Refund Please

The kids came home with their school pictures last week. I love school pictures. They're so convenient! I don't have to do anything except remember to dress them halfway decent and send some money with the kids to school. The part I don't like is that those pictures have gotten so dang expensive. Like ridiculous expensive. But they're usually worth it because the people taking the pictures are "professionals" or at least supposed to be.

LifeTouch is the company who does Clyde's school district's pictures so we don't really get a choice but to buy the pictures from them. Here is Xander's Pre-K school picture:
Isn't he absolutely adorable?! Now, I love the background in this picture. I think it goes great with his shirt and it looks outdoorsy; perfect for a little boy. He also has a great smile on his face. Not too much, but just enough where it doesn't look like a driver's license picture. Beautiful!

Okay, next year not so much. Now, I think my son is the most beautiful little boy ever at all times. And I thought there was no way he could look anything but adorable. But, evidently, LifeTouch found a way. This is Xander's Kindergarten school picture; or what we call around my house, Exhibit A:
I want to know what the heck happened here! I see that they went with the outdoorsy background again. But because the background blends with my son's hair, his head seems to be cone-shaped. I don't even know what to say about the grimace (yes, grimace. that's the closest word that can describe it) on his face. If a stranger were to see this photo, they might think Xander is some kind of growling wolf-boy. I wondered why the photographer did not do a retake. I also wondered why I didn't get a proof so that I would know better than to pay $30 for this debacle. When he brought this picture home, I just prayed that next year would improve.

Well, it didn't. Here's Exhibit B:
Again, why didn't they do a retake?! I know that all those pictures are taken with a digital camera. And why did they choose a blue background when he's wearing a blue shirt?? Did they wait til the exact moment when he was making a weird face that makes him look like he has a face defect???

Okay, LifeTouch, you are officially on My List. It's not a good list. It's a list of people who I want to break their kneecaps. Seriously! C'mon! What kind of photographer takes these pictures? And then makes a parent pay almost $40 for them!!!!!! Extortion, I say, extortion!!

Anyway, I'm obviously really upset about this. I just hate that I'm spending money on things that I will never, ever show to anyone because I am so embarrassed of them (except here to show as proof of the inexcusableness of the photos). These pictures just do not do my son's beautiful face justice. I'm currently lodging complaints with LifeTouch and demanding a refund.

Ajanoeruiuaoneo hak;dsfuo nen;h

That's how I feel right now. I am so getting married today!!! AAAHHHHHHhahahaha!!!!!! I have a thousand things to do and none of them include blogging!! Pray peace for me and lots and lots of calming thoughts.

Next time I blog, I'll be a married woman!

Random Picture Time!!!

This picture is from almost a year ago when Women of Worth went to Six Flags. That was so much fun! I embarrassed Pam, Cherith, & Pam's sister there. Good times, good times.



This is on a big electric thing at the Jr. High. When I read it, I just had to stop and take a picture because I thought it was flipping funny. So whatever you do, do NOT molest this machine.



We were in the waiting room waiting (go figure) for the dr. to call us back and I told Tony to make a funny face. So he did. He looks kind of monkey-ish.




Xander and Kalista's first time on horses. Xander is very much more excited than Kalista. I had to force Kalista to smile and stay on the horse. Evidently she thought it was a bit lame to ride a horse smaller than her. Whatevs. (After I posted this, I looked at the picture of Xander and it looked like he's flipping the bird. But he's not. He's giving the Rock sign. Just to let you know)



This is Mason, my nephew, and Jaxon, Rachel's "baby" Mason and Jaxon are about 4 weeks apart. I love this picture.



Taking pictures of kids asleep on road trips is so much fun!! Especially when they pile on each other and look really funny.



This a very creepy "art" piece in downtown Abilene. We found it because we were looking for Tim & Stephanie's wedding and went to the totally wrong place. Don't ever get married at this place. It's creepy.

Mini Update

Everything got figured out with the whole finance debacle. Thank goodness.

I lost my keys to the church (again) and found them (again).

I'm getting married this Friday (yikes!).

I had the most awesome Bridal Shower EVER!!! Thanks to Amanda and Wendy (and hostesses). Y'all rock!

This past Sunday's worship was phenomenal. Seriously. I cried and ruined my makeup. They weren't tears of joy or sadness. I cried because I was just overwhelmed by God's presence and goodness. I felt so in-tuned with Him during worship. During the first song I started praying for God to shape me, to mold me, into the kind of wife He wants me to be. I want to be the kind of wife that is biblical, not worldly. When they were singing "Fire Fall Down" I prayed for God's fire to fall down on my life and my spirit. For His fire to burn away everything that is rotten, ugly, dysfunctional, selfish and just not of Him; and that the only thing that remains is the stuff that makes a Godly woman, wife, and mother. I prayed for my actions, thoughts, emotions, words, life at home and work to line up with God's heart. And as if God spoke to me personally through worship, they began singing "Where you go, I go. What you say, I say. What you pray, I pray." With that song, a whole new fresh batch of tears started flowing. It has been so long that I felt God so evidently and so tangibly.

I don't know if anyone has worried about their own marriage as much as I have about my own. Maybe I've been worried too much, or maybe it's completely normal. I don't know. All I know is that for the last several weeks I have been worrying myself sick about my marriage. I didn't know if it was the right thing, if it would last, if I was making a mistake, if we would love each other forever, if I could be faithful, if I could be the kind of wife I wanted to be, if Tony could take care of us, if Tony would decide one day that he made a mistake, if Godzilla came and terrorized Clyde, if if if if if..... I have just made myself sick with everything.

And last Sunday during worship I felt God so close to me, surrounding me with His love and securing me in His embrace, silently assuring me that no matter what He will take care of me and love me and never let me go. Not once. Not even to joke around and pretend like He's going to drop me. (yeah, like that's so much fun to anyone but the person who is doing the "joking") All I could do was lift my hands to Him and sing my praise to Him as tears continued to stream down my cheeks with a smile on my face.

P.S. Pray for Amanda. She's stressing out about the wedding more than I am. She's silly like that.