I am excited and nervous to announce that Carl and I will be starting a photography business this spring/summer!   We will be specializing in photographing married couples, families, and generations (for example, grandmother with mother and daughter.)  We are looking for 1 or 2 families from each category who would like to help us get our portfolio established, so we can then get our website up and running.  If we know you and you are local to our area, let me know if you are interested in being one of the families.  There will be no cost, however your family photos will be used on our website to help promote our business.  As a gift, you receive a flash drive of beautiful family portraits to have printed however you choose!  After our portfolio building time is complete and we “open for business”, we will then begin to charge for our services, so this is a great opportunity for a few select families.  Contact me if you are interested!

Note:  We will not be available for weddings.

More info to come…

I’ve set up a new office area upstairs in Suzette’s old room, by the window where it’s bright and sunny.  I love having my desk up here, away from the distractions downstairs.  I hope to commit 1 hour in the morning and 1 in the afternoon or evening, being productive at my desk.  I have plenty of desk work in my life right now, because I now keep track of expenses and run two households… ours and my dad’s house, where my special needs sister lives.  My brother and I and my dear friend Zipporah (who has been helping care for my parents and sister for 8 years now) help Carolyn to live at my dad’s house and to be active by taking her places daily.  There’s much to do, and having a designated area to focus on my job will be a help to me.

I’ve also started developing some routines that I HOPE AND PRAY I can focus on and do each day, in order to get healthy and get my house in order (it’s such a mess after neglecting it for a year!)  I’ll be writing about my routines soon.  I’m just such a distracted human being!  I wish I wasn’t, because I LOVE ORDER and getting things accomplished.

Speaking of getting things accomplished… I gotta’ go get busy!

I have learned a lot about myself and how spiritually fragile I am.  Throughout the past year, I grew distant from God and from spiritual things. For three months nonstop, all I did was care for my dad, deal with my sister’s difficulties, and get through the day and night, many times with no sleep until my brother relieved me of my shift. I literally could not pray because of the intense stress and demands on me.  It deeply affected me.  Other than my immediate family, no one really reached out to me, which was discouraging.  I suppose people are busy and consumed with their own lives.  However, the Bible teaches us to do otherwise, and I am guilty as well:

It was a very lonely time, where I felt very far from God.  I could not feel His presence.  I am now healing and getting stronger little by little, by reading the Bible and praying and letting the Holy Spirit restore my soul.

On a lighter note, Carl and I celebrated our silver (25th) wedding anniversary in December.  He got me a beautiful watch.  He’s very good to me.  The “kids” (Whitney, Suzette and Tim) treated us to dinner at home, which included steaks cooked on the grill.  Whitney made a delicious cake, too.  They all pitched in and gave us a new microwave!  It was a great time!

The following was written by my daughter Suzette, in honor of her granddaddy, and was read at his funeral:

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America’s Greatest Generation showed us quite a few honorable ideals to imitate. Of that number, one in particular has captured my attention and has earned a place of greatness in my heart — Thomas Burt.

He gave honor to whom honor was due, as shown by his high regard for brave American soldiers before, during and after his own time on enemy territory.

He valued the freedom of others enough to travel halfway around the world on treacherous seas, just to defend those who could not defend themselves.

He also cared for his wife in sickness as in health, with the same loving sparkle in his eye as the day they were wed. He never really got over her death, and would cry whenever conversation turned to her. Although he loved life on earth, he longed to be with her once more.

He described music as “an old friend” to which he could keep coming back. Judging by his self-made repertoire, he and music must have been very good friends.

He instantly captivated his audience, whether it be alongside the Southern Serenaders in the city, or strumming “Out of a Clear Blue Sky” on his guitar. If he was in an especially fun mood he might even recite “Telephone for Sergeant Malone” or “Frankie.”

If he wasn’t singing music he was playing it. “It Is Well With My Soul” was one of his personal favorites that he neither I ever got tired of hearing.

He endured through the most trying times — both known and unknown by the public eye. He fought and lived through some of our country’s most difficult times, as well as his own personal battles.

But he never gave up. He came through it all with incredible strength and was even able to smile and laugh again, no matter how hard the trial.

Even in his death he never gave up. When so many others would have let go, he held on, but never for himself. He kept fighting for those he loved, just like he had done his whole life. Although he was suffering, he looked past himself and saw people who needed him, and he kept on fighting.

I don’t know about anyone else, but those are some ideals that I would be doing well to emulate.

And although he held on for quite some time, I suppose not even he could resist the sight of his dear wife just over on the other side. Perhaps he caught a glimpse of the perfect, painless future ahead, and somehow knew that all of us here would be alright after all. Perhaps he took his will to live, and willed to live in the place where the soul never dies. Perhaps on his last breath his wife, Heaven’s most beautiful angel, took him by the hand and welcomed him home at last, where they would never have to part again.

Although Thomas Burt stepped out of this life and into Heaven that day, it is certain that from now on, his troubles really will be miles away. And although we grieve, it is only because we wish we could go with him. There is a hello after goodbye, and we look forward to it now more than ever before. And although he is gone, his legacy lives on as one to be admired and copied. Work hard. Be happy. Love music. Cherish others. Never give up.

It is a tall order to follow after these ideals that made America great, but they are honorable and necessary. One man in particular has made a lasting impression on me using these qualities. He is my hero, my grandfather — Thomas Burt.

To get this photo to look good, I had to use some techniques I’ve just recently learned. I actually had to use a special CLAHE function and convert the photo to black and white, then using the same function, blend it with the original photo to bring the color back in until it looked right. So even though you can’t tell, this photo is actually the original SOOC image blended with a special black and white image. Pretty cool, huh? I think so.  Now, this image is far from perfect, but at least I was able to save it and use it, because it is a GREAT shot of the girls!

I’ll continue to share from time to time my photo editing adventures!

Lots of cleaning, sorting, tablecloth washing, and photo editing going on since Tim & Suzette’s wedding!  To see photos go to www.timandsuzette.com !

I would write more, but I don’t have time!  Here are only a few of the many pics:

Here’s the sweet bride-to-be!

Lots of hugs from caring friends

Such generous gift givers. Suzette was so excited!

A wonderful turnout. It was nice in the shade!

Opening gifts. I can’t believe Suzette and Whitney are 23 and 19.

Suzette modeling her new apron from Darlene!

Suzette with her Aunt Jennifer. We’re so happy she came!

Suzette with her soon to be sister-in-law, Kim!

Goofing off with the pom poms during clean up time!

Thank you for your prayers during this time.  I truly am excited for my precious daughter and wonderful soon to be son-in-law!

Tinia made the wedding gown for Lauren, a girl from our church, using the same process.  Isn’t it (and she!) beautiful?

In two or three weeks we’ll be meeting again for the muslin dress fitting, then in another few weeks, they will try on their actual dress!  I won’t post a picture of Suzette’s bridesmaid dress… I think I’ll leave that a surprise for those of you coming to the wedding!

First, take a bunch of curly leaf kale and de-stem the leaves.  Just hold the end of the stem in your left hand and with your right hand grasp around the leaves and stem, and pull down, ripping the leaves off of the stem.  (I put the stems in my compost pile.)  Then wash the kale leaves well and spin dry.  You could also just shake it off well and use a paper towel to dab the excess water off of the leaves and bowl.

 Next, tear the kale leaves into little bite-size pieces.  That’s Whitney in the picture helping me!

Now it’s time to mix up the tasty coating.  Here’s my own recipe, created from a few different recipes I found online:

Blend these ingredients well in a blender.  Scoop out the mixture onto the kale and mix it all up with your hands, coating the leaves of kale well.  Place the coated kale on dehydrator trays.

Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 24 hours.  Too high a temperature will kill the living enzymes.  Enzymes are what make food living.  Try planting a cooked carrot and a raw carrot, and you’ll know which one still has the enzymes in tact!  Our bodies need living enzymes.  So here are the kale chips all finished!

If you have a dehydrator, you need to try these!  If you don’t have one, you need to get one and try these.  Delish! 

Below is a video showing how Hallelujah Acres makes their kale chips.  It shows them made in high volume for retail selling, but still it’s a good, informative video.  (Sorry for the music they used in the video.  Not a good choice.)