Thoughts

After a winter that has been fairly mild, this cold comes as a shock. And when I say cold, I really do mean c.o.l.d. As in freeze your nose hairs and teeth cold. As in, there is ice inside on the windows...even on top of the plastic that has been put up to help keep the heat in. Cold as in I have zero desire to bundle up to take the 25 steps across the street to see if there is mail in the mailbox.

But if it weren't this cold,
this morning I would not have seen the sparkling for ice crystals on the ground as the sun rose over the tops of the houses.
I wouldn't have been able to spend the morning with a wonderful friend while our kids played really, really nicely together.
I wouldn't have been nearly as thankful for the sunbeams that are streaming in my living-room windows right now, warming the room up and shining light through the house.

Tonight, Anthony heads to Toronto. On a plane, with a friend of mine who was generous enough to let him fly down with her. This is his first big solo trip. He's stayed with his gramma and aunt and uncle before, but they live here in town. He is super excited. I'm super excited because it means on Tuesday, my mom comes up here to visit! She is flying back with Anthony.

We have found out that Troy has one full-time period for February. Thank God! It means that we will have benefits again. It means he still needs an LTO for us to make ends meet, but the addition of benefits again is huge (it means I don't have to ration meds any more...but even in that God has been providing and carrying me through).

I have a family photo shoot Saturday and am really looking forward to it. I can't wait to meet the family and find out what make them *them*. For me, I think that is one of the best things about being a  photographer. It's finding out what makes a family *them* and then being able (or trying at least) to capture that through the lens of my camera in a way that others will see it too.

I have pictures.....lots of pictures, but my laptop died and Dell is sending me another one....it will be here Monday, but until then I have no editing program and no way to upload the pictures to the computer. But that's OK. Thankful it comes on Monday and thankful too that Dell was helpful and willing to accommodate me (it was a brand new laptop...I love super special surprise Christmas presents....that started giving me grief 3 weeks after I got it and it went downhill from there!) But the new one arrives on Monday and I am looking forward to it!!