Milly's Photo Shoot

By now you probably know that Milly is no stranger to the camera.  What you may not know is that she poses for me as well.  I'll let you see for yourself (as long as you promise to ignore the grimy door that I cleaned immediately after reviewing these pictures).

This is what a typical Saturday morning looks like around the McAffry house.  Milly loves to sunbathe by the door.  She only gets to do this on Saturdays because it's the one day we're home during the morning hours.  The minute Andrew opens the door, she runs to the light and plops to the floor--that is, until one of us picks her back up because she is so darn cute! Are all dogs as predictable as she is?

Hope

This afternoon began with an engagement session - two people celebrating the most exciting time of their life so far.  It ended with a funeral - a family dealing with what will certainly be one of the most difficult seasons of their life.  I'm still processing the emotions I witnessed.  Despair, pain, and frustration juxtaposed against joy, bliss, and adoration.  The word I keep returning to is hope.  There is no reason to explain why my former student was afflicted with that relentless plague we call cancer, but the God I serve doesn't answer to me.  And he is bigger that all of those emotions.  Bigger than the despair, the pain and even the infectious joy of the blissful couple.  He is my hope.  

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Rose-Colored Glasses

I must admit that I had a sizable knot in my stomach yesterday as I walked into school.  I teach three English classes, two of which have thirty-four 17-year-olds who don't particularly like to read or write.  So far, they have been delightful - in contrast to one particular class last semester!  I'm sure they will test my patience, but at this point, I'm just really excited about getting to know them.  I love the opportunity to start fresh each semester.  

Another reason for my rose-colored glasses perspective today might be because my intern is going to work with me again this semester.  He was supposed to work with two other teachers for the Spring, but somehow it just worked out for him to stay with me again.  Because it is a pretty challenging class, we are going to co-teach for awhile.  Today we accomplished that by leaving half the class with him, and me taking the other half to another room.  Turns out seventeen 17-year-olds are much more manageable than thirty-four.  The even better news is that he will do all the grading for the class...which means a couple hundred less essays for me to grade over the next five months.  

Haaaa-llelujah!  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  Ha-lleee-lujah!

To add to the excitement, I have had three emails from people wanting to schedule photo shoots.  Yay!  I'm doing another engagement session this weekend.  I just hope the weather cooperates because they are getting married in February.  We're working with a pretty tight schedule here!

Okay, one more thing.  I sent an email to some of you mentioning that Rachel and I are planning to raise money to buy a deserving student a car when he graduates in May.  Someone called today and said they are considering selling their car for a great price.  (Can I get an encore of that Hallelujah Chorus?)  Our major fundraiser is going to be a rummage sale in the Spring so please save your "junk," and I'll let you know when we need it.  Just to let you know how wonderful this student is, he came to me yesterday to ask how my Christmas was, and when I asked about his, he replied, "Magical.  It was magical."  Thanks Kim for organizing and coordinating such a wonderful surprise for him.

I think I'll keep the pink shades for a few more days.  Tomorrow I get to schedule our tennis matches for the season, and tryouts are Friday.  (Incidentally, the only person consistently calling me coach is our principal, and it's possible he might only be doing it to get a good laugh.)

Christmas Spending Update

Since I was so public about our ideas to be more intentional with our Christmas spending, I thought I should give you an update so you know they weren't just empty words.  I have part of the original post here with the updates in red.

• Purchase fair trade items so we know our money is being distributed responsibly. (I can't tell you exactly what items or many of you would not be getting a surprise on Christmas!)

- Gobena Coffee was one of my favorite gifts to give this year.  It is organic, fair trade, shade-grown coffee grown in Ethiopia, and the proceeds go to Lifesong for Orphans.

- Village Marketplace in Market Square is another great fair trade resource.  I purchased handmade stationery and organic dark chocolate there.  It is delicious...the chocolate, not the cards.

• Stop buying meaningless gifts like shirts and sweaters that we all buy for ourselves when we need them.

- I bought Matt this cool, meaningful, t-shirt from the Compassion Store.  The money went to the Global Food Crisis initiative in Ethiopia.

- I did not, however, find something other than a regular shirt for my dad, otherwise known as the hardest person to buy for every year!  I should start thinking now what I could do for him next year!

• Give less expensive, more sentimental gifts like family photos.
  

- Gave my in-laws this 11x14 picture of the grandkids.

• Instead of buying a big gift for each other (which we rarely do anyway - we're always out of money by then!), we are going to a concert in Nashville to support some of our favorite musicians.
  

- By far, the best musical experience I have ever attended.  Remember?  I wrote about it here.  We definitely plan to do that again.  Even if you don't know the artists well, I can assure you, this concert would knock your socks off. 

• Use the money left in our Christmas budget to meet some kind of need. Pretty open-ended huh?
  

- When I wrote this, I wasn't sure about how this would work.  We operate on a pretty tight budget around here (partly because I'm a penny pincher and partly because we just have to), but God has shown us in the past that when we give sacrificially, he shows up in big ways.  We ended up giving to the Guatemala fund at church, and I'll admit that it was a pretty scary check to write.  The day after I wrote it, I went to the grocery and had exactly $.03 in change after I paid the cashier.  How's that for tight budgeting?  Since then, God has provided for us even more than what we need.  Andrew's Mom paid us to paint her downstairs.  (Thank goodness.  We needed something to get our lazy butts off the couch over the break!  I would be embarrassed to tell you how many hours of TV I watched yesterday.)  And today, I opened the mailbox to find an escrow overage check.  It might say it's from Countrywide Home Loans, but I know who really signed that check.  God is good.

By no means did we do everything we could, but it was so much fun to change our perspective on spending during the Christmas season.  We hope to be more conscious of the way our money can build the kingdom not only in December, but throughout the rest of the year as well.  Please share any ideas you have.  Do you buy fair trade?  Where?  What organizations do you support?  Other suggestions?

Sarah C. Photography

I really wanted to wait until everything was just right, but since my Photoshop expert couldn't come yesterday, I figured I would go ahead and show you my new blog.  Remember it is a work in progress.  I'm still unsure about the colors in the logo, and I can't figure out how to add one of my images, but this is what I have so far.  What do you think?  Do you have any color recommendations?  Ideas for further improvements?  If you were looking for a photographer, is there any other information you would need to know?  

I spent nearly two weeks trying to think of a name for this crazy project of mine.  Sarah McAffry Photography was just a mouthful.  I love my last name, but it didn't have that ring to it.  I woke up one morning with Sarah C. Photography in my mind.  I think it does have that elusive ring to it.  I thought it would be quite obvious what the C stands for, but I even had to explain it to Mom.  So, in case you haven't figured it out yet, it stands for my maiden name - which is now my middle name - Cole.  The website url that I wanted was already taken, so if you ever try to type it in, remember the dash...sarahc-photography.blogspot.com

If you or someone you know needs some photos taken, (family, maternity, engagement, children, Senior) please spread the word.  I do not want to pretend that I am a professional photographer (yet!).  I do, however, have some great equipment and with my photo editing tools, I can usually make some good-looking photographs.  

Ringing in the New Year

If anybody was actually interested in seeing the new website today, I'm sorry.  It's not for lack of time and effort.  I stubbornly wanted to do the whole thing myself, but I broke down today and asked Brittany to help me with her Photoshop expertise.  By now I have probably set the expectations too high because it's actually just a blogger template with my own header at the top.  I want it to be just right though, and I'm confident Brittany will get me there tomorrow.  Breaking promises and missing deadlines is probably not the best way to ring in the new year, but we had a great time celebrating last night at the Kirkpatrick's and tonight at Olive Garden with Matt and Amy.  Thanks Mark and Monica for the gift card!  I am sufficiently stuffed and glad I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions dealing with food!

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