Semester's Film: Downtown

I went and picked up three rolls of film photos at Target today. They were taken over the entire fall semester, and many I had completely forgotten about. I looked at them all at the counter before I left and was standing there by myself laughing at some of the great memories captured. The guy behind the counter looks at me and says, "Are you okay?" I told him yes and that the pictures were just so funny. He said, "Oh, those pictures make you really happy." Haha, yes. Yes they do.

Here are a few that were taken right at the beginning of the semester before and after church.

Featured in watermelon skirt and blouse combo: Kathleen
Featured in groovy plaid tie: Kyle
Crazy awesome kids: Eli and Hannah Kate
Photos taken with a Minolta XE-7 (May it rest in peace)

Trains and Dinosaurs

There's one quiet little boy at my church whom I've always loved. If you ever try to talk to him, he immediately stops what he's doing, looks at you with his little brown eyes, backs up, and finds someone or something to hide behind. But he is just so little and cute that you can't help but long to be his friend.
Yesterday I went to his house to take pictures of him, Julie Blackmon style, for a photo assignment. At first he just hid, peeked out with his little eyes, hid again, and peeked out again. He did this for a little while. Then he started to talk. And once he started to talk, he talked. I didn't know what in the world he was saying but it was one of the best things. After filling up the roll of film, I sat at his train table and played with him for a while. We carried the cargo to the other side of town, provided transportation for a cow, and crashed quite frequently. Next was a game of hide and seek. You had until the count of 7 to hide, which was really about 3 seconds long. And if you took more than 60 seconds to find him, he would run out to you with a little snaggle tooth smile.

Knowing that as soon as I left his home, Kaplan would probably act like I was a complete stranger, I enjoyed the moments that I got to be his friend. But later that night at church, the little boy that never spoke saw me from a short distance and called out, "Hey," as he turned to continue running around with the boys. Even if next time he shies away, that unexpected greeting from this tiny guy was a big highlight of my day.

The New Old

 Today was one of the happiest days. My church just moved into a new (but super old) building down the street and it is beautiful. Praise be to God and God alone for this immense blessing upon us. Today, we had our last meeting at the old building and then an open house at the new one. It was so joyful and so full of gratitude and unity. I seriously could talk on and on about the many many rooms and the long brick hallway and the multiple staircases and the gorgeous high ceilings and the attic. Oh, the attic. Any artist's dream. Here's a few photos of the attic and some of the kids from church. I'm so thankful for these kids, especially when I sorely miss my nieces and nephews.

This church family has been such a huge and vital part of my life at school. I cannot explain how God has shown his goodness to me and so many others through this body of believers.