some things

number one.

we do not have bed bugs.

there was a day there that i was not sure.

but we don't.

number two.

i do have the beginnings of a sore throat and i am  not happy about that.

 i need my health.

number three.

we have our final walk through of our house on Saturday.

i cannot WAIT to have my very own house,

can not wait.

number four.

i go to target everyday.

it seems.

well, maybe it more than seems.

maybe it is.

it's like my true north in a storm of unfamiliar.

but i am actually getting a little sick of it.

until i tried walmart.

then i realized target everyday is a treat!

that being said, i made you a list of a few favorites things of mine.

1. lupicia tea shop- i got a cold brew iced tea pitcher and the best new honey dew tea
2. cute & mugs from starbucks-for reedo and i since he is trying to use our new keurig as much as possible(they were 50% off!)
3. i just ordered that rose afghan from an instasale! sooooo lucky!
4. ty can tie his own shoes! my favorite!
5. reedo's freshy longboard is so pretty, i sorta want to steal it to hang on our wall!
6. my pal lena goes shopping for me back home, since we don't have hobby lobby here. love her!
7. out door shower
8. my yellow modcloth dress
9. plastic mason jar straw cup from targs
10. welcome mat for our house from tj maxx (7 bucks!?)
11. driving to the north shore
12. tina fey's book (thanks meg)
13. stretchy jean cut offs from targs (junior size 13 people), that allow for my little monkey to hang on me.
14. surprise hoop art (thanks erin)
15. that sweet little church
16. my reedo with shaved ice (don't you just wanta say "yes please!" to that happy guy?)
17. this album (thanks les)

frame this moment

don't forget!
frame your moments.
you'll look back on them and the stress of life will fall away, just a tiny bit.
here is mine this week.

the moment she could feel the rain on her face

what was yours?

north shore adventure with the reed kids

hey so i got out my big girl camera!
i was so looking forward to this little trip where the kid's new babysitter showed me her favorite fish taco place and then we took pictures of the little guys together!
but it BARELY stopped raining for us to bring out our rebels....
no sun, but we still had some fun
and then ran back to the car before it could pour on us.
next time we need sunshine.
and, because i still try to be real about my photography journey, i have to share that bringing your super nice, pretty babysitter with you on a photo trip and then expecting your boys to listen to your voice at all, is not the best plan.
ha!
there was lots of showing off and even a bit of rebellion (you can see it in their faces in these pictures).
live and learn.
i love the photos anyway, they are of my real kids and their funny quirkiness.

psalm 46

god is my refuge and strength, 

an ever present help in trouble.

therefore i will not fear, 

though the earth give way 

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea

(this photo was taken by my kids' babysitter and i'm in love with it!)

frame this moment

jake: mom, what day did your mom die?
me: march 20th. ten years ago.
jake: wow, that's a long time ago.
ella: did you cry and cry?
ty: ella, that's not good to ask!
me: no, that's ok. yes. i cried and cried and cried.  it was the worst day of my life. but. it was also the best day.
jake: i know why
me: (looking right in his eyes) yep. you know why. because i like to think about how right after she took her last, sick, struggling, painful breath in this world she opened her eyes in heaven. don't you think she must have gasped it in and been overwhelmed with JESUS!?

(smiles and concerned looks all around)

they bring these things up at completely unpredictable times.
it actually feels good, in a way.
since i am not as the ones without hope.
and they are validating the fact that she WAS here.
even they know it.
those moments are the real "framers"
wish i had a little joy prouty over my shoulder to capture those moments, ya know?
but i don't, so i have to know that jesus sees and he is the only one who needs to see those ones.
it does remind me, once again, how many moments just come and go and are forgotten.
how many of my mother's moments, framed in her mind, were lost as well?
will there be a day when we will be able to see them all again?
although there is part of me that feels uncomfortable with that since with those good moments come those bad ones too.
and i have certainly had my share of the later lately.
i mean, i am rarely away from my three young children, people.
you can imagine that it's not always pretty over here.
but.
i am convinced that, although i do believe in a accounting for every one of the moments i've been given, i cannot look at one moment of my life, without also seeing the GRACE of jesus' sacrifice all over it.
so that gives me hope.
that when the trumpet sounds and he calls me to meet up first with my mother and my grandmother in the clouds and then with HIM, i may be able to recover my lost moments, good and bad.
and that through God's amazing grace they will all be counted as HIS story.

so wow!
that's huge!
and it makes my constant instagramming a bit silly.
but, i do know that i am his babygirl.
that he must look at me with his fond fatherly smile and see me with my little iphone,  much as i see my children trying to please me with crayons and construction paper.
any small little thing i reach for is my simple childish imitation of what i see in Him.
i probably mostly get it wrong.
but he sees my heart.
more, he see's me though His lens of grace and my precious little attempts to figure things out are turned to his beauty!
and so, i frame the moments.
big and small.
good and bad.
and know that they will all someday be HIS story.

do you have moments that you've framed as a reminder of your own story? of you? of your children? of your family? of a perfect moment?
there are days and weeks and months that i just can't put things into words, but i can take a picture that expresses my feelings perfectly.
my mom taught me this.
she didn't use her camera, but she mentioned to me that she tried to frame a moment into her memory when she knew it was special.
so am going to start posting a "frame this moment" every wednesday.
and although i don't usually do them, i am going to include a link up.
don't feel pressure.
i am doing this for myself, but if you want to share your framed moment with me, you'll have an opportunity.

here is todays for me....

my firstborn asks to take a picture together

how 'bout scroll through your phone photos or whatever and see if you can share one with your blog followers and me.
or see if you can remember to frame a moment to share with me this next wednesday.
it might be fun!
and i 'd love to be your other set of eyes, as you have been for me.
only if you want to.
i know many people aren't bloggers.
we could also hash tag our "framers"
#framethismoment on instagram.

win some, loose some

i'm not the only one that is loving our new little portable record player from targs.

i thought i might be

only half of my "super fun" mommy ideas are ever really embraced.

if that.

but the record thing has taken hold.

Sleeping beauty is a favorite of the little sweetheart.

(jake and ty LOVE this vintage peter cottontail one, i have to take a photo and share it...tomorrow)

here is the thing with trying to explore new places and everyone having expectations...

it's hard to manage.

reedo and i feel bad for stirring things up by moving to hawaii, so we try and make people happy by finding "new" fun places and things to do.

but that creates a lot of tension, i'm telling you.

are we going to a beach that has waves to surf?

can ella swim there?

are there going to be a billion tourists?

is everyone smiling?

did we bring lunch or will we have to find a place (besides mcdonalds and japanese food)?

none of these are huge problems.

but all together, they get exhausting to manage.

still, there is beauty all around and i am learning how to look for it here

we visited the north shore for the first time this weekend.

it was rad.

if it wasn't like 2 hours away from reedo's office, we'd live there, hands down.

it's painfully quaint.

we did minimal schoolwork today.

trudged ahead in geometry (my fav) and jake's kauai report

ty decided to work on critical thinking.

um, i don't think he's much of a critical thinker.

when ever he does this book it ends up looking like this...

also, i'm finding some good thrift shops here! 

so.

that's it.

we are still here.

we are still living out of suitcases.

i drive by my new house, down the street, everyday.

i'm more than ready.

love, love, love is all you need

happy love day to you!

 happy me with my delightful new blog re-design by the adorable  heather!

i still need to tell you a few things about my new buttons,

but first i need to clean up the kitchen after heart shaped pancakes and bacon.

so, i'll see you later!

my recent snappy photo editing

hey friends
over time, i have had a few people ask me how i edit my instagrams, and while there are days when just taking any photo and slapping a plain old instagram filter on it and sharing it is practically a miracle, i have developed a little process that i like to try and do as often as possible.
for whatever reason it makes me smile to scroll through and look at all those little moments all lined up and think i have a sort of uniform look.
my look is still evolving, mind you.
but this is what i have so far.

first i shoot in my regular i-phone camera.

second i take it to shakeitphoto.

shooting in this camera app is a little tricky because is crops for you, try it and see.

but, i like a challenge so sometimes i just shoot straight from this app.

when you are shooting in this app the camera frames as a rectangle, but you just have to know in your mind that only the middle square will show...crazy huh? i like it crazy!

then i take that photo into snapseed.

i just play around in snapseed.

my favorite buttons to adjust with are tune image(for brightness), details (for clarity), and drama (for.....dramatics, which i love).

then i save it to my camera roll and pick it up in instagram where i crop out the poloroid frame.

finally i usually add one of the instagram filters, but not always.
my favorites are valencia, sierra, nashville, and willow.
but i use um all!

so here is an example of my process in one photo:

step 1: regular camera

step 2: shakeitphoto

step 3: snapseed 

(adjusted brightness in "tune image", sharpened in "details" and chose a bright filter in "drama")

step 4: instagram

(crop out the poloroid frame and add earlybird filter)

now that i look at it, i sorta wish i'd skipped the earlybird filter and left it with no instagram filter.
lesson learned.

so, there you go.
i know half of you think that it's crazy to take four steps for an instagram.
but, it's just my deal i guess.
of course i don't ALWAYS do it.
and of course, if you try it, you should find your own style and favorites since the world would be boring if everyone followed the same 4 steps every time.
but i hope it inspired a little creativity today!
happy day!

frame this moment

the moment they said goodbye to the vacationers that became friends as they formed a sort of club out of the huge hole they dug on the beach behind their beach house.

after saying goodbye to all their california friends weeks before, this proved to be the straw that broke the camels back.

i went home and held three sobbing children's as they begged me to help them find friends  in hawaii or to take them back to california where they know where the friends are.

this moment.

it was painful.

it was real.

i know it will mean something.

my children now know what it means to not have a friend.

i know this to be a very important thing to be able to grasp.

i HATE watching them go through it,

 but i know deep down in a place made out of trust and faith that God will use this experience to make them into who he wants them to be.

i know it.

future "needers of friends", you are welcome.

my kids now know how to sympathize with you and find kindness in their little hearts for you, based on their own experiences.

i, on the other hand, want my mommy.

five

five is my favorite number.

there are five people in my little reed family.

and it's the amount of time i am giving myself to write this post.

and the number of pictures today.

remember how much i need time alone?

well, i don't get any time alone now-a-days, 

and God is really speaking to me about my ideas for what i need.

He is really stretching me to look for his help in places i haven't before.

after what seems like a solid two months straight with NO breaks from my kids,

i went out to lunch with my new friend.

yes, i am making a friend in hawaii.

she has teenage daughters who babysit, 

which is (for me right now) the best quality for a friend to have.

she took me to a hole in the wall japanese place 

then we went to ross and target

isn't that just. the. best?

i could just cry it was so needed.

we tried out a church on sunday and it was weird.

i mean church shopping is completely unknown to me.

but i think it went well and next sunday we are trying out another one.

so....one down, i guess?

i bought dye for my grey hair.

i'm nervous.

which is probably causing more grey.

i am really starting to count the days before we get to move into our house and get our stuff.

did you realize that we are still all living in a vacation rental with just the stuff from our suitcases?

things i miss most?

my bed, my printer, my sewing machine, ella's baby dolls (why didn't i pack those???), and....just about everything in my kitchen.

i realize now how spoiled i am...was....want to be again?

thanks for reading and always being so encouraging.

i had a really horrid day yesterday.

one of those really really bad ones where EVERYTHING goes wrong and you hurt yourself slamming something out of anger.

one of those ones where everything seems to be your husbands fault.

or hawaii's fault.

or stupid joe the shoes repair man's fault

(who apparently closes his shop on mondays, but i traveled 40 minutes into the middle of honolulu to pick up my husbands repaired shoes from him, and after parking in a huge parking garage and searching for his back ally store front for 20 minutes, found it out the hard way as it started to rain and i started to realize that i now can't find that huge dumb parking structure, so me and my three small children can just search around this city block for twenty more minutes as mommy starts to cry and pray we don't get mugged and the children start to panic and....did i mention it was raining? and that reedo couldn't pick them up because he had to go to the urgent care for a fever?)

so anyway!

thanks for being my friends and reading my run-on sentences

and putting up with numerous smelling and grammar errors, i'm sure.

i need the listening ear, and i am grateful.