Wow! Post One.

Wow! I have 41 followers- how did that happen?! Last I checked, I only had 12... Thank you everyone! I hope my blog is worthy enough to subscribe to...I will try to make it that way :)

Alright, so these past two months I have been borrowing a friend's Canon 5D Mk 1, and I am in love. Its ability to capture low-light settings and its wonderful 24-105mm lens have dazzled my soul. So, I wanted to share a few photos with you to show you what I am enthralled by! [Plus, I just think they are neat pics. ;) ]

[I was going through my photos, and realized I have too many photos for just one post! So this is from the most recent backwards. Post one]

Daddy took me on my birthday date! He has done this every year since I was four, and we always go to the same place. I love it :)

Because I am trying to be a food photojournalist, of course I have more pictures of food than of people...

Muwah! I love my daddy so much. Dads, if its really the only thing you get out of this post: build an amazing relationship with your daughters. And create traditions with them. It is so important for us to know how much you love us!

Our annual picture, in front of the Swan Coach House. I love how much my father loves me!

Spent a few days with my sister and brother-in-law and their kids... Here are the three oldest [MP just wouldn't hold still long enough to get a good shot! ;) ]

Jess! We had a lot of fun painting.

'Nita! Sweetheart of the forest:)

Jaybird! Its so hard to realize she is already 9 - How has time gone so fast?

Preparing for a crazy game of Uno-never a dull moment in our family!

I went to my two cousins' birthdays: Eli's first birthday, and Jon's...birthday [sorry, Jon, I forgot how old you are now!]. [background: Jon is my first cousin, son of Wayne and Judy Rogers, also known as my uncle and aunt. :) Kathryn is Jon's wife, and she is amazing. Eli is their first child.]

Happy birthday Eli! He couldn't figure out why Mommy was letting him have sweets all the sudden. Its ok, buddy, it won't last.

Happy birthday Jon!!

Alright, check these out: Kathryn is an artist, and she MADE this cake and those cookies. You should hire her. As I said before, she's amazing! [and also, this cake was wheat-free. I know, right?! :D :D ]

Aren't they adorable?? And they tasted delicious as well [wheat free as well, I believe...].

Ok, the color looked a lot better on my computer. Sorry, folks. But its so beautiful at my house during this Fall season! It must be my favorite time of year :) Forget Christmas, I am always more excited about Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin! I love them - the continuous swirl that draws the eye to the cheery orange. Pumpkins might be one of my absolute favorite reasons to love Autumn.

Ok, doesn't this look HDR-ish to you? Its not, obviously, since I can't figure out HDR, but I really like this shot. A storm was coming, so I pulled over in my Publix parking lot and took some shots. Haha, some of those people thought I was insane. Oh well, maybe they are following my blog and now feel slightly relieved that Im not a total loon. ;)

The storm in front of my neighborhood.

At the front of my neighborhood... I love how the headlights add a different level of light in this photo.

The moon, at around 7:15 pm.

This is one of the coolest little boys you will ever meet. Meet my nephew Charlie! Here he is posing with a new cool hat of his :D

"All Aboard!" Charlie and I played trains for an hour the other day. Then I got to lay him down for his nap- sweet little boy :)

I can't believe how blessed I am that he lives near me! I need to make this trip more often.

"My train is goin' over the bridge...is your train stuck in the mud, Aunt Mercy?"

"No, Im just takin' a break, taking some pictures."

"Oh...Well, I'm still 'train'ing..."

I LOVE CHARLIE!

Peek-a-boo :) Here are a few shots from a photoshoot I had yesterday:

Family shoes!

If you ever need to learn to laugh, ask these two. 5 minutes didn't pass in which one of them wasn't laughing. :)

ahh! He is so precious! I love his quizzical looks. He gives them to me often ;)

Dinner tomorrow night!

Alright, so I don't know if you are taking my mom's webinar class, but if you are, then you will know that I am gathering recipes, and writing a few of my own and am creating a cookbook, complete with my own photos of the food, and if there is a big historical background to the food, a short paragraph. If you aren't a part of my mom's class, well...now you know. :) Therefore, if you have any recipes or such you want to share with me, then please email them to me! Im going to test them out, see if they meet my standard ;), take pictures of them, and if I ever get this project off the ground, then I will send you a discount coupon for the cookbook :) And yes, I will give credit where credit is due for each recipe :) [Which means, if you send me a recipe that isn't your own, please specify whose recipe it is, either your family's, or a friend's, or even if you got it off of google, which site. Thanks!]

Sunday is my birthday- yay! I will be twenty, what a strange idea... When I was younger, I was convinced that I would die before I turned eighteen. I don't know where I got that idea, but it stayed in the back of my mind. So for me to turn twenty is a pretty big step. I will no longer be a teenager! Wow! Thus, I am hosting a small dinner at my house Saturday evening. Nothing big, just a few close friends and family, but I am thrilled. I haven't thrown a dinner myself, ever. Do you want to know the menu?

Well....

Ok, sure, I can't resist sharing ;)

Here is the layout:

Appetizers

French loaf of bread

Dipping Oil

Cheese & Crackers

Soup

French Onion Soup

Salad

Autumn Salad, with apple slices, pistachios, and cheddar slices

Main Course

Flank Steak

Chicken Fried Rice

Some sort of greens [either broccoli, spinach or green beans]

bread

Dessert

either:

mini gingerbread cupcakes

or

Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing

or

A healthier version of chocolate cake, with chocolate mousse icing

'Special' Drinks

hot chocolate

hot apple cider

chai tea latte

What do you think? Does this sound yummy to you, or a course you would skip?

I hope you have a lovely day! I'll try and post some pictures on the go tomorrow :)

Dear Love

I am terrible at writing poetry, but was inspired to write "paragraph poetry" while listening to my mom's last webinar class. :) ["paragraph poetry", as I call it, is written in the form of a poem, but read like a paragraph- giving proper voice fluctuation as you would when reading a normal paragraph.]

Dear Love [also could be entitled, "A Dislike for the Letter 'L' " ]

Dear Love,

Remember me?

I thought we had met

a few times before.

However each time you dissolved,

turning into an imposter

as your paper mache mask

melts in the rain of after-tears.

Each fraud once too often,

I resent this vague description

of your kingdom

that this dramatic world loves.

Must you always disappoint in the end of your tale?

Why is the climax of your every story

really just the beginning?

I must have your wrong address;

this one presented by this mad spinning time

calls you "cupid" and "blind".

Surely you dislike this slander

to your true meaning!

Love, you yourself are a sham,

a thief, a pauper in disguise as a king.

You let men say you turn the world,

and countless dreamers lose their life

in search of your imagined wealth.

Alone, you cannot fill me with any

amount of joy. Your happiness

flitters away quickly, with no basis,

like cotton candy at a county fair.

What truth do you hold that is so invaluable?

What elixir do you fill men with, so we

devote our whole lives to seeing you?

You have never loved me.

And I, in truth, have never loved you.

I only sought for selfish gain.

Yet I know I have seen you!

You dance on the outskirts of my vision,

hiding yourself in a book

of facts and truth and life.

I find you only to be true

when I am not looking for you,

but for Him.

I am shocked at this outcome of events!

You are so unlike this universe's image.

When I look to fill my empty void

with you, I only discover me,

this empty shadow with no depth

to fill anything at all.

But when I look for Him-

Oh the splendor and the joy!

And Love,

here I find your home.

9/11

I watched some videos from 9/11/2001 today, and cried until I could not breathe. Every time I watch, its like a horror film: I try to change the ending, but I never can.

I remember where I was on that infamous day. Science class, second period. Tuesday morning, and it was a boring day. All the sudden it seemed our teacher went berserk and turned on the tv. We were sixth graders, watching in shock, and terror. There was nothing we could do- we were in GA. There was nothing we could say to those of us who had family or friends there. We couldn't get in touch with anyone.

This was all very impressionable to a ten-year old me. This was the year I became an aunt for the first time, that may. This was the year I really "entered" double digits. This year I watched over 2000 people die because we as a nation could be terrorized.

I will never forget 9/11. I hope you never do.

Dear lovelies,

Hi! I hope you are doing fantastically :) Its Monday, 3:46 am my time [EST], and I just finished a mug of Irish Cream Flavored coffee... with 3 Marshmallows on top ;) YUM.

I was [am] studying for a CLEP test I am taking later on today [10:30 am, please pray!!!!!], but wanted to share a few things:

1. Im starting a new blog! This one will still be my sporadic, mixing pot of everything and nothing, and all that consists in-between, but my new blog will be fixed to being a stay-at-home full time college student, as well as a part-time nanny, PA, house cleaner, and photographer. Oh, and Im trying to eat healthily as well. [that coffee didn't count, as I consider it a necessity right now...] Soooo.... Im trying to come up with names for my blog! Do you have any suggestions?

2. I am in love with two things right now:

cakes and pies, which therefore include cake stands and pie-plates .

and

cute tape! I love writing and recieving letters [ hooray for snail mail!], so this caught my eye immediately :) I even ordered a few rolls of this tape, which is going out of stock! [bummer] I can't wait for it to arrive :)

Alright, I hope even a little blurb has made you happy :) I will try and update again when I know if I passed that test!

because He lives and reigns,

me[rcy]

p.s. for a really great couple of sermons, go to sermonaudio.com and check out my dad's sermons on Psalm 83 and Romans 9 from today :)

Sharing Time!

I am not a writer. When I was a little girl, I had tea parties with myself and my American Girl Doll, Samantha. I would dress up to be the next Indiana Jones [the Christian girl version] or Emma Woodhouse come to life. Maybe on another day I became Nancy Drew, girl detective extraordinaire! I realized when I was 5 that to be all that I wanted to be would require one of three things: 1. several life spans, like a cat. 2. A twin, or a triplet even. or 3. I would have to become an actress.

Writing never entered my mind, except perhaps playing a writer who becomes lost in a jungle of ravenous cannibals, and must use her wits to escape with the handsome explorer, who just so happened to be in the same jungle as well.

Between the ages of 5 and...17, I changed my mind. I realized I didn't have to be the next Hollywood star, or have my name in lights on Broadway to feel that I had accomplished great things. I didn't have to be the most well-loved humanitarian actress [move over, Angelina Jolie] to have a strong voice for Christ. God had placed me, not as some actor or actress's daughter, where I would automatically be loved and have several thousand pictures taken of me daily, in the arms of my parents, and with my siblings, so that I could have the best voice for Him that I could give.

But as I have already stated, I am not a writer. So I will let Jasmine Baucham explain her story, and maybe you can see where Im going. The link to her blog post is here.

enjoy!

because He lives and reigns,

me.

I feel...

Ready for a green light...