Sing by the Sea

Right after Holiday Bible Club in Scotland we invited all parents, participants, workers, and dogs to a fun event called Sing by the Sea.

Sing by the Sea is held the Sunday evening following Holiday Bible Club at Roseisle Beach. 

There are pine trees all around and the dunes have spread into the trees making for an almost ethereal,  Lord of the Rings type landscape.

I loved it.

I felt my inner Arwen come out.

Quick someone get me a bow and arrows.

Highland Gaming

So I have been absent from social media, this blog, and most of my cognitive functions these past few weeks. This is all for good reason. 

Namely: 

1. my mom coming to Scotland 

Read: GOOD GOLLY I GOTTA CLEAN MY HOUSE!

Sorry I shouted that, but it's a real concern of mine. Because I don't want my mom to think we live the way that we live. She says she lived with me for 18 years, she already knows, but still, I like to do "fake house" for when she comes.

2. Holiday Bible Club all week long

Read: guys I love hanging out with the kids, but it leaves little time for anything else

3. Americans were visiting

The teams from Missouri and Florida were more fun than a barrel of monkeys to hang around. So yes, I choose real people over the virtual ones. Don't get me wrong though, I looovvveee our blog readers.

4. Holiday Bible Camp

Read: Planning a church camp takes a lot of work, and attention to detail. Hint: Jordan's not a detail person.

5. Moving a family of 6 over 5,000 miles away

Read: Help.

So may I please get an excused absence?

Thanks in advance.

Or "tia," like they say online nowadays. Which bothers me because I think people are going rogue speaking in Español at the end of their sentence....and then I never find out what they want to say about their dear auntie.

Playing with a Canon

Guys, if you've been reading our blog for a while you know I have high aspirations of being a photographer.

Actually, I said that wrong;

I'd just like to be able to take decent pictures. 

I fancy myself somewhat of a creative soul. 

In reality I'm half decent at copying *some* artistic mediums but I haven't been blessed with a boatload of original creativity.

So it really torques me when I pick up a camera and the photos I take are...fair to middlin', at best, and ding-dang awful at worst.

I WANT to be able to be gifted.

I also feel like this when I get a notion and pick up Mark's guitar to start playing through my guitar songs repertoire. 

Including and limited to:

- Lord I Lift Your Name on High

- One of These Days by FFH

- Wipe Out

- the base line to Mission Impossible theme song

And then my finger tips start throbbing, I cry and moan and get frustrated that my guitar playing is just NOT progressing, and I put Mark's guitar up in the case until the next time I get it out...in November.

So I'm trying.

I'm. Trying.

To be better at photography.

Y'all are just my audience so we can reflect on my journey.

And it had better be a journey, dang it.

Twilight Series--the good kind, though

It's that time of year again, the time where I go nuts about the sunsets here.

Here's two reasons I do this:

- they are AMAZING!

- they occur after the Anderson children are to bed

Monday night I noticed the colours of the sky so off I went with big camera and tripod in hand...

Just after 8 pm, this is looking NORTHwest.

Summer Family Saturdays

Sometimes on those rare family days when we're meandering around Scotland

Our sweet children;

Those blessed little fruit of my womb ...

(Well that was awkward, 

I promise I'll never say 'fruit of my womb' again.)

(Also, it sounds like men's undergarments.)

Our precious little lambs,

 start to drive me bonkers in the vehicle...

Some Summer Fun

July is a somewhat crazy busy month for us, and guaranteed I have photographic evidence of every part. This is true especially now in these here modern days when phones double as cameras and cameras as phones.

I often times confuse the two, calling a phone a camera when I mean a phone and vice versa. 

It's a problem I have. 

I also do this with 

mushrooms and onions 

and 

Wal-Mart and McDonalds. 

Thank you for listening.

The first week of July my mom and sister were here for Holiday Bible Club so when I noticed beautiful hues of colour streaming through our windows at 10 pm one night I had to go check it out!

I'm thankful my momma and sis were there because Mark and I were able to take a quick trip 'doon the brae' (down the hill) and check it out.