Collect, Freeze, and Prepare

So, I kind of feel like I have fallen off the wagon on my Capture Your 365 photos. It has been a few weeks since my last post. Rather than try to do catch up, I am starting fresh with the prompts for December. Want to join in? You can find it here.

ISO 1600, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/60 sec

Day 335 - Collect: For many years, the day after Christmas, I would be out finding great bargains on Christmas books. I am sure many of you have seen the Christmas tradition of wrapping up your Christmas books and using them like an advent countdown during the month of December. Since this is going to be a busy month for us, we didn't wrap near as many as we usually do. But I have to admit, I really love this tradition!

ISO 1600, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/60 sec

Day 336 - Freezing: The temperatures in our Central California valley are usually pretty mild, until we hit December. Then we sometimes see some freezing temperatures overnight, but no snow. However, I really like to decorate with snowflakes and our stocking holders are all snowflakes! 

ISO 400, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/30 sec

Day 337 - Prepare: Most of you know that I am preparing for a big trip next month! I have to admit, now that we are just 5 weeks from our departure date, I have been feeling a little anxious (okay, a lot anxious, but how do you really measure this!) But I have been blessed with the opportunity to be on the launch team for Crystal Paine's new book, "Say Goodbye to Survival Mode". While I really can't share a lot from the book yet (but you really should pre-order it!), I have to tell you that just reading about her trip to the Dominican Republic has helped me to turn my anxious thoughts into thankful thoughts. I realize this trip is all in God's hands. He gave me the desire to go. He has made what I thought would be impossible, possible! So as I enter into these last few weeks before our trip, I will be clinging to 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - "In everything give thanks." 

My Capture Your 365 - Days 309 - 314

Through the month of November, the Capture Your 365 photo challenge is focusing on the subject of gratitude. Here are a few things from the past week that I am grateful for:

ISO 800, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/80 sec

ISO 800, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/80 sec

Day 309 - Birthdays: Even though we don't have any November birthdays in our famiy, we can still enjoy candles on a dark autumn night.

ISO 100, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/60 sec

ISO 100, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/60 sec

Day 310 - The Little Things: Last week was Compassion's One Meal One Day. This is a day set aside for people to skip a meal,  then donate money to Compassion to help a child living in extreme poverty. I skipped lunch on this day, spent time in prayer for children around the world, and drank a lot of water, thankful that I at least had clean water to drink.

ISO 400, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/20 sec

ISO 400, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/20 sec

Day 311 - Quiet Moments: With only one child at home during the day (and she likes to sleep in!), I am able to spend my quiet moments in the morning soaking in Truth to start my day.

ISO 400, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/40 sec

ISO 400, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/40 sec

Day 312 - R&R: I am so thankful that my children are able to take care of the dishes after dinner at night!

iPhone self portrait at Tuolumne Meadows

iPhone self portrait at Tuolumne Meadows

Day 313 - Challenges: I usually don't put up my iPhone photos for this challenge, but I challenged myself to take a self portrait while we were up in Yosemite over the weekend. Instead of reversing the camera on the phone to get the photo, I actually turned the phone around and manuevered my finger to just the right spot to capture this one. Ta da!

ISO 400, 36mm, f/5.0, 1/40 sec

ISO 400, 36mm, f/5.0, 1/40 sec

Day 314 - Selfless Acts: One other ministry we love to support this time of year is Operation Christmas Child. For years now, we have filled shoe boxes with necessities and trinkets to share God's love with children around the world. It is not too late to fill your own shoe box! National Collection Week this year is November 18th through the 25th.

Have you printed out the November Capture Your 365 photo list yet? 

Capture Your 365

Here are a few of my photos from the latest Capture Your 365 Photo Challenge:

two become one
two become one

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/100 sec

Day 278 – Two Become One: the ‘task’ for this day was to combine two photos using Photoshop Elements or Photoshop. Since I don’t use either one of those programs, I thought it was rather appropriate that we were attending a wedding on this day. Perfect! While I didn’t get a photo of the bride and groom, I was able to capture this photo of their wedding cake table. Very cute cake topper don’t you think?

repetition
repetition

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/3200 sec

Day 280 – Repetition: In our little makeshift beach area in our backyard, I have a cute little table that we found at Hobby Lobby last year. It has a great repeating heart pattern.

mirror image
mirror image

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/10 sec

Day 281 – Mirror Image: One of the things I love to do with this challenge is to take a little bit of creative license to make the photo prompt for the day work for me. Since I have started burning fall candles, I thought I would capture the reflection of the candle burning.

spider webs
spider webs

ISO 400, 55mm, f/5.6, 1/13 sec

Day 283 – Spider Webs: Now, I am sure there are a few spider webs in my home right now, but I decided to see if I could find any in our backyard. Looks like this spider has been quite busy!

Grab your October Photo Challenge list and start looking for your everyday photos!

Capture Your 365

Time for a few more Capture Your 365 photos to share with you!

hats off
hats off

ISO 800, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/20 sec

Day 274 – Hats Off: My son’s Civil War hat is collecting dust for a couple of reasons. One, we haven’t been to a Civil War reenactment since March! Two, this is his 20th Maine Union hat. He hasn’t worn this hat since he joined the 43rd Virginia at the beginning of the year. Guess he thought it was time to see how the other side fought.

seasonal colors
seasonal colors

ISO 100, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/50 sec

Day 275 – Seasonal Colors: Since our trees have not started turning colors yet, I thought this photo of my book page leaf project would work for this prompt, thanks to my friend Kris who shared the tutorial on her blog.

my everyday
my everyday

ISO 400, 36mm, f/5.0, 1/40 sec

Day 276 – My Everyday: My kitchen, the one place in my home that I spend a good deal of time most every day preparing meals for my family.

stormy
stormy

ISO 800, 18mm, f/3.5, 1/10 sec

Day 277 – Stormy: We are still enjoying some nice, early fall weather here with daytime temperatures warm enough to leave the front door open. So what can I choose to photograph that is ‘stormy’? My closet, ugh. Time to do some fall cleaning in there, and soon!

What have you captured this week through your lens?