Deluge

This is to innundate you with a wonderful dose of happiness for your day/night, whatever time you may find yourself reading this. I must say that this series just brings me great joy.

If you didn't know, my parents read my blog...(my dad is normally the one with anonymous comments that sound sort of creepy/stalker-like....he doesn't mean to come across that way). Anyways, I decided that it would be great to feature them and their wonderful versatile personalities. This picture comes as a result of me having dinner with them a few months back. It continues to bring a smile to my face.

HA! Clearly they have a direct influence over my tendency to make deliberate faces. My mom normally makes that face when she's calling for one of the dogs to come to her. She draws them in with her enticing smile, but...AHA! She really wants to give them a bath and has successfuly tricked them. My dad actually normally makes that face when he's in shock after hearing some catastrophe that my brothers have committed...

Wow, what goofy people. I almost think it's better not to comment on these and just to let you guys appreciate them. I crack up every time I see funny faces like this, gotta be honest. Kinda looks like my mom just got out of a Botox session and my dad's the doctor who did the procedure.

Also, figured you might appreciate this work of "modern art." Instead of doing Calculus, James decided to peel his orange as such, in a polka dotted pattern.

Occurence

It occurred to me today that perhaps my blog also needs a makeover. Maybe that will help you folks read my clever articles with ease and inspire you to keep reading.

I'll have to work on that.

Now, I need to let you all know that I'm committed to this series of facial expression commentaries, and I simply love the picture I'm about to share with you. At Thee Weekend, our youth event that happened a couple of weekends ago now, I was allowing dear little Kasey to play with my camera and take pictures with me. Little girls like that sort of thing, you know.

Here are a couple shots of me that resulted from this shoot:

This being the first one, you can't blame her for cutting off my chin partially, and all in all, I think she has captured my very soul with this picture. Here are a few revelations I picked up on: my face is shaped like a peanut. My eyes can be large. I have no upper lip. The onion head appearance is simply due to my costume, so don't be deceived - that hairdo doesn't really reflect my soul.

Sometimes, in order to take a step forward, you have to first take a step back. Some idiot said that, but it sort of fits the situation. I told Kasey to hold it higher so as to capture the entirety of my face, and clearly she did not quite execute this picture as planned. In this, the picture exemplifies similar facial features to that of the first, however, I really appreciate the accentuation of the lines in my forehead. My goal of being misidentified as decades older than my real age is partially accomplished in this photograph.

This last photo is practically a masterpiece. I don't even know how to describe it.

First Guinea Pig

Good news! Fortunately, since my idea is so brilliant, I already have volunteers to be featured in my blog series on facial expressions.

The first face is that of my dear friend Joshua Kuhn. Josh and I have a special connection - his wife, Rachel. Anyways, here are a couple absolutely precious and priceless facial expressions courtesy of Rachel herself.

Note in this first picture Josh's facial features: gelled hair, manly eyebrows, a nearly full beard, ears close to his head so that they don't stick out, and pursed lips. Clearly this photo exmplifies a wincing Josh who is focused intently on trying to sound out a word. The word(s), unbeknownst to us, may have been something like "walrus," or "water buffalo," or even "whimsical."

This photo allows for more of a side angle, which comes in handy because now you can see his eyes slightly better than before (with less of a glare). As you might guess from his tender yet stupefied look that this is the face he gives to Rachel, his wonderful bride, when she says something ridiculously goofy and he doesn't know quite how to react. This facial expression comes in handy because he is not laughing at her, so he doesn't make her feel stupid, and this slight smirk brings her laughter, so it's a Win-Win-Win. (Win for him cause she's happy, Win for her cause she's happy, and Win for everyone around them cause she's happy.)

This is by far my favorite of the three, mostly because I'm partial to black and white lighting, but also because it just makes me laugh. I think I might put this in a file of pictures labeled "For rough days," that way I can have something to laugh at if I need it. Ha! This shows the versatility of Josh's face because it brings to the surface his ridiculous personality. Goofy, nutty, and a little crazy are all good descriptions for his facial appearance. It appears as though he has had a brilliant idea and is about to imitate somebody (perhaps with a southern accent due to his bottom jaw being pushed forward) as he tells a joke. Or....perhaps he is trying to get a rise out of a dog and decided to make this face, proceeding to mock the dog by "barking." I kind of like that latter interpretation.

Thank you, Josh, for offering your photos.

Anybody else want to volunteer? No promises, but I just might feature you. Also, you may comment on each of these posts with interpretations of your own if you wish. You do not need to create any sort of account to do so.

The First Of Many

It just so happened that a couple days ago I had an extravagantly fantastic idea for a blog series.

See, I have this confession: I think I'm absolutely hilarious.

I make weird faces, I use sarcasm, I tell jokes, I do stunts, I make an absolute fool of myself....all for the sake of hilarity. I'm okay with sacrificing my coolness for the sake of laughter.

In light of that, I decided to do a blog series based on facial expressions. Seeing as this is the first of many (the exact number undetermined) in this new series, I trust it will get better as we go. But please, come along with me on this journey of exploring faces.
First, we'll start with my own, but hopefully we will expand further as three wonderful friends of mine have promised their participation.



I was uncertain as to what I should begin with, but here is one that appears courtesy of Miss Maldonado.



Now, I realize that, at first glance, this picture seems like a decent shot of me. My hair is perfect and skin flawless. However, let's take a second glance. As my subtle imperfections come through, there is clearly some confusion. I appear to have the innocence of a 5-year old, smiling amid flowers and happy thoughts; and yet, there is mischief in my gleaming eyes and my teasing smile.

Quite a wonderful picture now that I think about it.
Any other interpretations of this facial expression are welcome.

HA!

Clearly if you follow my rare posts on Frequency's blog, you've already seen this, but....dang. Ha!

I've watched this video probably 12 times simply because of is hilarity. Enjoy.

A New Life

Well, no need to waste any time! Ben convinced mom with few words and a couple personal visits to the shelter that two dogs just didn't feel right with Da Wuff gone.

So, Ben had his sights set on this little guy named "Trinket" according to the shelter's naming system. :)

Sure enough, we adopted him on Saturday and got to bring him home Tuesday! He's 3 and a little Terrier mix...super cute! Ben was convinced that we should call him "Mo," but due to my assessment of his llama-like proportions, we have settled on "Cuzco," clearly alluding to The Emperor's New Groove. (I love that movie.)

He's not so great at posing, but here's a couple pictures of him thus far.

Also, after bringing these girls along with me to the women's retreat for church where I led worship, we stopped to sightsee a bit. They're awesome, I'm so glad we got to hang out together!

I also wanted to entertain you guys with this awesome photo. This is Mia and Ashley, both in Vanguard Singers and Band with me. If you don't see the humor in this, visit http://www.awkwardfamilyphoto.com/.

Ha! I love Vanguards...we're preparing rigorously for China, and it's a blast!

And....Thee Weekend is currently underway, the first night officially happening tomorrow. What an exhausting yet exciting weekend ahead!

Reflection

Sometimes it seems like I stop, and yet the world continues to swirl past me. As I struggle to catch up, life gets put back in perspective.

What is truly important? Where are my priorities? How much can I handle? Where does God fit in?

All these questions have confronted me in the wake of a frankly tumultuous month.

My grandma passed away March 6th, marking the first time death has struck my family, and rudely interrupting our lives. How odd it has been to be forced into mourning so unexpectedly.

Now only three weeks later, I hear her voice a lot. We had grown to be very close over the last year and I cherish every moment I spent with her. I relive moments where we would laugh together about a joke on the end of my popsicle stick, where we would make cards together, where she would tell me about her updates to my farmville account, where she would pull out fresh cinammon rolls for me to eat, where she would listen to my stories, give me advice, keep me updated on politics, share with me about her devotion....

Every time I go to visit my grandpa, I imagine she opens the door and invites me in.

I miss her. I can't wait to see her again.


And, though much more trivial a loss, it still is dear to my heart and painfully hits me when I come home now, we also had to put Da Wuff down. After having her for 9 years, I remember picking her up from the shelter and bringing her home. Even though we have two dogs still, she was the one that I myself had picked as our first real pet. How peculiar to be so attached to a dog, and then for her to be gone. I wish she was here curled up on my bed with me.

Death is a curious thing. In the stage that I'm currently in, I strive to make the best out of every moment that I'm in. Ironically, that doesn't always mean making people laugh or saying the most encouraging thing ever. At times it means being bold, upfront, and sometimes vulnerable or even weak. I've come to see that it means living honestly, living rightly...to quote Micah, it's "to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with [my] God."


How hard a path to travel, and yet so freeing and rewarding, with the promise of eternity in view.