Photography, revisited

I joined a group on Facebook with a weekly challenge. People have 3 days to post their pictures, and then others have 4 days to vote on them. The winners are collected in a "hall of fame" group, and all the first-place winners will be in a collection as well.

Last week's challenge was 'food.' I decided to give it a try, posting a couple pictures from last summer's stay-cation. (ha! I just realized, we did those before they were cool!)


I hoped for a vote. I thought that would be enough encouragement to keep me trying in the future.
I got that vote! about 10 minutes after voting started!!!
(now, at that point I thought you could only vote on one picture in a week, which I found out was later. You can only vote once on any given picture, and the person who posted the picture can't vote on their own shot)
Then I got more votes.

By last night, when voting ended, Jasmine's picture had 11. Bekah's had 10. The picture with the next-most votes had...9!

I won!!! You can see it here. You can see all the pictures that won past weeks for the past few weeks (they just finished the last year's worth of contests).

Talk about encouragement! Between that, and having a friend from high school ask if I'd be interested in doing pictures of her family, I think God's clearly showing me what my new project is!

So I decided to contribute again in the new one. I have no idea what kind of contest it will be...so far there are gorgeous pictures being posted, but I'm excited that I feel good enough about what I'm able to do that I'm willing to participate in a challenge like this.

This week's challenge is "wings." I put in these pictures:


I'll try hard to remember to fill you in on what happens next Friday! :)

(and I want to print the ice cream one and take it to Anderson's, where I got the picture. I thought they might enjoy it too!)

Cast Photos

Jasmine is in a "don't-take-pictures-of-me" mood today, so this is the best I could get. She can't run away from the camera, so closing her eyes is the next best thing!



She's feeling a ton better. She cried during the night (in her sleep) so I gave her some Motrin at 2. She didn't cry again after that, and this morning says it doesn't hurt. God is so good!

Meanwhile, I'm fighting serious guilt...that we didn't think to look for the Motrin until the morning after (which is HUGE since my cousin said femur breaks are reputed to be more painful than childbirth)...that we got frustrated with her for gasping before we even touched her when we were going to pick her up...
But God is good. She didn't need surgery (which apparently is a common need in femur breaks...they looked carefully to make sure they wouldn't need to put in a rod)...she didn't swell up much, so she didn't need to wait to get a cast like I did when I broke my ankle in 5th grade...she has a pretty pink cast (and she thinks everything in her world should be pink)...and she doesn't hurt anymore. So I'm choosing to focus on that, and the fact that we got our girl back (instead of the sad, pained, tired girl we saw yesterday) and be thankful.

My poor baby!

Jasmine was playing on the trampoline at Josh's parents' house last night. She wasn't doing anything wild-and-crazy, just jumping.
When she landed one jump, though, something happened that hurt. She screamed like I've never heard her scream.
We thought maybe she'd pulled a muscle or gotten a charley horse. She wouldn't walk, so Josh brought her back into the house.
She put ice on it for a couple minutes and told us it was her knee that hurt, not her leg. We brought her home (stopping for ice cream to help soothe the pain...actually, ice cream had already been in the plans) and she kept insisting that she couldn't walk.
The night was horrible. She kept waking up crying. It finally occurred to me that it was likely the pain of moving it in her sleep that was hurting her.
This morning she had a dentist's appointment at 8:30, so we figured Josh could take her in for x-rays after that. But he talked to our naturopath, who said it was likely ligament or tendon, and to take Arnica (homeopathic) for it. I didn't feel totally comfortable with that diagnosis, but trusted her.
But when Josh went back to work and Jasmine laid on the couch looking sadder and sadder, I wasn't so sure. His mom thought we should get it x-rayed, just to be sure.
There was almost no swelling and very little heat, so I didn't think anything would show up on the x-ray.

So I called the doctor's office. They were on lunch, but could get them in at 1:30. So Josh took them to the office...the wrong one. They didn't clarify and we all assumed different things. He had a choice: drive the 20 minutes to the other office, or stay and get in after 2 appointments that were before him at the office he was in.
He chose to stay put.


80 minutes later, they finally got him in.

The doctor looked at it and was pretty sure she was okay. She said it didn't hurt on the sides; it hurt on the top, on her leg right above the kneecap. But, just to be sure, she gave Josh a scrip to get it x-rayed at the Children's hospital.

So off they went...
Josh called me at 4:45 to tell me that it is fractured.

they'll be at the hospital for a few hours. It will get set...not sure if they'll put it in a cast or a splint.

I'm so heartbroken for her. my poor, active Kewpie.

I don't know any details like where the fracture is, or how long she'll be out of commission, or if they'll try to get her to use crutches or if they'll give her a walking cast or what (praying hard it's not going to be a wheelchair/stroller for the next few weeks!!) I'm not sure how much Josh knows at this point either, and since his cell phone is down to one bar of battery life, I likely won't know as much as he does until they get home tonight.

So no date tonight, no idea what we're doing about dinner...but I just can't believe my little sweetie has a broken bone!!!! :(


Update, 9:30 p.m.
Her femur is what broke. They said adults end up in almost full-body casts when that breaks, but she "only" has one covering her entire leg. She'll be in it for 4-6 weeks, no walking on it, and then should be perfectly fine.
I'm not sure if they'll send her home in a wheelchair, or expect that we'll use a stroller, or just what. We'll have to see about all of that.
So dinner for Bekah and I was eggs and toast, and I told Josh he should pick up something yummy for he and Jasmine. She's been through a lot today and deserves to be spoiled a little.
They gave her morphine when they set her leg, and Josh said it was the first time she didn't look like she was in horrible pain. My poor baby!!


Not to make light of it or anything, but I did have a nice time with the younger two today. I got this picture that makes me smile in spite of everything.
And Hudson rolled over (front to back) today! Unfortunately I didn't see it, because I put him down on the floor and went in to the kitchen for a second!

First non-Virkler gig!

Yesterday was the first time I did a photo shoot for people I didn't give birth to! My brother Phillip and his beautiful fiancee Elizabeth sweetly asked me to do engagement shots for them. I was nervous, but so excited. We went over to Roberts Wesleyan (where they met), which was an awesome place to get a variety of backgrounds. I think I'll take Vivian there for her senior pictures next month!

here are a few of my favorite pictures from yesterday. Thanks, Phillip, for letting me share these!!






I keep having people suggest that this could be a new direction for me to take. I think it's so sweet, but a huge thought at the same time. I'm always looking at pictures taken by people like Jenna, wishing I could get shots like her. She has such an incredible eye! But I was so invigorated after yesterday, and I had a blast editing them this morning and giving them even more life...I think the test will be the next couple shoots I do. If they continue to bring me joy and not stress, then I might start trying a little more to do it!
I tend to jump ahead of myself ("oh! I should make business cards!") but I'm trying hard not to do that this time. Especially because it would involve a lot more equipment than I currently have...
So we'll see. But for now, I'm having a blast and loving how they're coming out!

A sad loss

My dog died this morning.
Buffy is my family's dog, but I consider him to be mine. Kenny and I paid for him, trained him, and adored him the summer before my junior year in college. I was worried that he wouldn't remember me when I came back after a year in Turkey, but he did...he wagged his entire body, he was so excited.
The girls adored him. They always included him in who we were going to see on our visits to my family.
Tomorrow is going to be very difficult, walking into their house and not seeing him come greet us. I was hoping he'd hang on so I could see him one more time, but I really didn't want him in pain so I'm trying to just be glad that he's not suffering.

Family

Just a few pictures I got yesterday:


Can you believe he's 3 months already!??

Randonmess

I'm re-syncing my iPod shuffle at the moment, which means I'm looking through all the songs presently on it. I realized something very amusing: I think I'm the only person in the world who actually likes every song on it.

care to prove me wrong?

First off, there's a bunch of TobyMac. For anyone not familiar with him (or DC Talk, the band he started with in the 90s), he's an incredible hiphop artist. Yeah, me. I still dislike rap, but I love Toby. I don't get it either.
For everyone who is fine with him, how many of you like Oldies? Beatles, Mamas and the Papas, one song from Peter, Paul and Mary (I Love Rock n Roll Music), and some Fifth Dimension and Blood, Sweat and Tears. I was born 20 years too late.
And then Thousand Foot Krutch and Kutless. Both are pretty hard-rock bands. I've heard both in concert...went home deaf, but great concerts!

Anyone left? How about two country songs?
And then a French song (Je Suis Mal)
Wow, I still have someone? Do you like Turkish music? There's a fair share of Sertab, Tarkan and one Mustafa Sandal.
And if I still had someone with me, how about a Kurdish song? Just one, because it's hard to handle the way he uses his voice. But the song makes me smile :)

And this is just my upbeat mix. My "everything" mix has even more randomness on it...Selah hymns, classical pieces...you name it, it's probably represented!

Puppy Love

Last week I decided I was ready to tackle adding a dog to the mix of our lives. Yesterday I found her. A 6-month old matla-tzu (or malshi...maltese/shi tzu mix) named Mia. She is tiny, friendly, and doesn't bark! (we've had her since 8 last night and have yet to hear her bark. The lady we got her from said she heard her 2-3 times when she was on the wrong side of a fence and wanted to play with her kids on the other side)
Jasmine couldn't get enough of her...last night. Today she wants nothing to do with her. Definitely being a bit of a drama queen at the moment, which is a fun learning experience for me!
Good thing my camera is fast; she likes the camera strap so doesn't sit still long when it's out!

Bekah's much more daring than Jasmine at the moment (no, actually, always!)

This is her usual state, with one ear up. It's so cute! We know she's really asleep when that ear is down.

Baseball Game

Friday night, we went to see a baseball game. It was so much fun! Hudson had a little too much excitement and was pretty fried by the 8th inning, but thankfully I did get him to sleep so he wasn't miserable for the post-game activities.
After the game, the Buffalo Philharmonic and Bob McGrath (the guy from Sesame Street with the *incredible* voice) came out and played and sang for us. It was wonderful!
They played a very patriotic song near the end. Bob narrated it, and asked each of the Armed Forces to stand up for a minute during their anthem in the medley of American patriotic music. It was so powerful, and I was thrilled at the reception each group got.
They ended with the end of the 1812 overture and Stars and Stripes Forever, and the fireworks began!
Unfortunately, I didn't bring my tripod to the game (you should have seen everything we *did* bring!) so none of the fireworks pictures turned out. But here are a few from during the game:
You can tell how often we drink pop, by the fact that I took pictures of both girls enjoying theirs!


Jasmine had her first taste of cotton candy. She liked it; she said "it's not spicy!" That means "two thumbs up" in Jasminese!