i ♥ faces ~ Best Face Photo in January

The i ♥ faces challenge this week is your Best Face Photo in January. I scanned through my shots from this past month and this one really stood out to me. I love the way it follows the rule of thirds - on an angle! Fence on the left side, the young man in the center, and the stairs to the right - perfect thirds :). And the lines of the gate and the stairs draw your eyes right to the subject of the photo. This was a totally impromptu shot, taken when the young man said to me in passing, "Mrs. Hendon, take my picture!" and I did - haha! This is the best kind of picture, totally spur of the moment!

Check out all the postings at i ♥ faces here, or enter your best photo from January!

Hoggetown Medieval Faire, 2011

My children and I have always loved going to the medieval faire as it rolls through town each year. Personally, I love all the costumes and pageantry, but I really enjoy seeing all the people that come to the faire in costume. For some, it's a magical day.

Once we got inside, we were drawn to the beat of the music, four men and one woman beating away on drums and playing a bagpipe, as if their lives depended on it. They had drawn a large crowd - the pounding of the drums was almost hypnotic as it pulled us in.

There were a lot of interesting characters throughout the park. I found it funny that even though they were dressed in period costumes, many of them also wore sunglasses - haha!

I was also amazed at how many of them didn't have all their teeth!

There were also beautiful ladies on horseback. Isn't the horse beautiful as well? Just needs a slight trim on those bangs. Poor baby!

Wandering minstrels . . .

. . . including this one. Her music was beautiful!

And she very kindly posed for me :) so I was happy! There were only about a couple hundred photographers there, so I was pleased!


I totally took this photo for Phil and Devin - the two best jugglers I know! Actually, I took about 6 pictures, but people kept walking in front of my camera, so I just gave up. Sorry, guys!

This was your basic gypsy lady. One who didn't want her face in the picture.

And then a couple peddlar/gypsies that didn't mind having their picture taken. (Actually, I loved her horse! Where can I get one? No feeding, no mucking, no brushing, no worming, you get the idea.)

I love me a good dragon story! So of course I was drawn to these wonderful dragons!

I liked the way they were holding things in their hands.

And there were lots of beautiful things to look at, enjoy, and buy if you wanted to.

I loved these little oil bottles. Just didn't have a need for one. Too bad.

And let me just tell you, Kali has had a few of these over the years!

The Hoggetown Medieval Faire will be held again next weekend. So, if you haven't been yet, you should go! It's definitely worth the trip and the time!

What a Great Idea!

I've been wanting to get some shots of these two for a long time!
Recently, we were all in Tennessee and I got my chance.

Such a wonderful, sweet couple! If you've followed my blog long, you will have read all about the Institute For Cultural Communicators which Kali has just finished touring with. This lovely lady is the vice-president of ICC.

Her husband doesn't make it to every single event, but he does show up very often.
The students love him! He's one of the guys!
In between sessions, we ran outside to snap off a few shots overlooking the river and the snow-capped mountains. And - I'm so glad we did! What shining examples of a Godly man and woman - in a marriage based on that same love.
Just a side note - don't ask their youngest son what the dad does for living. You just may get more than you bargained for, hahaha!

Ladies Luncheon, 2011

The theme of the 2011 ICC Ladies Luncheon was Radiance. The decorations were beautiful, the games were fun and exciting, the food was delicious, and the speaker was - what else but radiant! These verses are the ones I think of whenever I ponder on a radiant woman . . . a radiant woman of God. (The photo is of some of the table decorations.)

Impromptu Shoot

Last week, Kali and I were on the road again.
This time for the Institute For Cultural Communicators' Winter Retreat.
This young man is a friend of ours - he was attending the conference as well.

Totally on the spur of the moment, he asked me to take his picture . . .

. . . and in the space of about one minute, we got several shots, with these being the best ones.

A wonderful young man with a heart for God.

He was one of our worship leaders for the week. He has some serious guitar skills.
I think someone told me he plays piano as well.

A leader among the students, this young man feels God's hand on his life and is willing to take a stand and reach out to those around him. And, he is making a difference.

Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
~ I Timothy 4:12 ~

Flowers in the Snow

Many of you know that we spent Christmas in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Some friends of ours own a lodge there and were gracious enough to invite us up for the holidays.

We stayed at the Laurelwood Mountain Inn in Cashiers, North Carolina.

It snowed on Christmas Day, nine inches worth of snow. It was beautiful!

We spent the better part of the day outdoors - making snowmen, snow angels, walking, taking loads of pictures, my daughter and I even ganged up on my husband and pummeled him with snowballs. It was awesome!

As I shot pictures, I was surprised to notice all these flowers on the trees. I am guessing that these are a type of laurel flower. I found dozens of different laurel flowers online, just not this specific one. It is my guess that the lodge is named after these trees that were growing all around the grounds. We had a wonderful time! If you ever need a beautiful place to stay in the mountains - wonderful accomodations, and super-friendly people, check out Laurelwood Mountain Inn. You can find their website here.

Blue Ridge Mountains Senior Photo Shoot

We met this young man a couple years ago through debate. And let me tell you - he is an excellent debater! It's been interesting watching him grow in intellect, logic, and abstractness, and also as a young man of God. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation! And thank you for switching over to Team Policy this year! :)




My daughter and this young lady tell everyone they are twins :). Actually, she is a twin - just not with my daughter. A talented debater, a sweet young lady of God, a good friend, a loving sister, and I expect one pretty terrific daughter! Congratulations on your upcoming graduation!




This is the real twin :). She just returned home from an overseas mission trip. She enjoys spending time with children, loving them, and being God's servant to them. A devoted sister and daughter - she has a real knack for drama and went all the way to national competition last year with her partner (the guy you see in the pictures just below) where they presented their dramatic performance of Finding Nemo. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation!




So, technically he doesn't graduate until next year. We were planning on doing senior pictures for his sister - who graduated last year - and he asked if we could do junior pictures, so that's what we did! Hahaha! He was so much fun! Willing to try anything - including climbing trees - which you can see in my previous post. A super sweet spirit, everyone loves him! Congratulations on being one year closer to graduation - hehehe!




Isn't she gorgeous? She is the only sister to the fellow just above. She graduated last year, so we were just catching up her pictures :). My daughter loves her! We met through speech and debate - of course - we met all our friends that way, pretty much! Congratulations on college - I understand you are doing a great job there!

From my comments I am sure you can tell each of these students participate in speech and debate activities. They are all competitors, as well. And they represent Christ every time they compete. We are members of a Christian speech and debate league. Knowing that God is a huge part of who each of these students are - I asked them to give me their favorite Bible verse. This is what I did with them:




I did not plan the order to post these verses in. I posted them in the order of the photos of the students above. Do this for me: read the verses in the order you see them in. I dare you to tell me that God didn't orchestrate this post and put these together in exactly this order.

Congratulations, Seniors! You rock! I love you! Go be awesome!