Picture Project Post, May 15-May 27

Man, I'm moody and dramatic at 3:30 in the morning.

In other news. I gardened for 4 hours today in the mud. I almost got everything planted! And, my trip was even completed with a trip to Urgent Care for a tetanus shot, after scraping my finger on a rusty nail coming out of the shovel I was using. I did see a splendid view of the Potomac Ridge on my way to and from, though, so it made the shot in the arm worth it.

I got blissfully dirty and brutally blistered in the garden today, and on the way back I got lots of smiles from those I passed by. I didn't realize until I got home that it was because I looked like this:

And my overalls and garden shoes looked like this:

I was a site to see! And most people in the city don't often see it. That's true.

Despite my dramatic post on Monday/Tuesday, I have been thinking about what it means to praise God lately (reading the Psalms will do that to you...), and I've been thinking about the different themes about praising God that are mentioned in the Psalms. There's praising God because He has done good things (period); praising God because He has done good things for me; and praising God because He has done good things for others. So basically, we are never to stop praising God. Even when we don't feel like it. Additionally, I read this verse today:

"They who seek the LORD will praise Him." (Psalm 22:26b )

Which is different from the traditional "Those who seek the LORD with all of their hearts will find Him". Which was a really good thing for me to think about. Sometimes I seek the LORD and if I don't hear back then I wonder what part of my heart isn't in it. Maybe it's the praise part. And maybe it doesn't matter, because if we praise the LORD, we will find Him in some form. I've been waiting for a lot of answers and getting a lot of non-answers. Maybe I need to focus on praise...even if it's not easy. There's also that verse in Psalm 15 that says that those who will dwell on the Holy Hill will keep their oaths, even when it's hard. It also says a lot of other things that we should do that I do a really horrible job at...

But anyways, here are the pictures from the last 13 days. It's gonna be a long one, bear with me.

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May 15, 2009: While I could have showed you another nature picture of a rainbow or a pretty sunset, instead I will show you this picture of a VW Bus. I have always wanted an old VW bus. The dangerous kind with the engine in the back. Because they are awesome, pretty much. On the way to Charlotte on May 16, 2009 we saw a train of three VW Buses. It was pretty awesome.

May 16, 2009: My daddy graduated on Saturday! This was, hands down my favorite picture of him that day. He looks so distinguished, yet just like daddy all at the same time. I'm so glad that Luke and I got to be there to see it with my mom and my sisters.

May 17, 2009: After the graduation ceremony we headed down to Waves, NC on Hatteras Island with the Teater family for a week of beach fun. On her morning run, Jenny saw a dead sea turtle, which was later confirmed by Mom and Dad T., so the rest of us decided to take a walk. There were not one, but TWO dead sea turtles. This is the first one we saw. Note the looks of both disgust and excitement on the faces of the siblings (you can click on the picture for a better view). (Note: They were supposed to be looking sad.) Luke later helped save two sea turtles. The first because he picked up some trash floating in the water and the second he helped back to the water because it was stranded on the beach. I have such a sea-turtle lovin' man.

May 18, 2009: The first of two rainy days at the beach. We read lots of books (well, I read one book...and I'm almost done with The Brothers Karamazov...), watched my two of my three favorite movies (Amazing Grace and The Painted Veil...Dear Frankie was absent from the mix), and ate delicious food. Such as this Seafood Boil prepared by Mom and Dad T. It was delicious. Plus, it was poured out on the table and you ate it with your hands, which makes everything more delicious.

May 19, 2009: Rainy day 2 wasn't so much rainy as cloudy, cold and windy. But it cleared up in the afternoon. We took the yucky beach-weather day as a perfect day for a ferry ride to Ocracoke and exploring the Ocracoke and Hatteras Lighthouses. Here's the whole fam in front of the Hatteras Lighthouse.

May 20, 2009: The weather finally cleared (even though it was still pretty chilly) and we spent the day walking on the beach and sitting by the pool. I also got some quality time with these rocking chairs on the third-level porch, which had a magnificent view of the ocean, which you can kind of (but not really...) see here.

May 21, 2009: A much warmer day, we spent it on the beach and playing pool volleyball. Luke and I also splashed around in the (FREEZING!) ocean. I love the ocean. This is the walk back to the house that we stayed at, which you can see in the distance. It was separated from the ocean by a gigantic dune, which was fun to run down, but not so fun to climb up. The beach was wonderful. Have I mentioned that I only put on shoes like three times the whole week?! I was barefoot like 95% of the week we were there...brilliant! We also saw a gorgeous sunset that night, which is depicted above in the picture in my heading.

May 22, 2009: It was the last day spent on the beach, but it was a beautiful day to do so. The Teater men went golfing, and the Smiths and Mom T. sat and walked on the beach enjoying the last day at the ocean. Jenny even got in the water with me. It was splendid. Christie and Jenny left early evening (sad day!) so Christie could go to Elon's graduation, and Katie, Luke, Kevin, Mom & Dad T. and I walked to the sound for another glimpse at a beautiful sunset. This time we were accompanied by a frisbee. The picture is of Katie's mad catching skills. And the beautiful sunset. It was a perfect last evening at the beach.

May 23, 2009: Katie and I got up wicked early to walk on the beach and talk about life and culture shock and Kenya. We saw this gorgeous sunrise and it was a perfect last view of the ocean. That's Katie in the distance. I took a lot of pictures with tiny people and big sky. And I like them.

May 24, 2009: As previously stated, the church through my dad a surprise happy-graduation party on Sunday. Words cannot describe this picture, but I love it. Whenever I ask Luke to take a picture of the sisters he always takes about 30 of them, capturing the whole "getting ready for the picture" sequence, which usually involves some goofiness and silly faces. The picture pretty much shows all. And I love it.

May 25, 2009: We left on a rainy Memorial Day Monday. I was pretty not happy and homesick before I even left. Not only did I not want to leave my family, but I did not want to leave little Ted. Apparently, he was pretty apathetic to the whole situation...he really just wanted me to let him down. But he's cute anyways.

May 26, 2009: Dad S. sent us home with a half of a water-melon, which we thoroughly enjoyed Tuesday night. It was delicious. We even wore the appropriate colors for the occasion (accidentally...of course...).

May 27, 2009: As previously mentioned, I spend the day gardening, and this is what our garden looks like in it's current state. We have a row of watermelon, a row of okra, three rows of beans and a row of tomatoes. We have room for some more tomatoes and some cucumbers, which I will probably plant later this week. Then we'll be all planted up and ready to start growing!

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If you would like to see more pictures of little people and pretty sunsets you can click here. You'll also find other beach pictures and pictures of graduation festivities there!