Amazing is not a big enough word for what the last eleven years has been. To watch you grow has been more beautiful than the glory of all the wild flowers which bloom in the spring. Your mind is so creative and your hands so talented. Everything is yours because you walk on the path of light.

It's funny... To hold you today is a bit difficult. Your legs are longer, your a bit heavier, but your still have those cheeks. Your eyes are the same too. Nothing, in my whole life, has dazzled me more than them. They pierce my soul. They are truly a sign of how wonderful a Creator you and I have.

I realize today you turn 11. My lease of time with you is on the downhill side and I have no regrets. I take every moment, both good and bad as a treasure, and bury it in my heart.

Before you were born I wrote you this lullaby... It is my forever gift and promise to you.

Dear child, now it's time to close your eyes
and dream of all the things up in the sky
Hope, Faith and Love divine
they're the things to you I give that are mine
All I have and all I do, little one it's all for you.

Dear child, now it's time to dream away
and reach your hands to another day
God, the Father is watching you
and I know He'll always see you through

Hope, Faith and Love divine
they're the things to you I give that are mine
All I have and all I do, little one it's all for you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my SWEET HANNAH BEAR!
Love, Papa.

I'm always looking for fun things to do in ministry that make some type of connection with the people. Turning 36 reminds me that physical comedy takes some conditioning now. So here's an encouraging video that would be fun to copy for Camp or Faith Quest.



I've got a long ways to go.

peace.
johno~

I'm not sure if its an ol' wives tale or not, but I have heard that native Americans didn't like their picture to be taken because they believed it would capture their soul... Well, photography does capture something, that's why I enjoy it so much. A friend of mine once said, "When I look at your photos, I think I have an idea of how you look at the world." I think it was a complement. I hope. Anyway, those words encourage me to see things different and I am working on it everyday.

Thus, the problem with taking digital photos. Digital Workflow. Which ones work, and which ones don't. What needs to be done to make the photo better? Crop, adjust levels, curves? Black and white, sepia? Posting or just keeping them on your laptop, for your eyes only?

Apple came to the rescue and introduced Aperture. A digital workflow solution for photographers. However, the minimum system requirements means a COMPUTER upgrade for many to use it. Bad Apple! Then along came Adobe! Lightroom.

What a great program. I have downloaded the beta for apple, (windows version not available yet), and am having a blast! What a great solution for digital workflow. I only hope I can afford the program when it's released in it's final version. I may have to stand on the street with a sign that says, "God Bless"

Here are some photos I have worked on in Lightroom. Just click the gallery and a flash album will start. Yet, another cool feature about Lightroom.

peace.
johno~

P.S. Please note my photo gallery at http://johno.smugmug.com can now be accessed by going to www.LightExposure.Org.

Last week was my vacation week. It was also my birthday and now I sit here one year wiser, but mostly older. It was a blast! Any vacation should be. Yet, in every vacation it seems as if one needs a vacation from the vacation. Diets are changed, sleeping habit abused, familiar environments become memories... At least for seven days and nights there's total freedom to go and do whatever you want. Then it's back to the zoo.

My life's a zoo. I have said it before. "Things are wild and crazy!" Kids are everywhere, I'm everywhere... Dogs and cats living together! But then I went to the zoo on vacation and saw something different. I love the zoo... I love seeing the animals. However, for some odd reason, most of the animals I see, while visiting the zoo, are just, well... laying around... Doing nothing. Some walk in circles, some hide, many animals just turn their backs to you. They eat and do other things that make small children say "EWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEE!" But, wild? Crazy? I don't think so. Being a zoo creature is living a life broken, contained and boring.

I say, "Stop the ZOO LIFE!" I don't want to live captive behind walls designed to keep me in. I don't want to spend my day eating, sleeping and EWWWWWEEEEEEEEEing." My life is not a zoo, it is so much more. I have been set free!

-Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
-Psalm 118:5
In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.
-John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
-Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (behind the zoo walls)

What would this little guy be like unleashed? I don't know. I saw him walk in a few circles and then back to his den.

"And I have no compass
And I have no map
And I have no reasons
No reasons to get back

And I have no religion
And I don't know what's what
And I don't know the limit
The limit of what we've got"
-Zooropa, U2

Being what God created us to be is a wonderful thing. It is life and life abundant. Set free.

STOP LIVING THE ZOO LIFE! LIVE FREE!

peace.
johno~

It's been a long day. I never thought I would live to be 30 and here I sit, at the end of the day, 36.
So here's a list of 36 things in my wonderful life.

1. God
2. Mom
3. Sisters
4. Music
5. Children's Hospital
6. Big Don Williams
7. Star Wars
8. Lassie (my dog)
9. BMX bike
10. Indiana Jones
11. Baptism
12. Running
13. Northwest
14. Philippians 4:4
15. U2
16. Datsun B210
17.120 M.P.H.
18. City of Children, Mexico
19. Chelan Co. Fire Dept.
20. Columbia Christian College
21. Dawnette Cardwell, a.k.a. Dawnette Thomas
22. Wedding Vows
23. Photography
24. Cascade College
25. Hannah
26. Zellerbach
27. Metro church of Christ
28. King's Orchard church of Christ
29. Miriam
30. Coffee
31. 911
32. Caleb
33. Jesus
34. Uganda, Africa
35. Adam
36. Grace

Peace.
johno~