Fast?

So it sounded like we weren’t going to get the house on Maple at the last minute. Because they were so close to foreclosure they had couldn’t get the loan payoff amount figured with the attorney fees added in, in time for tomorrow’s close (Friday). Then after I had pretty much resigned the situation as just not being a part of The Big Guy’s plan, it came through. I’m happy and anxious and excited but I was all of those things before too so I’m kind of just a little tired now on top of it all. Thanks for your prayers good people.
Angie (my sister) was here today and she and her hubby will be up next week for some Wild Turkey. Not the drink, actually it’s probably not going to even be wild. But anyway, I was so dazed with my world of confusion and what-not to really visit much so next week I hope we can catch up more.
Today I did retakes at the daycare and the little ones were really cute. Got some great feedback on the Old Testament thoughts. I think Kyle and Jane are both right but it’s just so weird to think about what those guys way back then had to do to be holy. I remember one time Brian Hudkins asking us to pray and to fast if we are called to. I was like, “Fast? What’s that? You mean BREAK-fast, right? You want some waffles?” And then I was all interested in studying about modern-day spiritual fasting. (Not that I could pull it off for more than a few minutes but hey, I can dream).
So then, what about fasting? When do we do it? Why do we do it? When do we teach people about it?
While you ponder that:
“I hope if dogs ever take over the world, and they chose a king, they don't just go by size, because I bet there are some Chihuahuas with some good ideas.”

Jell-O

Photo#1. Erin Amundson and Alec Amundson
Photo #2. Jell-O
Photo #3. Avery Amundson
Things keep getting better and worse and better and worse with the house situation. I won’t get into it too much but it’s currently a little hairy as to whether the sellers will have their stuff together enough for us to save them from foreclosure. In the meantime I’ve got happy parents from a daycare shoot that I did and Avery is writing sentences out of the blue which is way ahead of her kindergarten class. She figured out how to write “the sun is hot; the stove is hot; etc”. She’s amazing! Alec is in one of his sweeter but more destructive phases which are kind of fun to watch. But it’s also hard to discipline him when he’s being so sweet.
Church was great tonight and I think it was the perspective I needed. Paul Johnson gave a great talk that helped me and Erin both remember that we’re stressing out over something that really isn’t that important in the grand scheme. You won’t hear people saying somebody had a great house at their funeral.
It sounds like we’re going to be able to see Angie while she’s in town tomorrow. That’ll be good, she always makes me smile. J
Erin made some Jell-O tonight.
Kyle Brice had some interesting comments I’m contemplating, you should read them-he posted them the other day here.
And finally: If you're a Thanksgiving dinner, but you don't like the stuffing or the cranberry sauce or anything else, just pretend like you're eating it, but instead, put it all in your lap and form it into a big mushy ball. Then, later, when you're out back having cigars with the boys, let out a big fake cough and throw the ball to the ground. Then say, "Boy, these are good cigars!"

Branson High

Well nobody wanted to comment about the Bible question (or they were so shocked by the lame Photoshop image of Bobby) or maybe I should give it a day or so.
Anyway, finally both kids are healthy and it feels like fall. So we are rushing to get things done before we move. No time no time.
Angie (my sis) will be up here this week but she’d doing missile inspections or something for her work. She’s like James Bond’s helper or something.
We’ve got Scout and Winnies’ travel crates out so they’ll get used to having a special place when they get to the new house. They’re both pretty weird cats so they’ll need all the comforting they can get.
Anyway, the kids are always fun to put to bed, Alec likes to walk on us and get up and giggle and ask for things in his strange Yiddish/Portuguese/Korean language. OK, I’m too tired to type anymore

Does it matter how you cook a goat?

Avery had a fever again this morning. Erin stayed home with her and Alec and I went to church and then to the little youth Thanksgiving lunch. It was a lot of fun and the Samuels did a great job, as did Michelle Lindsay. I’m glad that there are so many people who care about the kids.
One thing that I noticed/pondered from Joe’s lesson was about Jonah and the Ninevites. It seems like there is little evangelism of any kind in the Old Testament which is another one of the big differences between it and the New. But here’s a situation where it’s clear that God was interested in non-Israelites before Acts. The differences and similarities between the Old and New have really plagued me for a long time. What is “the Law” that is irrelevant to us now and what is still the way things should be? Obviously we should still keep the old “Thou Shall Not Kill” going but what about the Sabbath? What about the sideburns and the head coverings and the “don’t cook a goat in its mother’s milk” bit that really seemed to be a big deal back then? How and where do we decide what is no longer important or applicable to us these days? I’ve heard people say we have a new Sabbath now, Sunday. But that doesn’t make sense to me really. Sabbath mean’s Seventh, not “Special” or “Bible Day”. Give me a comment here, I’d love to have some input and thoughts on this.

Calm before the storm

Photo#1 Foggy Bathroom Mirror
Photo #2 Mouse and Keyboard
Photo #3 Avery sick in the backseat

This morning was really nice. We took our time and got up slowly and went to Village Inn for breakfast and ate and ate. Then we went down to Silver Dollar City and met up with the kids and my folks. Avery wasn’t feeling good again and after seeing “A Dickens’s Christmas Carol” we decided to go. Avery wanted to go home…she was that sick. Then when we were almost to the car she ralphed. It was pretty sad and smelly and I won’t even tell you about the mozzarella chunks. We got her cleaned up and headed in and she kinda threw up again before we got back.
When we got back it felt like 10:00 but it was only 6:00.
Then we had tornado warnings in Republic. The horns went off and we had to hang out in the bathroom with Alec wanting to see the rain and Avery wanting to lie in bed. It didn’t take long though and we are alive, (which is a good thing or you’d have nothing to read).
One of my favorites: “The crows seem to be calling my name,” thought Caw.

Alec's Better, But

Avery was sick today, she had to stay home from school. But after awhile she was feeling great and she and Alec were driving us crazy with their shenanigans and wild schemes. Neither one is 100%. I got a lot done today somehow and yet I can’t see my desk under the piles of….well I don’t want to use the word “crap” but…
Tonight Erin and I are going out on a date. She’s such a hottie, I’m a little nervous. The kids are spending the night with my folks in Cassville.
Then I dreamed of McDonald’s. (See photo)

Old shots can be new

Shots: 1.Self from shoot today 2.Old shot of horses revisited

Tired. It’s so gorgeous outside and I’m too busy to go out and shoot. Some of you know what I’m talking about, it’s frustrating. My friend Marc was saying the same thing awhile back and I thought, “Just go back and make new images of old images with some wild editing” and now I’m thinking, “Yeah whatever, self, I want to go outside and shoot, I’ve already seen my old shots”. And then I think, “What am I doing thinking back and forth to myself like I’m in a sitcom or something, I need to go outside and get some air and take some pictures”. And then I think, “No, I’m too busy”.
Had a shoot today that took so long to set up, and so short to shoot, that I had to make a quick self portrait for the trouble.
Now it’s dark out. We’ve watched Batman Begins and it made me nostalgic for my days in ninja school and all the glacial sword training.

Some Things Considered

Photo Captions: 1.Avery sees a face 2.Dorothy’s tail 3.Sickboy 4.Jumpy Flowers

The little guy’s fever came back and now I feel kind of guilty for not putting up with his fits yesterday. He probably wasn’t feeling too great. But that Tylenol stuff is potent…he was doing this howl-whine thing and burning up this afternoon and then after the Tylenol kicked in he was giggling and shooting Avery and me with his blow-gun. We’d fall down (real spaghetti western style) and he’d crack up and then we’d miraculously get back up (real Friday the 13th Jason isn’t quite dead yet style) and he’d shoot us down again. Erin kept him home tonight and Vry and I went to church.
On that note, we wrapped up a study on baptism with Earl Brown that’s been pretty fascinating. The idea is to get away from discussions on requirements and limitations and legality of baptism, and take a look at it from a far more deep spiritual view. The idea that, at Jesus’ baptism you’ve got the Father the Son and the Spirit all present there in the muddy waters, is something I had not contemplated much. From that point on it’s go time for Jesus. Service, ministry, suffering, sacrifice and death. At his baptism, he “starts” his death. So too (whether we fully understand it or not), when we join Jesus through baptism, we begin our life of service, suffering, sacrifice and death to ourselves. Key phrase from tonight that really stood out was that we live with Christ as our spiritual environment. Earl also made a great comparison to marriage and baptism. You may or may not fully understand what you’ve committed to when you said “I do” but that doesn’t make it less valid. Same is true in baptism and the commitment you are making to God and He to you.
OK, Deep Thought for today is, “If they ever come up with a swashbuckling School, I think one of the courses should be Laughing, Then Jumping Off Something.”

Allow me to demonstrate

Alec is better today but sometimes he can be such a little turd. I don’t understand how he can go from being so lovey dovey to lil’ Hitler. Maybe he’s Bi-Polar.
Anyway, I had a demonstration today for the SOAR kids at Republic’s E3 school (that’s the smarties in the 3rd -5th grade school….I think. I think they have to ride a really long bus.) It was a lot of fun and the kids gave me lots of ooos and ahhhhs which are always nice to hear. They’ve done some fun stuff already with their school cameras and they’ll probably run me out of business in a few years.
I’ve heard that the biggest stresses you can put on a marriage is running a business together and moving into a different home together. Actually I think the second is when you custom build or custom remodel a place together. I can see what they (whoever they are) mean. It seems like lately Erin and I have misunderstood each other and misread each other and have not had the time to really communicate. She’s so wonderful though, she’s been a real trooper about things and has been mindful of how tricky this whole deal is. I know inside she’s pretty freaked out about moving from a new house that has new everything and is almost exactly how she wants it, and then moving into a 30 year old home that’s got a very long punch list of must fixes just for safety and an even longer punch list of things to be how we want it. She rocks. Good love.

Typical Day

Alec has a fever today. For those of you who want to know, the shoot I lost was a re-shootable shoot. Not a wedding or NBA finals or anything. But it still stinks. Anyway, Alec threw up at 4 this morning after guzzling a bunch of juice. He was just too hot. Erin had deadlines that she had to beat today and I had 3 shoots so she decided to just go in right then (4 am) and then watch Alec when I had my first two shoots (9 am and 1 pm) and then I’d watch him until 5, and then get to my 5:45 shoot. We should be able to get to sleep tonight I think.
My 9 am was a really cool kid…bass player and we got some great shots down at Springfield Lake. He was in the photography class that I demonstrated in a few weeks back so that’s pretty neat. I hope I don’t loose the images.
We’re also reviewing the house inspection on the Maple house. Wow, that place has some issues. Most of it is stuff I can fix (by holding a flashlight for my Dad while he waves his magic wands from his toolbox of mystery) but some of it is pretty messed up and we’ll have to have somebody do it for us.
My 5:45 was a couple and their shitzoo dog that is about to die of kidney failure. I think there’s a joke there but I just can’t figure out what.

Unforgivable

Lost a shoot. The entire job is gone. Not on a card, not on a disc, not on my computer. Gone. Don't really feel like posting much today. That's just an unforgivable screwup and I can't belive I did it. Maybe I'm asleep...

Bring a Camera

Camping was a great! We played a lot of Texas Hold-em’ and burned some hotdogs and stayed up way too late. On the way down we saw a sheriff that had been run off the road by another car who took off. The cop had been spun around backwards and his back end was crunched by a tree down a 15 foot drop. Of course, I had decided not to bring a camera because I’m a moron so all I can do now is describe it instead of show you.
Tonight we went out as a family to the Home Depot. That’s a great place to bring small children for all of you out there who’re looking for more frustration in life. Everything looks like a toy to a little one but you just can’t give a two year old a circular saw to play with in the cart. At least, not a Dewalt.
I’m getting pumped about the house; it’s going to be so much work that it’s silly but it’s going to be so nice too. Every time I see Alec playing with a lens or camera or flash card or a Sharpie marker or an exacto blade, I think of how nice it will be when all of those things are safely in a separate building. Then I make Avery take whatever it is away from him. I don’t want to be the bad guy. I’m just kidding….but seriously.

Don't stare too long

Goin campin tonight! I need it too boy, sometimes you’ve just got to get out and play with a bonfire and burn a hotdog and play poker and stuff. Every time I go to a campfire I end up thinking about how for thousands of years they didn’t have TV, they had fire to watch. The same kind of mesmeriziation I get from staring at a TV is in a glowing, swirling, snapping, pulsing fire. There are a couple of things like that that seem to connect me (in my mind) to some guy living in 500 BC working the night watch in the mountains of Asia Minor. Or whatever. The same show is on.

718 N. Cottonwood

Catch up days are so nice indeed. It dawned on me today that we’ll be moving to a new house soon and all of the sudden I’m feeling sentimental about this house. We’ve been here almost 7 years and we watched them build it. Both are kids came home here from the hospital. Erin painted every wall in the house very thoughtfully and carefully.
The sounds of this house are special too. The wind-chime we can take with us but I don’t think it will be as windy at the new house. Right now that thing chimes almost endlessly. The train in the distance is just barely audible, you almost can’t hear it….I think we’ll be able to hear it at the new house but I’m not sure.
We’ve got a growth chart wall with Avery’s height penciled in going back to 10/3/02, and Erin painted her room with 3 greens doing a giant checker thing that was more complicated than you’d believe. Oh well, we’re going to have a sweet place (once Erin does everything she wants to it) and it’ll be full of great memories too.

It might sound like a dumb reason to really want a house but the new house has big trees that I can build a tree-house in and at this house we’ve still got about 10 years until the trees will be big enough. I can really see the kids having more great places to play at the new house.

Busy Days

Today was nuts. I had a daycare with 100 or so little toddlers, infants and preschoolers to shoot. No gun either. I had a wedding to finalize and deliver, and a senior session that ended up being cut short due to sunlight. Daylight savings isn't doing me any favors. Well, that's not true; my kids get sleepy earlier so I can get caught up with stuff then. I shot the entire daycare raw since it was the first time using that white and blue background and whites can get pretty hairy with digital. First shot's gray so the rest should batch true.
I'm really liking that background too. It's going to be pretty versatile because it's so simple. I felt bad running out of daylight tonight, it's a reschedule to start with and now it'll be next year before we're done. It was gorgeous out though while the sun held.

Candy makes them shake

Have you ever noticed that if you give a toddler as much candy as he wants, he'll start shaking and speaking speed-Indian? I didn't realize it until last night. Bob the Builder and the Fairy Princess were pretty wired last night and today it was hard to ignore the sacks of m&m's and snickers. This was Alec's first year to really trick or treat and Avery didn't get to last year because she was sick.
Tomorrow is a big day with a daycare shoot and a senior before church. I also got Doug and Jennifer's wedding pictures narrowed down to the best 413 shots which took some critical thinking. Their photos turned out fabulous, thanks in part to the second shooter, Adam Cole who has a great eye for composition. I think artists always have a natural eye for photography. Erin has a much faster eye for a shot than I do but she doesn't have any desire to take up shooting seriously.

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