a makeover story

hello all!

a few weeks ago i joined a women's book/bible study on monday nights. my friend, contessa, has been going for awhile and invited me for the next lesson, Calm My Anxious Heart. like i said, this was a few weeks ago, when i was extremely nervous about teaching (which is going great :c), moving, working full time at deaconess, etc, etc.. so calming sounded like the perfect thing! i'm only on chapter 2 of the book, but it continually makes me concentrate on learning to be content and to trust the good Lord.

another great aspect of the study is the wonderful women that i'm surrounded by. they are great, godly mentors and friends. and if there is a need, they work to meet it.

now to the need. contessa in herself is one of the most amazing people i know. besides being a single mom of 4 of the cutest dang kids i know (one with cerebral palsy), she works 3 jobs, volunteers, attends 2 bible studies, feeds her sons & their friends, and has compassion like no other. her most recent undertaking (besides taking in a new little female boxer, which i hope to possibly be relieving her from ;c) is a job as a teacher for autistic children (oh yeah, and she just graduated college last year, while also doing the list above..).

her class consists of about 11 autistic children, from grades K-5. wow! she has a couple that cry all day, some that try to run away, a couple that are good at learning... all in this trailer outside of the school! she asked us for help to create a calm place for the children to have a better learning environment, so our life group gathered all the paint and utensils that we had at home and came together on a monday night to do just that. the color we ended up is called "God's color", a purple tone that was created from everyone's left over paint. thanks to all the women's help, the classroom is clean and organized (partly) with a fresh coat of paint. now if you'll just remember to keep tes and the students in your prayers, for these are still very needy children.

here's our work..

a mess to start with

"God's color"

my man titus, contessa's 3rd child.

the proud teacher in her new classroom!

danin' the night away

blogger friends, meet kacey and summer

kacey is my younger sister & summer is my close-enough-of-a-friend-to-be-a-sister!

kacey and summer both like to dance

they are both good at dancing,

but their dancing faces are much more entertaining than their dancing!

here's kacey and summer breakin' it down at LAX in Vegas

(and crackin' me up!)

this is a picture from my *wedding that pretty much put summer on the map for face making

and while we posting dancing faces pics, here's my high school friend jessica having a blast with her now fiance at my *wedding!

*pictures from my wedding courtesy of Art by Kriea, an amazing photographer and inspiration to me :c)

and to be fair to all, here's the 4 of us dancin' the night away in vegas!
and since we're on the subject of dancing.. tonight i will be learning a special kind of dance that only my hubby will ever get to see. it's danna's bach party tonight, and the wedding is next week (which means more wedding pics to come!) wish me luck tonight!

the stacy wedding!

here's (some) pics from my beautiful friend, anndrea's wedding.

besides taking the risk of letting me be prime photographer for the first time ever at her wedding, she was the most care free bride i have ever seen. at one point she told me "i'm having to keep everyone else calm"! i was definitely more nervous than her, but what's there to be nervous about when your marrying the man of your dreams :c) mark is able to keep up with dre's active lifestyle of camping, rock climbing, and anything that involves God's great outdoors. he can also put up with her love for bugs! it was a great wedding, celebrating a great couple. i hope you enjoy what they put together!

email scams

MISS FELICIA JOHNSON AUDITOR GENERAL
DEAR,
RE: TRANSFER OF US$15.200.000 00 MILLION TO YOUR ACCOUNT.
I feel quite safe dealing with you in this important business. Though this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, I choose to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest medium of communication. However, this correspondence is private, and it should be treated in strict confidence.
At first I will like to assu re you that this transaction is 100% risk and trouble free to both parties, In order to transfer out FIFTEEN MILLION TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, (US$15.200 000 00) from our bank here in Burkina Faso .
The fund for transfer is of clean origin. The owner of the fund is a foreigner, a program leader who was believed to acquire the fund through his secret Crude Oil deal with the Former IRAQ government. The deceased died with all the members of his family in an auto-accident in June 23, 2001 without a WILL. The amount involved is US$15,200,000.00
I want to transfer this money into your account as the foreign beneficiary of the fund. I know that this letter will come to you as a surprise as we don't know ourselves before, BUT BE SURE THAT IT IS REAL AND A GENUINE BUSINESS. I CONTACT YOU BELIEVING THAT YOU WILL NOT LET ME DOWN ONCE THE FUND GOES INTO YOUR ACCOUNT. YOU CAN CONTACT ME WITH MY PRAVITE EMAIL ADDRESS feliciajohnson001@myway.com
Let me hear from you.
Regards Felicia

the above showed up in my email box today.

my response: ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!!

the fact that they send this means that there is probably someone out there who is silly enough to fall for such a scam, how sad. here's just a few of the clues that i picked up that scream SCAM!

1. Dear, _________ -they don't even know who to address!
2. The 'first' thing you do is assure me it's risk free- not a good start
3. LETS CAPITALIZE ALL THE GOOD STUFF- that's not trying to make a sale..
4. The accident took place in 2001- hmmm, 7 years later..
5. "we don't know ourselves before, but... i contact you believing you will not let me down"-why would you believe this out of someone you don't know?
6. and finally, how nice, you gave me your private email address- how did you get mine!!

so i just found this email unbelievable, and because i didn't know what else to do with it, i thought i would share it with you.. heck, you probably received it 4 years years ago!

living vegas

viva las vegas!

in celebration of my little sister's graduation from college, my family and i lived vegas for 4 days!

we did it all from the stratosphere to mandilay bay, we

lounged by pool. walked the strip. gambled the slots. rode the rides. saw the shows. partied like rock stars at LAX. chowed down at midnight. stood in awe at the Bellagio show. rode the bus. took a cab. slept in. passed by chris rock and david spade. covered our eyes at Bare. lost some money (not in the casino, but in the hotel room). swore that the clouds in the venetian were moving. witnessed a true pervert at work. changed outfits at least 3 times a day. shopped the shops. dined at the buffets.

lived vegas

on our first afternoon in vegas, we met michael who also lived vegas. mrs. o

orchards at the mirage

the stratosphere, from which i experienced insanity, a ride that spins of the side of the towering building...
mom, kacey, and summer outside of the forum of ceasars see how much klas we have? (in our next picture inside the store, we had lampshades on our heads..)

need i say more?

this is inside the venetian.. how amazing

another beautiful cealing inside the wynn
i loved the colorful floor with the simple gold and beautiful garden
kacey, displaying once again how much klas we have ;c)this is how summer gambles
and this is my pocket full of winnings from 'slots of fun' (yes, they are quarters)
i love how you can take a trip around the world in one city

'dealertainers'.. the favorite part of our hotel
grand beauty a picture can not do these shows justice
paris at night
only in vegas..
our view from the stratosphere..

so i've decided..

and as much as i wanted to get some fabulous pictures, i didn't not have a tripod for some great night shots, and i didn't spend time correcting white balance or editing and croping these pictures, so this is it. hey, it was a vacation.