometimes. lol) and things like that b/c I'm in the ball scene. I also play one of the girls who meets the prince. I don't have any lines or things like that. (Mom will have photos soon.) The play is coming up, so rehearsals are more and more frequent. This isn't a school play (in case you're wondering), no, it's a community play which I had to try out for. So I'm happy to be in it. GO TOWNSPEOPLE WITHOUT LINES!

School is fine. In science we have a class pet (it's a hamster) and I get to keep her over Spring Break (which I'm on right now, despite it being February) for free (usually you have to pay 70 dollars of the paper money they give you for "being good" and so on.

It's February and thoughts of swimming and days spent on boats are already creeping into my mind. We recently found out that some day this week (maybe today) the high is in the 80's. And it's February! My mom thinks the warm weather is here to stay. YAY WARM WEATHER!!!!!

And now for the sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad... sad, sad, sad, sad news. My birds were fighting, and I came home to see Houdini (my green bird who happens to be my favorite) laying stiff w/ her feet curled up on the bottom of the cage. I wept long and hard, and the next morning we buried her in a red rectangular box tied w/ a blue ribbon w/ orange and white flower print on it. Poor, poor Houdini. (Yes, Izzy killed her.)

Now for some happier news: my friend and I went down to where we climb trees, and found a rope hanging on the fence. We used the rope to make a swing with loopholes in it so we could also climb the tree with ease. The rest of the rope was used to make a swing in another tree. We're having a lot of fun hanging out!

This concludes my life for the past couple of weeks. TTYL, Hannah

Day of Mourning

This is really sad; yesterday evening we came home and found Houdini, dead on the floor of the cage. Izzy must have killed him; he'd been very aggressive over the past two weeks (Izzy, not Houdini). Hannah cried a lot.

We put Houdini in a pretty red box and Hannah tied it with a blue ribbon. We buried him this morning in the back yard next to Hazel (hamster) and Hermy (hermit crab) and an unknown kitten I discovered dead in our back yard once. Gross.

It's a sunny, hot, breezy day, a lovely day, and I hated starting it with a funeral. It's Hannah's Spring Break too, and this is how it began.

Well, in other happier news, it's the 2 weeks before show time for "Cinderella" and that means rehearsal nearly every day. I'm helping create the set, which is fun. I haven't done that since a previous millennium! So I'll be painting tomorrow evening while Hannah rehearses.

Yours, Rachael

I tried emailing this to all my people, but our system prevents it. I don't know why. So, maybe some of you will read it here on this blog. I'd be upset about it except that we had a Stress Management seminar at the office this morning, so I know to keep my cool by eating chocolate, getting a pedicure, watching "American Idol" and quoting various scriptures related to stress aloud ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," etc).

Well, maybe you had to be there.

I hope you're doing well, and wanted you to know Hannah and I are doing great. Work at WIM is steady, church is wonderful, and I am thoroughly enjoying the group I attend on Wednesday nights under Chuck and Mary Nell's leadership. Hannah mostly babysits the little ones (they're all under age 5) and last week was particularly entertaining because the host couple had just acquired two baby goats. The children trooped all over the house, toting bleating "kids" along with them and had fun feeding them bottles.

Well here's my Deep Thought for the day:

Monday night I went to Source (college group) and listened to a guest speaker, a missionary, based in Corpus Christi, Texas. He made an interesting statement: it's not our apparent blessings which show God to people--they see God in the midst of our sufferings.

What a statement! I thought quickly in the 3-second-long pause that followed his announcement. When had people been drawn to God through ME? Without a doubt, it's always been when I've shared My Story of how God comforted us and brought us through the devastating loss of Chris and all the changes in our lives that accompanied it.

We've had several members in WIM recently deal with extreme hardship: a newlywed couple had their first baby, and the little girl has been diagnosed with Down's Syndrome; a mother in Asia has been diagnosed with Stage 3 bone cancer (they have 7 children), our office manager's daughter-in-law has cancer for the third time, our bookkeeper was diagnosed with diabetes...there are others, but you get the idea.

I wondered, why do these things happen? How does God get glory in all of this? What do Mexicans/Chinese/etc think when they see our people, people of God, suffering so?

The apostle Paul writes, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all comfort, who comforts us in our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." (II Corinthians 1:3,4)

He also wrote: "As you know it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Jesus Christ Himself." (Galatians 4:13)

So what I see is this:

God can and will use us anywhere, anytime, any WAY, to reach people who don't know Him yet. And if we are sick with cancer or hives or give birth to a child who is (seemingly) not perfect, then we cannot consider these things misfortunes or impossible or really, even bad! Because either "God causes ALL things to work together for GOOD for those who LOVE Him" or He DOESN'T. Which do we believe? As a Christian, I had to decide what I believed after my husband died for no apparent reason, after my aunt got sick from MS and died after years of my fervent prayers for her healing, after my grandmother was told her cancer had returned a third time and this time they couldn't operate.

You know what? It's been over a year and my grandmother who turns 90 in April has had no symptoms of cancer since she quit chemo December of 2005.

I don't have an answer for every person's situation, only God does. Do I always understand what's going on in MY life? No. Do I always understand WHY? No. And I don't bother trying, usually. But I DO know that MY suffering WILL show God to other people, just like it did that Monday night at Source, while I prayed with a 21-year-old girl whose daddy and granddaddy died within the last year.

BUT my heart has to be right; I have to be aware of God's presence in my life, AND His working in my life. That allows Him to shine through me.

God will use whatever it takes to show Himself to people. Do we let Him use us? Do we let Him us our illnesses? Our problems? Our faults and shortcomings?

I pray that we do, no matter what.

Love,
Rachael

This is a long time coming! My apologies for not "blogging" earlier. Obviously I've been a little productive!

These are sketches, about 20 or so minutes each, of Hannah, who willingly modeled for me a few evenings ago. Each is done on hot press printmaking paper with charcoal, if anyone cares. I think the paper's around 300lb. Pretty heavy-duty stuff left over from school (graduated in '01). They're in chronological order.

Anyway, I am trying (as soon as I buy more paper!) to do a sketch nearly every day, to get into practice. I gave up painting in order to polish my drawing skills, which (duh) must precede painting skills. It's the reason I've never finished any of the portraits I started painting...if I can't draw their faces, I certainly cannot paint them.

I don't think any of these really resembles Hannah, except the "attitude" of some of them. She hates #3 which is probably my favorite one ("I look fat!"). She's 12. Enough said.

In other non-art news, Valentine's Day was certainly a forgettable experience. Why? Well I celebrated the weekend before, VD being on a Wednesday (no I'm not a Valentine humbug) so when the actual holiday arrived, I'd actually forgotten it WAS Valentine's, and was just struggling to get out of bed and go to work. I'd come down with a wicked cold so after I presented Hannah with her box of chocolates and sung a cheesy "Happy Valentine's to You" and got her off to school, I went home and crawled into bed with a box of Kleenex. Que romantico, no?

Work is good. It's been pretty solid with Things To Do for WIM and our missionaries. New brochures, presentations for m's, insurmountable internet/email problems that have everyone on staff in a state of nervous breakdown, it's great fun. Plus all the health problems and stuff hitting our staff, our families and our m's on the field. Anything from colds to diabetes to broken bones and stage 3 bone cancer. If you're a praying person, pray for WIM!!

But it's not all gloom and doom, for goodness' sake. "We are pressed, but not crushed; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed," glory! There is good news, too! We have to be careful to keep it all in perspective and not let one outweigh the other.

My cold is gone and I'm back to 100%. Our finances are solid, money is slowly but surely coming in for my trip to Turkey in June, and I'm looking at possible photo opportunities (eg., weddings) coming up this spring. Our International Conference is in August, in Kerrville, Texas, and that is definitely an event to anticipate! ALL of our m's from around the globe should be there. What a great assembly that is! It only happens every three years, so it is a big deal.

Oh also we're flying home for a quick visit in April. Easter weekend, to be exact. It's my BigMama's 90th birthday and since she refused to get sick from the third attack of cancer and certainly didn't die, we decided to throw her another huge bash. Mom did one last year with the slight thought of "is this the last one?" and then cheerfully decided this is an annual event until her chariot of fire comes to collect her. Our entire family will be there. So if you attend New Covenant Church, I'll see you Easter Sunday!

Love to you, dear Reader, and I hope you have a great week.

--Rachael

Hey everyone,

Praise God, the sun in shining today! We've had so much cold and rain since the New Year began...

This week has been crazy: because of the last week's ice and such, I missed three days of work and have been scrambling to catch up ever since. It seems the more I do, the more works comes in! But it's good; it's good to be needed. It's good to be serving.

I've been to Borders (bookstore) twice this new year, and it's not enough, I'm such a book addict I need more! But Hannah and I went with my friend Sarah, and we sat in the coffee shop, turning pages, sipping chocolate-covered cherry mocha or green tea (Sarah's choice, obviously not ours) and smiling at baby Noah, her one-year-old son as he crowed in his stroller when Sarah fed him bits of lemon pound cake. I had only a small stack of books which begged my purchase, but I only left with a couple of blank journals.

One book, "Jesus Land: A Memoir" by Julia Scheeres, looked fascinating. It's the author's recollection of growing up as a girl in the 80's with two adopted brothers who are black. I only read the first few pages...it made me mad, but it interested me too, and I'll have to read it another time. The second, "Ali and Nino, A Love Story" by Kurban Said, is a fictional novel written "in the fashion of Scheherezade" which clinched my decision to buy IT when next I visit Borders. Amazon's description reads: "Set in the years surrounding the Russian Revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union, Said's tale of an Azerbaijani Muslim boy in love with a Georgian Christian girl..." (Georgian being her nationality, the country of , not our fair state). And thirdly but NOT least by any means was "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission To Promote Peace...One School At A Time" by David Oliver Relin. He's an American who built schools over in Pakistan! How cool is that.

There seems to be a flurry of books either written by or at least set in the Middle East or "over there" in those countries we're all fixated on and/or don't really like. I love reading about them. I want to know the way "they" think, why "they" think that way, and how can I relate to "them"? And get rid of the "us" vs. "them" mentality. It should be "we" because we're all human, right?

In news completely unrelated to books, I've begun attending a Bible study group, a community group, taught/led by Chuck and Mary Nell Hall on Wednesday nights. Hannah and I scoot from her hip-hop class up Hwy 46 into the hill country to George and Cindy's ranch for approximately 2 hours' of fellowship. The thing I love about this group of people from River City Vineyard Church is its diversity. Married couples, singles, older (I won't say old), middle-aged and young adult are all represented. It's all very reminiscent of home church back in Valdosta. Though we don't attend RCV, we're welcomed there and it's great to have friends outside our own fishbowl at TOL. I remember when we lived in Macon, GA, I attended New Covenant twice a month when we were home visiting, Ingleside Baptist the other two Sundays a month, and a Presbyterian Bible study once a week. I try to be a well-rounded believer, ha ha.

Anyway, I guess that's all that's happening. I've got trays of newsletters waiting to be stuffed and mailed, newsletters waiting to be printed, flyers waiting to be designed, a presentation waiting to be done, displays waiting to be designed...

Love from Texas,
Rachael

Argh, it's been so long since I've blogged. But then I wonder, who really reads these things. Nevertheless, I press on! :)

We renamed Hannah's parakeets. The green one escaped twice in a week, so I dubbed it "Houdini," and Hannah decided to rename the blue one "Isadora." So now they are Houdini and Izzy. They are the most cheerful little creatures and bring us so much joy! Who'd have thought? We spend quite a bit of time taming them. No, they don't bite, and if they DO nip your finger, it doesn't hurt at all. We are working with them to train them to sit on our fingers and not be afraid of us.

Houdini was a natural student. He learned quickly and in one day was sitting on my finger while we watched "My Fair Lady." Izzy was much more nervous; it took her a week to finally sit on my finger in their cage for a full minute. We're very patient, and last night it paid off. Izzy sat on my finger, outside of the cage for many minutes. The thing is, the birds don't like to be separated; Houdini flies back into the cage if I take him out too quickly. They chirp and call to each other and when reunited, they smooch a lot (it looks like smooching to me).

I held Houdini, little green feathered creature perched on my finger, tiny black eyes peering at my face, head cocked to the side, listening, and I marveled at him. What an amazing thing to make! What fun God must have had, designing birds. Such brilliant colored feathers, tiny, tiny feet that grip my finger so firmly and that weird chirruping they make that I cannot reproduce.

So, that's been our experience for the past two weeks...working with these birds and enjoying the heck out of them.

Yesterday Hannah had her braces tightened. It'd been a dull, grey day and both of us were sort of "blah," when the receptionist told us there was a new smoothie place in town. Our eyes brightened, and as soon as we left, we took off for a smoothie. Man! Was it good. Peaches, dark cherries, soymilk and ice. I did a leisurely jog/walk around the neighborhood while Hannah helped Maddie do her homework next door.

Now it's the weekend, and I'm wrapping up the set of brochures I've been designing for WIM. Only one more to do and then I have to find a way to put them all together in one packet along with our promotional DVD. What kind of folder would that be? How much will it cost? What if we used an envelope instead with a custom label on it? Ideas rolling around in my head...

There are other ideas for Deep Thoughts or incidents I'd like to share, but I think I'll save them for our newsletter coming up in a couple of weeks. And honestly, at the moment, I can't recall any of them. Cheerio, and have a great weekend! --Rachael

Hey everybody!

I'm sure you're wondering about the birds in this picture. They're my new pets! The blue one is Chiky and the green one is Peca. They're really cute. They are kind of nervous about their new home, but they'll get used to it.

I looked around my room one day and realized that I'm becoming quite the animal person. I have horse models, a horse mural, dolphin figurines, and 2 new birds! WOW!!!!

My birthday is on January 24th. I'll be 12. I'm still planning. It's going to be lots of fun. One of the best things about living 975 miles away from family members is that you get a lot of packages on your birthday. Yay!

Over Christmas break, we went home to Hahira, Georgia. I hung out with my best friend Megan Anderson, who has a new puppy. It is part Chihuahua and part Boston Terrier, I'm not sure about the terrier part. She's SO cute! Her name is Cocoa because she is black with white spots. It looks like she stepped in marshmallows! Whenever you lay down and put her on you she licks you and bites your hair. It tickles a lot!

I go back to school tomorrow, but I don't care because I only have a 3-day school week. There's nothing wrong with that!

For New Year's we had a big party at some friends' house. We had karaoke, and desserts, and a chocolate fountain! ( The chocolate fountain exploded all over the person tending it, though.)

Besides all of that I have nothing more to say. Happy Belated New Year and Merry Belated Christmas!

Love,

Hannah

Hi, folks! It's been a while.

Our newsletter went out the Monday after Thanksgiving so hopefully you're caught up on what's happening with us. However, this blog IS for bits on info that don't quite make it to press.

These are photos I just took of my friend Julie, the children's director for Tree of Life Church here in New Braunfels. Isn't she gorgeous?





Anyway, Thanksgiving week was horrendously busy (I worked Wednesday til 6:00 that night and came into the office twice over the weekend) and the following week wasn't much better. THIS week we're having a mini-orientation for a young lady joining as an intern to Spain, so I've hosted her at our house for three days.

Hannah got a black eye on Thanksgiving Day: she and Lanier were throwing a baseball, and she didn't catch it properly. Oops. He felt REALLY horrible. She had a nice shiner for a few days and it burst a blood vessel in her eye, which looked terrible, but she's fine. The swelling and bruising is gone around her eye, and the redness on her eye is fading fast.

Her school Science Fair was this past Saturday morning. Hannah did an experiment using common household spiders. Yup! We put four spiders in mason jars and punched holes in the lids to allow air in and fed them fly larvae and live bugs. Fun! She released them into the Great Outdoors after the experiment was over. Her display was really cool: we painted big red spiderwebs on a blue background and hot-glued fake spiders around the information posted.

Tonight is Wassail Fest in New Braunfels. Hannah, a member of her school choir, will be singing at WF this evening downtown. Monday night she sings at Canyon High School. In addition to all that, we've got final exams, WIM Christmas parties, church events and all the normal stuff of life going on before we drive home for Christmas on the 21st.

So! Life is good! We're busy, but not too busy, and making sure we keep things in priority while circumstances do their best to throw us off-balance and (remember?) steal our peace! I hope this Friday night to curl up on my sofa with Hannah and watch "La Vita Es Bella" and drink hot chocolate and RELAX.

Peace to you!

Rachael

Hello all! I may or may not have told you this, but I am a writer, but that's not really what I'm going to talk about. I'm going to tell you about a form of writing that I practice called poetry.

Poetry is a mixture of words or phrases that make up a sort of story. They don't have to rhyme but a lot of poems do. I wrote one yesterday and I also wrote one on July 20th; way before I started blogging.

I'm going to type both poems; the July 20th one is first. Here they are:

A Poet's Sensation

I'm in the mood.

I can feel it.

Fighting past my insides.

Screaming to get out.

My stomach is flipping.

A sensation is coming.

My head is a whirl of thoughts and activity.

My sensation is here.

Something is born,

And I am the one to witmess it.

Poetry is like a child.

It must be created,

When it's ready.

-Hannah Cowart

Age:11 years

July 20th, 2006

And the next one is a poem that my teacher told us to write. In school yesterday we read a poem called WHATIF and our assignment was to write a poem similar to that. We were aloud to use some of the author's lines, but I took no such cheap short-cut. I wrote my own original poem and here it is:

The Worries

While I rode the bus today,

Some worries just dropped in to say,

"Hello how are you this fine June?

But what if it rains this afternoon?"

"I know you planned to go to the park,

And watch the fireflies fly and spark

And have a picnic there I see

But listen, listen, listen to me!"

"Worries, worries drop in and shout:

Don't you wish to keep us out?

Well you can't and why you ask?

To keep you worried is our task!"

"What if hail comes down and hits

So hard it smashes you to bits!

What if the pitbull comes and bites?

What if the movie gives you some frights?"

"Oh and wouldn't you be scared so bad?

If chicken-pox is what you had?

So itchy-itchy scratchy ow!

Look at the spots; wow, wow, wow!"

"That's all the time I have today

That's all that I have time to say.

So worry on my little friend.

I'm positive we'll meet again!"

Now if you were wondering about my picture and why my face (if you haven't already noticed) is painted I have the answer to your question. It's because today at school (since this week is Drug Free Week and Mon.= Jersey Day to team up on Drugs; Tues.= Twin Day, I don't know what it stood for; Wed.= Wacky Day; Thurs.= Inside Out Day) was School Spirit Day so I dressed up. The End. :)

Well now I must retire from my typing. It has been my pleasure to entertain you w/ my poetry. Farewell for now!

Love,

Hannah Cowart

Peace Thieves

Wednesday: Hannah has dance class between school and church. This Wednesday was my first class on Missions and Prayer (M.A.P.) and I was concerned about getting there early and setting up. I didn't bring lunch with me to work and had to push back eating until I got home with Hannah at 4:00 pm. I'd run to WalMart first to buy groceries and snacks for my class, and it was hot outside and I hit two log-jammed school zones, delaying my speed and increasing my frustration. By the time we got home, I was on shaky ground, warning Hannah that I had a short fuse and needed to eat immediately. I didn't have time to cook dinner, and got Hannah to dance 10 minutes late. More frustration.

However, dance went well, we ate at church, and my M.A.P. class went great! I had about 12 childrens, ages 8-12, who paid attention, asked lots of questions, and enjoyed our first session. I was jumping up and down as we left that night.

Thursday: Hannah was upset because she had lost her ID, which prevented her from going to the first Bible study session she and her friends have started. I had left the coffee pot on that morning, so I was greeted with the smell of burnt coffee when I came home for lunch.

Friday morning: I overslept, Hannah still couldn't find her ID, and I spilled a whole cup of coffee all over the floor and myself while getting ready for the day.

Looking back over these words, I imagine you, Reader, saying, "Rachael you need to learn to manage your time better!" and you'd be right. This is a flaw I realize I have and am steadfastly passing down to my daughter. We'll work on it, I promise.

But all of these things are Peace Thieves. Spilled milk, misplaced homework, traffic jams, the lady returning something in front of me at the checkout line without a receipt, I bet your blood pressure's rising even as you read this part! When we're tired, when we're hungry, when we're hot and sweaty and in a rush, the whole world seems out of whack. But, I told Hannah, I knew it was all me, not the world. And I was striving not to take out my irritation on Hannah, or anyone else.

This morning, we'd been ugly with one another as Hannah unsuccessfully searched for her ID, at the expense of having time to make her lunch. When we were driving, I said, "Do you remember when you lost your ring at the WIM International Conference two years ago?" She said, "Yes." "Remember how I told you about losing my own rings, and how Grandma prayed with me, and she found them? And so I prayed with you, and you found your ring that day?" She remembered.

"Instead of yelling at each other and losing our tempers, we should pray first. I think if God can find a little ring in a swimming pool, He knows where your ID is."

So, we prayed. And felt a LOT better.

My life is great! It's wonderful, I am blessed at every turn. This is reality. Did only bad things happen Wednesday through Friday? No, but that's what we remember!

I recall from scripture how Satan is called Beelzebub, "the Lord of the flies." Why? Because often, his attacks come in swarms, like gnats, or mosquitoes. And we're driven mad without being able to fend them off. So, when those irritating, whining gnats, those Peace Thieves come at me, I stop and pray. There's no better "insect repellant" than the Holy Spirit's "cloud" of peace that comes over me when I pray and glorify Him.

Receive your peace today, and don't let it be snatched away! List the good things, out loud, that happened today and thank God for them.

Love, Rachael

Hey folks,

Saturday, we went hiking at Enchanted Rock with Zach and Cheri Walters, and Lanier. I wanted Lanier to see it before he took off for two weeks back East. It rained, which was a little disheartening, but it let off and we enjoyed the day's activities. I am always amazed at the life teeming within the cracks and crevices of that gigantic monolith. Cheri got some amazing photos of plants and stuff with her Canon point-and-shoot camera. If you click on their name, you'll see a slideshow she made of the trip.













This week, I've got a class at church starting Wednesday night, running for 6 weeks. Hannah's Bible study begins Tuesday morning. Her next orthodontist appointment is Thursday. Saturday is the women's ministry coffee get-together at church, where I'll photograph the ladies hanging out and I'm supposed to bring food. And then there's a whole string of photography appointments I've set up with friends in the coming month--two couples with whom I'm friends are getting married. One hired me to do their group shots and reception, the other, I'm doing her bridal portrait.

Hannah turned in her PTO fundraiser this morning: they sold pies for $10-15. She raised $191. Not too shabby. If she'd remembered to take her order form to church Sunday morning, I know she would have cleared $300. But I have to admit, I was a little discouraging to her because, selfishly, I realized I have to deliver all those pies!

We've gotten three solid days of rain. Not hard, driving rain, but soft, soaking, ceaseless rain. It's great! But sleep-inducing. I'm waiting for the cold front to move in; it was 75 degrees at 7:00 this morning. Yuck.

Be blessed! Be a blessing.

Rachael

Hey everyone it's me again! There is a lot to talk about in my life so I hope you have time to listen.

As you know my braces were a complete success they were accepted at my new school, which I told you about, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Well, something is happening at school that I think is cool and here's what it is. I, and my friends Janelle Martin, and Sabrina Martinez, are planning a Bible study for my school. I was informed today that we have been approved by the principal and that our dates are in place. I planned it for Tuesdays and Thursdays. Our flyer is good too. It clearly sates where to go, what to bring, and when it is. So things are going great on that subject. YAY!!!! :)

Well supposedly I get my bottom braces sometime this month. So pray for me again, b/c I don't like getting braces. They always feel weird and they hurt the first week or so.

Lanier Hall's 25th birthday was a while ago and it was a smashing success. Though the cakes didn't come out as planned, Janelle Balderson saved us by placing one on top of the other (one was thicker but smaller in length and width than the other). We sprayed silly string all over his car and when he blew out the candles, we sprayed him too! My friend Madison Green helped me, but her can went haywire and got all in his ear and it was WET!! GROSS!!!!!! :) But besides all of that, we really enjoyed it.

The weekend of Lanier's party my mom had to go to Tennesee to photograph a friend's wedding. (As you already know.) So that weekend Tamra Becker came to stay with me and Janelle Balderson (a.k.a. the cake saver) did too. That weekend was a LOT of fun. We went to the fair on Friday (there wasn't any school that day), had Lanier's birthday party, went shopping for Tami (Tamra) and more! I was very happy to take a break from my mom, but when she got home, I realized how much I had really missed her.

Well that's all on the subject of my life for now. I'll talk some more another day.

See ya!


Signed, Hannah Cowart

Annie and Josh's Wedding

September 30, 2006

I went to east Tennesee this past weekend to photograph my friend Annalysa's wedding. Annie and I were in the VSU Art Dept. together back in 2000. She's from Roswell, GA. We'd kept in touch sporadically over the years and she called me back in the winter to say she was "getting mahhried!" I was ecstatic when she said she wanted me to photograph for her.

Josh is from Michigan, so they decided to pick a "neutral" place for the event. Annie's family owns farmland in east TN, Rogersville, to be exact. It's about 30 minutes away from Knoxville. We spent a lovely, lovely weekend, drinking in the rolling hills, white steepled churches dotting the countryside and exclaiming over the spectacular views. There is nothing like the east coast area of the U.S. I hope I retire there one day...

Annie looked like a true Southern belle straight out of "Gone With the Wind." But she defied the traditional paranoid bride's attitude of "don't mess up my dress!" as you can see below:

That dress never had a spot on it! And these photos were taken before the ceremony.

Another tradition blown to smithereens: here are Annie's lovely "flower ladies" artfully strewing petals down the runner.

Immediately after the ceremony, the wedding party broke out the bubbly.

Two of the Loveatt girls, toasting the bride and groom.

Annie's dad, David, worked his tail off for four months to restore this old T-bird so Josh and Annie could make their escape in style. Her brother Evan said the brakes didn't work so great, but they made their way out successfully.

All in all, I shot 1,405 pictures. Man! A record. It was a fun wedding, and in the immortal words of Steve Smith, "a good time was had by all."
I'm still recuperating from the trip, but it was worth every moment, and those who kept Hannah for me back in Texas have my heartful and eternal gratitude. Thanks to Annie and her family for hiring me and letting me be a part of an unforgettable celebration. Love, Rachael