home

This is what an embedded site looks like. You can view the page by clicking here.

I moved...

My new photography blog is up and running (although not 100% completed). So if you're reading this in a blog reader, please update your settings for my blog. Or if you have me bookmarked, please update that too!

My new blog will have more of a focus on my photography work, but it will still be chocked full of personal stories and pictures of the kids, so please make the switch with me!! Thanks!

www.peterdavisphotography.com/blog

a little neglected...

I'm guessing my blog feels a little left out. And perhaps you do too, that is, my loyal fan base. My avid readers who wake up early to read my blog...my imaginary friend.

Anyway, I've been dying to write some new stuff, but my focus has been on my photography site. It just got a new look and it's taken some time to get it rolling. If you haven't seen it, check it out!

In the coming weeks, I hope to move my blog over to my photography site and start blogging more about photography and life over there. I'll probably stop writing about politics and such...I know some of you will be glad about that. My hope is to use my blog as a way for potential photography clients to get to know me a little better and a way to better showcase my recent work.

I'll let you know when I make the switch!!! Thanks for checking in...

growing younger...

I just hit 700 friends on facebook and I joined twitter tonight. I can literally feel the years shedding away. Now if I could just get rid of some of these gray hairs...

Happy Fifth Birthday Kyla!

I can't believe that our little Kyla is 5 today! I sat down to post a few pictures from the past five years and ended up with a huge slide show! I just couldn't pick the best three or four from literally thousands of images! Here goes:

recent pictures...

Here are a few recent pictures for my oh-so-neglected blog:

The other morning, Kyla told me she wanted yogurt for breakfast and she asked how to spell it. I sounded it out slowly to her and she brought these magnets over and spelled it out for me! I was very impressed! Sorry for the poor quality of the shot...it was early. I can't believe she's going to be five years old in a week.
Avery continues to love the park. She truly comes alive whenever we go!
We had a nice visit from Rosie and Jonathan and little Ian. We can't wait to have them come back again soon for Kyla's birthday!

life without TV???

It's been a while since I've written about politics. I guess it's partly because the radio in my car hasn't worked since I put a new battery in it and I can't get my usual dose of NPR in the mornings. But I did come across something that got my feathers ruffled and I'll try to put this nicely.

It's about the switch from analog to digital TV. This quick video explains it pretty well. The government has already spent $1.5 BILLION on making the switch (advertising, education, and coupons for free digital converters). Well, it seems that's just not enough because I guess there are some people out there who haven't been paying attention and aren't ready to make the switch.

So now the government is delaying the switch and is asking for $650 MILLION to make the switch. WHAT??? Just so people can have a prettier picture to look at? Can't those who aren't ready to make the switch just live without TV for a little while? How sad of a statement about our culture is that? A large school district in our area is planning 700 job cuts next year and some law makers want to spend $650 MILLION to make sure people can have access to TV, which will expose them to endless hours of advertising, which will make them want more of what they don't have because they don't have a job and can't afford it, so they'll put it on credit cards and end up foreclosing on their houses.

I read a quote by a politician recently that said something like this: If someone out there doesn't know that there is a switch from analog to digital, then they're probably not watching television.

And even if they are, let their boob tube go blank and then they'll figure it out. Sorry, I try not to rant, but if you know us, you know that our family is one of those weird ones that watches television for about a total of 3 hours/week. I'm done now.

a neighborhood wedding!

Sarah and I had the pleasure to shoot a beautiful little wedding right here in our own neighborhood this evening (only about 125 yards out the front door!). Here are two of my favorite shots so far. You can see a few more on my photography blog.

is this thing still on?

Wow, I feel like it's been too long. I've had a hard time as of late logging on and getting a chance to blog. This blogging stuff is therapeutic and I miss it! There's nothing like getting out deep thoughts for a million of your closest friends to see! Here's what's been happening:

1. I hit my blog-o-versary! That's right, as of January 13, I've been blogging for a year now. 181 posts later, I'm still running strong. When I first started, I thought this blog might end up getting trashed like a treadmill that someone buys and only uses twice. But like I said, I've found blogging therapeutic1

2. Photography is booming! That's actually the main reason I haven't blogged much recently. My free time has been taken up with photography - but I am certainly not complaining, I love it! I recently shot team pictures at my school, I'm shooting a wedding tonight (crazy story you have to read about!) and another in April. I've got a Bar-Mitvah lined up as well as a few other possible weddings in the spring and a few other gigs in the works. Not too bad for a side business. I truly feel blessed!

3. I'm planning out my first photography workshops! I've been having a lot of conversations lately with people who buy fancy new digital cameras but don't really know how to use them. So I've been cooking an idea of teaching several workshops this spring to help amateurs build their skills. I have a lot of it together except for the dates and the people! You can check the info out on my website. They're called Beyond the Snapshot: Surpassing 1,000 words with each picture and Going Further. If you'd like to attend or know someone who would, let me know! I hope to have it all hammered out by the end of next week!

4. The Philippines! We're still hoping to move this summer to the Philippines for mission work. We're putting as much money as possible from my photography towards our moving costs to help us get there. Our church, Next Level Church, also agreed to act as our sending agency and are willing to collect the money we raise! We did have one huge answer to prayer recently! Our good friends behind us told us that her brother is moving to Charlotte this summer and would possibly like to rent our house! Is that awesomely perfect God-like timing or what??? Keep praying!

new hobby...

The girls got some great musical instruments for Christmas and I think I've been having a better time with them than they have! I began by mastering the kazoo/guitar combo for a few days, then I moved onto the recorder where I sounded out "Stairway to Heaven" for a pretty rocking performance. My latest addiction, however, has been the harmonica. I quickly sounded out "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Oh Susanna." I later moved onto "Bad to the Bone" and other various blues tunes. In trying to find some new songs to play, I ran across this video which gives me a whole new motivation! This guy is crazy on the harmonica. It's Buddy Greene playing in Carnegie Hall. He's the guy who co-wrote the Christmas song, "Mary did you know," by the way in case you didn't know that tidbit of trivia. If you can't sit through the entire 4 minute video, at least skip to about 2:08 or so and watch through the end. It's well worth it!

a God-sized task...

We had a great meeting yesterday afternoon with one of the pastors and missions coordinators from our church! They have agreed to act as our "sending agency" in that they can accept any donations made for our move which will make the donations tax deductible! There are some other little things along the way that they'll be able to handle as well. We are so blessed to have landed in this church with such generous people who are willing to help in any way possible!

So that brings us to the question, "When are you going?" Like my last post, you can always go to www.therewego.org to find out more about our move to the Philippines for missions. But I feel like this question deserves a little more attention. The short answer is that if everything falls into place, i.e. raising enough money, selling/renting our house, etc, then we would prayerfully move sometime early this summer. But honestly, that is a big "if."

That's where God comes in. Our pastor made a comment Sunday morning about the tensions of following Christ. He said that many people who look at God see someone who places a lot of demands on you and asks everything of you. Others look at God and think that if you follow God, you're suppose to be super happy and joyful all the time. Well, in reality, there needs to be a proper balance to those tensions. God does ask a lot - time, money, control of circumstances - but He asks for those things because He knows when you give them to Him, you will be free and can experience unthinkable joy. That struck me because my humanness tells me that if we're going to move across the world this summer, I need to hit panic mode and start running around like crazy trying to make it happen.

But the way I picture it is that God has called us to this mission. At times through the process, we have tried to rationalize it away as way too big for us to do. We've explored other options and pursued plan B. But this just keeps popping up and crying for us to do. So we have excitedly agreed and said we'll go. So now we just open up our arms and say, "God we've agreed to follow you wholeheartedly, now we need You to provide and to clear the way for us to go." Of course, we will be working extremely hard and not just lounging around, but the stress is gone. The burden is on God, not our hearts. If this really is God's plan for our family to move this summer, then He will do it. If it doesn't happen this summer, we have a few options like going next summer to pursue. But for now, we're running wide open for the summer and we're excited to see how God will come through!

therewego.org

If you've got some time and want to check out the website we just launched about moving to the Philippines, go to www.therewego.org! Thanks and have a great night...I am up way too late!

a big move...

Well, we've made our decision. Lord willing, we'll be moving to the Philippines this summer! If you've been reading my blog at all in the past months, you know that we've been struggling over whether or not to make the move and we just can't ignore God's calling any longer! We've been counting the costs and weighing our options. We've prayed and prayed, we've talked and talked, and we've thought and thought till our brains have hurt! Everywhere we look, everything we read, every thought we have leads us to the fact that God wants us to pursue moving to the Philippines and so we have said, "Ok, we'll go!"

2009 holds many new adventures and challenges for sure, but we are hopeful and filled with faith in our God who always provides where He leads! We've seen miracles in the past and eagerly await new miracles in 2009! I'll be posting more about the process of making the move in the next few weeks and we're in the process of finishing a website that will explain it all. I'll post the link to that in the coming days!

Happy New Year!!!!

Rain drops on roses...

Whiskers on kittens. Something and something and warm woolen mittens. These are a few of my favorite things. As we hit the New Year tonight, I thought I'd wrap up the old year with a look at a few of my favorite things from 2008. It's been a wild ride, but I'll see if I can fit it into one readable blog post!

In no particular order, here are my favorite things from 2008:

1. Next Level Church - We started going to our new church this summer and have loved every minute! They are such a warm, real, and open group of people who are willing to do all they can to help. The church is also dedicated to serving and helping the poor which is something we value very highly.

2. Avery's condition - Our youngest daughter has had a horrible bout with eczema which has created a nightmare for us over the last 1.5 years since we moved to Charlotte. The good news is that ever since we started a treatment called NAET with an acupuncturist, her eczema has been improving and her demeanor has improved drastically and I realized a few months ago that I was finally able to truly enjoy getting to know my daughter. We still have our rough days, but they are fewer than last year!

3. A FREE Car!!! - Some friends gave us an awesome Volvo station wagon last spring and it has been a lifesaver! We made it through last school year (barely) with one car, but we are so blessed to have two cars now so that Sarah can take Kyla to preschool this year and she is able to take Avery to the park and run errands during the day.
4. My wife - Sarah has embarked on some new roles this year and I am super proud of her! She taught her first two series of Bradley Childbirth classes this year and did a superb job. Her students loved the classes and she got some rave reviews! She also became a doula and has been picking up business over the past few weeks. She's started a "Babies and Coffee" get-together for the new moms she works with and she's making a real difference in families' lives. She does this all while handling the stay-at-home-mom duties! Way to go Sarah!
5. Photography business - I've been so blessed this year to have been able to shoot 4 weddings and a boat load of portraits. It's been so much fun to do what I love and get paid for it. I've learned and grown so much and I look forward to what the new year holds!
6. Woodworking - I've had a chance to get out in our garage and build quite a few things this year. I've built a double bed for Kyla, some floating shelves for the living room, night stands for our bedroom, and various other projects like putting up a storm door and crown molding with my dad.
7. The kids - Sarah spent 2.5 weeks in the Philippines this summer and I had the chance to hang with the kiddos on my own for that time! It was challenging and tiring, but I feel like it just exploded my relationship with them! They continue to amaze me with their imaginations and how much they love being with each other. They are best friends and it is a blast watching them grow up although I can't believe I'll have a 5 year old soon and our youngest is now 2 1/2!
8. My Job - Teachers are complainers by nature, and I can join in with the best of them on my weaker days. The pay stinks, the kids stink after activity time, and the responsibilities get piled on higher and higher with little to no opportunity for promotion. But having said that, I love my job. I love teaching middle school. My coworkers are outstanding and my kids are well behaved (for the most part). My school has nearly every bit of technology I could think of using. And when it comes down to it, I don't have to fear losing my job in this difficult economy.

I'm sure there are many other things that I have missed here, but my coffee cup is empty and I need a refill. Plus, if I keep writing, you'll probably quit reading! Happy New Year!!!!

movie buff...

So it's midnight and I'm not too tired...I guess that's what afternoon naps are supposed to accomplish. I'm off to bed soon, but I wanted to post this crazy story from my day at school. I've got this great kid named J in one of my sixth grade classes. He has the best personality and a hilarious sense of humor. I've realized before that he knows quite a bit about movies, but today he shocked me beyond words.

It all started when the 6'2" sixth grader (you read that correctly) put on my jacket because he was cold. Well, the jacket that is quite large on me barely fits this kid so J starts singing "fat guy in a little coat" from Tommy Boy...one of my favorite movies. Of course, being the fair teacher that I am, I cautioned him that it probably wasn't the nicest thing to say. But I did have to chuckle and congratulate him on referencing a movie not many kids his age had seen.

So I decided to quiz him a little more in his movie knowledge. I asked him what movie "FRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEDDDDOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM" comes from. He quickly replied, "Braveheart!" So I asked him a follow up question. "When was Braveheart made? "1995" he replied. A quick google search confirmed his answer!

So I quoted the famous line from "Cool Hand Luke." He didn't get it! I had him! So I told him what movie it was from and he said, "Oh yeah, that was made in 1967!" Google confirmed. You have to be kidding me!

"When was Ferris Beuller's Day Off made?" 1986. Correct.

The bell rang and I dragged him in my disbelief to his next class and grabbed two other teachers. I said, "Name a movie." One teacher replied, "Pretty in Pink." I hadn't seen that and I don't know anything about it. He said, "I'm not sure when it was made, but I know Molly Ringwold is in it." Correct.

The other teacher smiled and said, "Risky Business." He said, "Tom Cruise." Correct.

So throughout the rest of the day, I kept on finding J and quizzing him. "There's a boy on a tricycle saying I want my two dollars (a suggestion from another teacher)." "Better Off Dead with John Cusack." Correct. "Who played the woman in Top Gun?" "Kelly McGillis." Correct. "Who played in The Breakfast Club?" "Emelio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson." Correct. "Who were the women in Thelma and Louise?" "Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon." Correct.

Sheesh! It was unreal. Some of these movies were even before my time! I was able to stump him on Short Circuit and Princess Bride, though. I'm gonna have to pull out my A Game tomorrow. But I guess more importantly, I'm going to have to somehow leave it alone for 90 minutes so that I can try to teach him some math. Maybe I should show "Stand and Deliver" and he could learn some calculus.

retiring a giant...

I read the other day that Polaroid was no longer manufacturing film for its line of instant-film cameras. My first reaction was "Wow, they still make Polaroid film?" I remember having lots of fun with Polaroids many years ago. They've been around for 60 years and were really an amazing breakthrough in photography. I was also shocked to read that 8 years ago, the same amount of instant film cameras were sold as digital cameras! We've come a LONG way in just 8 years!

Anyway, here is a great 1981 commercial for a Polaroid camera. I found it quite funny to go back and watch. I wonder what we'll be saying in 25 years about the commercials for our super-awesome digital cameras we have now! Oh, and be sure to watch through to the teaser for the upcoming "Father Murphy" episode where there is a wild horse that "only a young retarded girl can race." We certainly have come a long way!



Here's another video of a recent news story about the end of Polaroid film. Some people are very upset (savepolaroid.com)!

a little mid-week encouragement...

I read a passage from Galations 5 this morning out of the Message translation that I thought I'd share. I sometimes find all of the bickering, back-biting, pain, and suffering around me kind of depressing at times. It's also easy for me to fall into the same kind of behavior that I see around me. This passage reminds me of the change that can and shout take place in me when I allow the Spirit to change me.

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time; repetetive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional baggage, frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper;an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addicitons; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inheret God's kingdom.

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard - things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in lfe, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. The passage goes on to tell us that we need to not just hold onto a Spirit-filled life as an idea, but work out it's implication in every aspect of our lives.

What a great summation of the Gospel of Christ. Is believing in Jesus about getting into Heaven? Well, yes that's part of it. But it's so much more. It's so much about change in your life and making the brief time we have here on Earth count.

funny kid sayings...

On Saturday we went with the Baslers to a local church for a Walk Through Bethlehem where they had set up a replica of Bethlehem complete with animals, guards, and a live nativity scene. It was a pretty cool time (quite literally...I think it was about 40 degrees).

Two of the Roman guards approached Kyla and her best bud Ella and demanded, "Pay your taxes to Cesar." My daughter responded with, "We're both four. We go to preschool." The ensuing conversation was complete with references to Old Lady (the way she says Old Navy).

Earlier in the day, Avery made me proud by walking around saying, "Touchdown Hokies" over and over.

This morning, Avery was very quiet in the kitchen for a few minutes while I checked my email. When I asked her what she was doing, she walked over to me and said, "I got a boogie" and had her finger up in the air with a prize on the end. I walked her over to the bathroom so she could wipe it on some toilet paper. When we got close to the bathroom, she said, "Oops. I dropped it." I said, "Oh, no. We need to find it!" She replied very calmly, "It's okay, I can get another one." Too funny!


As I type, Avery is walking around singing "Diarrhea" over and over. I'm tempted to teach her to sing "Cha cha cha" after she says diarrhea like we used to do in elementary school, but I think I'll leave that one alone for now...a rare moment of parenting dicernment.

Advent Conspiracy...

I just finished watching this quick video about the Christmas season. Please take the 2 minutes to watch it if you haven't seen it! It reminds me of some great Christmas experiences we had in Los Angeles helping with the toy drive our church sponsored and one Christmas Eve that Sarah, Kyla and I wandered around the city giving out some gifts we had bought to homeless people. Those are honestly some of my favorite Christmas memories! Anyway, check it out!

a little Monday morning encouragement...

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promises is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (Hebrews 10:35,36


I don't really have any commentary for now. I could tell you what those verses speak to me in my life at this moment, but I'll just let them speak to you instead. Have a great week!