January 18: campement pictures

This year, on our three-days vacation (January 2-5) at the Campement Ocean et Savane, I took mostly nature pictures. If you'd like to see the ones I didn't post on the blog, they are here.

January 17: campement sunrise #2 (jan. 5)

More pictures from our refreshing days at the campement are here!

January 16: campement sunrise(january 4)

January 7: crabby

I'm not quite ready to edit and post the rest of my pictures but these are such fun!

January 5: campement sunrise

January 4: evening at the campement

January 3: campement

January 2: on the way to "the camp"!

As we head out for a few days at a "camp" between the ocean and the Senegal river, here are a few uniquely Senegalese sights for you.

December 28: morning at N'Gaparou

December 27: Ngaparou evening

Enjoying our two days away with Joey and Jacob...

December 26: beach at N'Gaparou

Wonderful!

thoughts on choosing a focus.

For every picture, the photographer has a choice about where to focus the camera. The same scene looks very different when one focuses on the background instead of the foreground. Something stark and bleak can look beautiful in a well-composed photo, when a skilled photographer has captured the scene. And I'm reminded that it's true for how we perceive and interpret situations in our lives as well.

Depending on where we choose to focus, the same event can be viewed as a tragedy, or as God's providence.

I've felt so sad this week at the death of Ben, an M.K. in Kenya, but so appreciated that in the midst of their grief, his family has kept their focus on God's trustworthiness.

They've helped the many people worldwide who followed Ben's sudden illness and prayed for him to trust that Ben is in the hands of the all-powerful God who loves him-- and grieves with them as well.

Here's an article, Why God Doesn't Fully Explain Pain from our home church pastor which has really helped me this week.

And for a "change of focus", here's a link to pictures from our recent days at the beach. I enjoyed experimenting with the camera... and the reminder of how focus changes the picture was a timely one for me.

June 25: vacation afternoon boogie-boarding

afternoon beach 2, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

June 23: Vacation-- Catching a wave!

IMG_1856rcc, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

AHHHHH......

June 23: House Upon the Sand!

IMG_1826cr, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

We've heard that it's not wise to do this...

The Cabin

We all enjoyed spending lots of time at my mom's cabin, by ourselves as well as with different friends and family members. If you'd like to see more of our cabin pictures, click here!
(For best viewing, click "view as slideshow"!)

vacation pictures

I still want to post more vacation pictures on this blog, but I haven't had the chance to get them organized and edited yet. In the meantime, if you'd like, you can view this links (on my photo blog) to see a few more pictures from our time in N'Gaparou!

beach day one

beach day two

beach day three

beach day four

last day at the beach

March 30-April 3 vacation: GAMES!

Many games were played during our four days at the beach! Varieties of football, soccer, volleyball, badminton... as well as favorites like Rage, Settlers of Cataan and even Axis and Allies!

March 30-April 3 vacation: Gorgeous sunsets!

To me, each sunset was unique and beautiful. "Some" people made fun of me for thinking each one was different than the last! What do you think?

March 30-April 4 Vacation: Guys having fun doing random things...

bunch of young guys together listening to Uncle Dave teaching during worship time...


















Dave and Bruce cooking our supper... (burning it a bit?) while having deep conversations!











Jacob having fun flying a kite!