Picture session for church

Yesterday I took pictures of church people for our church tract. Since it was going to be outside, I bought a diffuser and a reflector on Saturday. I'm so glad I did!

Here's an example of what using a reflector does. (Ignore the fact that it's slightly out of focus.) :)




This was the result of many attempts by others trying to take our picture. I've always thought that my camera was easy to use, but it took three different people trying to get this. :)

Thankful for cable

I'm not usually glad we have cable, but this show makes me glad we have it. It's been amazing!

Chris's Birthday

We went to a Russian restaurant for lunch today. Chris enjoyed his borscht.

Matt was there, too.

Chris and I had lamb chops. (No, I'm not trying a new comb-over hairdo. It was a weird hair day today.)


The teens surprised Chris with pizza during youth group tonight and gave him a card with a gift certificate to a restaurant! I thought that was sweet...until they covered us in silly string, that is! Chris is planning his come back! : )

I took a cake to Sunday School (there's usually coffee and some kind of snack), and I put candles on it and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Chris. I don't have a picture of that because when I pulled out my camera it didn't have a memory card and I couldn't find one in my bag. Later I realized I was looking in the wrong pocket! (I felt very "blonde".) Anyway, since I wanted to take pictures at the restaurant, we stopped in at a Circuit City (which I found because I took a wrong turn.) To make a long story short, I was able to buy two 1G memory cards for my camera at a pretty good price. God allowed me to not find my memory cards so that I could get some better ones. : )

Anyway, we've had a good weekend. Chris got to talk in Russian some and buy some of his cherry juice.

Crazy weather...

Three days ago it was 70 degrees outside...today we're supposed to get an inch of ICE. Not snow, mind you, but ice. And, since I stayed home, I can see that that's truly what we're getting. It's sleeting little round icey thingies.
It should be fun driving in this later since I'm going to Pottstown to pick up Andrew.

Update: Our evening with Matt and Andrew is cancelled. The ice and snow are supposed to keep coming all evening long. So, instead of Hibachi tonight, it'll be a casero stir-fry. : )

Argentina in the news...

on a more happy note!

I´m in

I´m in, I'm in, I'm in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow. I´m a member again of the Eckman Family. Whee-hee!

Installation Service

The other three couples are ones who helped to fill the pulpit while the church was without a pastor. On the left is Pastor Glatz, who specifically helped the church line up candidates--namely, Jason!

The trustee, Ed Dietrich, sharing a testimony about the church's perspective on the pastoral search. Another member, Sherry Carter, also shared a testimony. Cass Sisto played an offertory.

Pastor Glatz asked Jason a series of questions/vows regarding his desire to serve the Lord as pastor of this church.

He then asked the members to stand and asked them to commit themselves to some vows. (Jason had found and prepared the vows.)

These are Kristi Colas' parents (Liz's friend).

Sherry Carter was excited about the cake. :-) We still have lots left! Come see us, and we'll be happy to give you a piece.

Fun times...almost

That's Elianna way up at the top of the "Bunny Hill," riding down between Nadine's knees. We were glad the pros were there to help us!

Micah's riding up the lift.

The "Magic Carpet"

Jason enjoyed himself.

Elianna was, as always, a daredevil.

We went skiing today--hope fulfilled for the kids! :) The pictures tell the story, all except the part where Jared wiped out and cut a gash in the back of his head with a ski. He ended up with 4 staples after a trip to the ER.

With us are T.J. & Nadine Sisto and their boys. T.J. is the head deacon at church. The "Magic Carpet" that you see in one of the pictures is basically a conveyor belt that the younger children could ride up and then practice coming down a slight incline on their skiis. Great idea!

Out and about

I'm at Dave Gouge's today. The weather is nice here in Virginia, I'm thinking of moving :). I got here last night and we're taking it easy. I got up and did a little homework, then we hung around, went to a park, went to see a house they're looking at, and then I took a nap. Now we're going to have supper. Life is rough.
Wed and Thu I was in Penn State with Andrew. That was fun. We also took it easy (he had class), and then we drove back together and I dropped him off at his grandma's house.
Not much else. Back to work and school on Monday.

A lunchtime "hello"

Just thought I'd drop a note in here. Life is pretty routine-like these days. Chris goes to class on Mondays and deals with his job the rest of the week. He then proceeds to do homework at night and over the weekend. He's recently started to teach himself German. I talked to someone at work that could probably help him out a little. We have plenty of Germans where I work. : )
I have been fighting some sort of virus this whole week. I haven't been so sick that I had to stay home, although I did sleep in two different days this week and went in late to work. There's been a nasty stomach virus going around, and I think I got some form of that. Although, I haven't actually been "sick", I've just felt "blah" and tired.
On to happier things, a co-worker told me of an Argentine restaurant yesterday. It's about an hour away from us, but it's worth the hike. It's called Café con Leche. If I feel up to it, we might try to get there this weekend.
We had some snow two nights ago, but I didn't get a chance to take pictures. We're supposed to get rain and 50 degree weather this weekend. Doubt we'll see too much snow the rest of the winter (all two weeks of it.) : )
Matt's out in State College. I guess he went out to spend a couple days with Andrew, and then he's bringing Andrew back here to his grandmother's for his spring break. So, that probably means we'll see him again in the next week or so.
Another fun thing: I just had a co-worker tell me that she recommended me as a wedding photographer to someone else who works here! Not sure if I would take it, although I would have to start somewhere. I'm scared of doing someone's wedding right now because I know how important it is. I guess I could buy some lighting equipment and learn how to use it. Not sure when this wedding would be, but I don't think it's soon.
Well, I think that's all for my lunchtime musings.
Love you.