Addam

Five years ago this week a beautiful little friend of mine went to be with Jesus. I don't know how to describe him to people who never knew him because there were things about Addam that were so great that it seems made up when you try to talk about it later.

He carried a spark in him that was as contagious as his laugh, and his sense of humor was far beyond his seven short years. He had a great smile, a bright mind and a quick wit. He was always generous and always eager to be your friend.

I can't help but think of Addam when I think of Jesus saying, "unless you become like a child you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven". For almost ten years Addam and his family have been an integral part of my life. Much has changed in our lives in the last five years, but one thing has not changed; Addam is still painfully missed.

media

Well, it's that time. Today was my first day back to work. The vacation is over and my friends have flown home. It was a fun couple of weeks, and beautifully low-key.

One of my vacation acquisitions can be seen in the picture. I am now the proud owner of a one-of-a-kind iconic "Sacerdotes del Sagrado Corazón" keychain with my name on the bottom. I'm sure you're asking yourself, "Is that Mary?" and I've decided no, it is not. It's my Rembrandtesque portrait: Sheena as the Mother Mary. If he can portray himself as the Apostle Paul, I think I can be Mary. Besides, do you see "Mary" written across the bottom? I don't think so.

Speaking of portraits, my portraits for the art show came out really great. I was pretty happy with my slide-show, all things considered. And as if photos weren't enough, I made a nice little vacation video too. It's Pete and Kurt (the friend he stayed with) playing Wii tennis at Shawn and Laura's new condo. Enjoy.

finally

I'm finally getting to the blogging. It's taken over a week to decompress enough to go for it. I really really needed this vacation, and I'm thinking I need to try to take more home-based vacations in the future. I get 24 days a year, so I should be able to swing it and still get my travel on. I don't always have to galavant across the globe. But I must confess that I'm already planning my next vacation. I'm still pretty set on Spain. Maybe in the spring.

My friends Pete and Shirley are here from the UK and we've been doing the tourist thing. It's been a ton of fun taking pictures of everything, but I'm trying not to let camera envy get the better of me (they both have enviable cameras). I can still get a good shot or two with my little Powershot. It's all about composition...at least that's what I keep telling myself. The picture above was something that I saw in my plastic cup as we sat on the beach last Sunday sipping Riesling. I don't know why my friends all showed up in my cup while my hand was distorted, but it sure did look cool. I took about 8 pictures of it and this one came out best.

The three of us went to the gorge on Saturday and took as many pictures as the overcast sky's poor lighting would allow. We hit the beach on Sunday with my other Friends Jov and Lauren. It's been great to have this down time, but I have a big project to finish for an art show this Saturday and I haven't done it yet. It involves photos and homeless people, and tomorrow's the day I'll go and ask homeless people to let me do a portrait with them holding one of four cardboard signs I've made. The signs have paraphrased scriptures about how God wants us to treat the disadvantaged. It will either be a pathetic excuse for a photo essay or it will be really amazing. The point of the exhibit is to trigger people's hearts to do something effective about the issues of poverty, homelessness and other injustices in our city. I can't wait to see what the other artists do.

So I may have some crazy stories to tell tomorrow. If I do I'll try to make myself blog them.

vacation

So I'm officially on vacation. I have been for a week, but it's taken me all the way until now to get around to blogging. I've only checked my work email twice. As of two days ago I had over 300 new emails. I'll have at least a thousand in there when I get back on the 28th, but I'm going to try not to think about that any more.

The biggest thing that has happened in the past few weeks is that my friends Laura and Shawn got married. It was a beautiful ceremony and really amazing to be part of. I'd tell you more but my friends just got here so I'll have to continue this later. I promise I will!