Guest Blogger- Suzanne, from Where Chaos Lives

So Stacy has asked me to be a guest blogger while she is gone on vacation. What an honor, thank you Stacy. Have you ever read the book "Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren? I've only read bits and pieces of it years ago, but it is never far from my thoughts. It wasn't until I gave birth to my second child that I started to understand my purpose in life. It was to raise my children in the eyes of the Lord. With each child I had I wanted another. My husband was stuck on having two children and after we gave birth to our third, he decided we were done and got a vasectomy. However, my desire to have more children was getting stronger and I knew that adoption was the best way to go about that. Selfishly, I wanted children, yet I knew the Lord would only give me what he saw fit. So along came Faith. She became a part of our forever family at 11 months old, weighing in at a whooping 13 lbs. She didn't eat food, drank only from a bottle and couldn't even hold her head up. She was gaunt and malnourished. As I tried to celebrate her adoption I was so grief stricken by her condition. From that very moment my purpose in life was growing, changing, developing into something bigger. God had confirmed my purpose. The transition to Faith has not been easy. I grieved the child I didn't get and questioned the one I did. I wanted a "normal" child. I questioned all the connections I made through the adoption process. My child had very Special Needs and yours didn't. I thought connections with all the friends I had made during the process where going to be lost, but I was wrong, very wrong. Thank you Stacy for helping me see that. Faith is not like you or me. She is stronger, courageous, inspirational, she is an angel. The Lord has opened my eyes to a whole new world, a world of amazing challenges, love, support and amazing friendships. The Lord has made my purpose in life very clear, and I am so grateful for it.

What is your purpose? Have you found it yet? I'd love for everyone to share their purpose in life.



(I've turned off comments, so please hop on over and leave some love for Suzanne on her blog... Where Chaos Lives!)

Three Things You Didn't Know About Me

(This is an auto post 'cause I'm on vacation. I'm not rubbing it in or anything.)

So, you wanna know three new things about me, huh?
Do I dare?

Promise to be nice?

Alrighty then...

Kahuna is a rockin' pastor at our church. He's all fancied up here ready to officiate a wedding.

It was fun to be voted Homecoming Queen back in the day.

I worked my boo-tay off and somehow graduated Suma Cum Laude from my university (You'd never know it by my speling spelling on this blog)! I majored in Liberal Arts and Spanish. During my first seven years of teaching, I taught exclusively in Spanish.

¡Si, es la verdad!

Guest Blogger- Susie, from Ferrick Family Promise

"Do nothing selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself" Phil 2:3

As I look upon this picture of my husband, middle son and Guatemalan daughter Bella, I am reminded of just how important we are to God and to each other. We are on a camping vacation, Bella loves the water, but felt a little nervous and insecure as she walked down the sand line to the water. First...her Daddy, always her Daddy, walked closely next to her, his hand in hers, giving her the confidence she needed to know she was safe. Yet along the way, her brother came along encouraging her, reminding her that all is well and that Daddy has her and that together, we can do all things. Is that not our God? Do we not emulate him when we act in this way?

It's so easy to let our imaginations run our minds...allowing so much room for the enemy to come in and destroy all that is good from God. When Bella was diagnosed with Leukemia last October after only 5 months of being home with us from Guatemala, our minds could have wondered, we could have lived in the physical world of gripping fear and grief, however, we had 2 years of spiritual practice during our adoption journey, we had learned to transform our minds to the Word of God, therefore, our immediate reaction was His promising Word and no negative attitude. And then, along the way of diagnosis and chemo treatments, God sent an army of angels I prayed for that first 24 hours....God loving Doctors, nurses and most importantly, sisters and brothers in Christ. Stacy was on of them. God not only had our weakest hand, but he sent many of his children to hold our other one. There was no chance of falling down, we had a pillar of hope and yes to promises holding us up. That's what I see when I look at this picture. What does it make you think of?

I mentioned we are on a camping trip, can you guess what body of water this is? For a clue, you can visit my blog at
http://ferrickfamilypromise.blogspot.com/ . I have a small prize for the winner.

Blessings,

(I've turned off comment moderation, so please hop on over and leave some love for Susie on her blog!)

Guest Bloggers Coming Your Way

This is my first auto post. We are packing up and heading out the door for a loverly little family vacation. The house sitter is here, and all the pets are accounted for. Check!
Since we will be staying in a cabin with no internet (Gasp!), a couple of lovely and talented guest bloggers will be posting in my stead. They are some of my favorite blogging buddies, so your one assignment is to leave them lots and lots of love.

Lots and lots of it.

To keep some order around here at The Love Shack while I'm gone, I've posted the ten commandments- 2009 style. Enjoy!

I had to check a couple of words HERE.

Oh wait, I just got #5- Parent Over Shoulder is ok- your mom & dad are cool!

Frankly, it's Fun at the Farm

There's nothing I like more than sunshine and fresh air, so I packed up the kids (tons of snacks and drinks!) and headed to a local farm. They have the most amazing organically grown fruits and veggies that we pick ourselves. The kids always enjoy all the stuff to climb on and all the animals to feed. Our favorite part was meeting my sister in law there and spending time with the cousins.

Top left: Cousin S. and Beach Bunny. They share the exact same birthday, one year apart. We call them "Salt and Peppa".

Top right: Bunny gets a boost from biggest brother.

Bottom: Cousin H., Goofy Foot and Big Surf just chillin'

I think we live in a unique area. We are close enough to ride our bikes to the beach, yet an hour's drive from one of the busiest cities in the country. Visiting this local farm is such a nice reprieve from the bustle of everyday life. It's kind of like life s-l-o-w-s down while we are there. I make a conscious effort to put away my cell phone and just focus on the kids.

Okay, now it's your turn ...

What do you like to do for fun in the summer?

To see more favorite foto fridays, clickety HERE.

So... How 'Ja Do That??

How are you guys doing today?
I got the sweetest emails and comments from you all. I am so humbled, and I deeply thank you! I have been praying for many months that God would give me my own voice here at The Love Shack... something that would be fun for others to read, to look at... and also be pleasing to God somehow. I'm not sure how He's going to use me or this blog, but I pray every day that I can use this creative energy that He has given me for His purpose. I want my life and this blog to be a sweet fragrance to Him.
I'm finding I've got tons of creative energy stored up inside (I get it from my mom- she's amazing, though!), and photography and photo editing are my passions. Sometimes I feel like God speaks to me through the lens of my camera and through my editing equipment. I know, sounds strange... but it's true!

Kelly from Kelly's Korner gave me permission to post her daughter's (Harper) picture. This is the picture I edited for her, and she surprised me by posting it on her blog (HERE). Since my inbox was full of questions about how I edited Harper's picture, I thought I'd just post the answer right here. Are your ready?

Above is the original picture that Kelly took. Oh, my gosh! Isn't Harper the cutest?! I can tell that Kelly took a solid picture with a nice camera and lens and a good amount of light. This makes post processing a lot easier. I use two editing programs: Lightroom 2.3 and Photoshop Elements 7. I'm self-taught, so I'm sure there are lots of alternative (and even better) ways to get the job done (Please let me know what they are, by the way)! I'll just give you the general run down of how I "antiqued" Harper's picture:

1. Opened the original image in Lightroom, evened out the white balance and then auto toned
2. There are many awesome pre-sets in Lightroom. There are also lots of free pre-sets out there on the web. I chose aged photo.
3. This is where the fun, creative stuff happens... there are an endless amount of changes that can be made at this point, too many to list here, but color temperature and tinting are what I tweaked the most. Really, the possibilities are endless. You just have to edit to you own liking and the feeling you are going for.
4. I imported the image into PSE7. This is the program I couldn't live without- and where most of the technical stuff happens. First, I cloned out a few boo-boos. I like to use unsharp mask on the irises only. I don't like to mess with the whites of the eyes or somehow my subjects end up looking like freaky dolls!
5. I burned the background just a smidge to give more depth of field and put focus on beautiful Harper. Oh, can't forget to use the sharpen tool on the drool!

Does anyone have any idea what I just said? Because I don’t.

Ok, one more look at precious Harper. She's eye candy, I tell ya!

"Favorite Photo" Blog Hop

Welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by! My name is Pineapple Princess, and this is my blog, The Love Shack. The theme this week is "Favorite Photo". I love this picture of my daughter because it captures her girlie personality... with a side of tomboy! She's also been known to get into a liiiittle bit of mischief... clickety HERE.

If you would like to subscribe to my blog, I would be honored to subscribe to yours as well! Just click on the "Posts" button under the word Subscribe on my left sidebar. Then leave me a comment letting me know, and I will hop on over to your blog and return the favor! You know, spread the love a little. Do I hear the song Kum-ba-ya playing in the background?

Happy blog hopping!

Blog Hop

Welcome! My name is Pineapple Princess and this is my blog, The Love Shack. I began my blog almost two years ago as a way to connect with other families who were adopting internationally. Now I document life post-adoption...a scrapbook of sorts. I also secretly pretend to be a photographer and photo editor.

Once again, welcome to The Love Shack... where we will serve you a virtual pina colada by the pool, if only in our dreams. I hope you will become a subscriber because I love new readers!

A Trip to the Aquarium

We took a field trip this week to the aquarium on the pier. My mom was so cool to come along with us on our adventure. She climbed and scooted wherever Beach Bunny and the boys wanted to go. I've got the best mama in the world!

We looked at jellyfish, watched tiny shark embryos swim around in their egg cases, touched baby sharks (called pups) and prickly starfish, and laughed at ugly crabs. We even saw an octopus guarding her eggs. She didn't want her picture taken, though. I think she was having a bad hair day.

These were my favorite pictures...

I love the look of amazement on Goofy Foot's face.

The eggs take nine months to hatch, just like a human baby. The embryos were swimming around like crazy inside their egg cases.

No brain, yet somehow jellyfish communicate.

Sounds similar to the teenage years, huh?

(Pictures taken on my good ol' fashioned point and shoot, but edited to bring them back to life!)

Her Second Birthday- Part Tres

My kids and I had the idea of creating a giant slip 'n slide, you know, so they could really get some speed. We are so blessed to have Kahuna as the head of the house. He always comes through for us! He took the kids to Home Depot and bought 50 feet of six mil plastic. They secured the sides with stakes that were flush with the grass, turned on the hose, added just a bit of dish soap to the slide to make it really fast, and boom... homemade slip 'n slide.

I'm pretty sure the kids broke some speed records.

Her Second Birthday- Part Dos

Hey, thanks you guys for the sweet birthday wishes for Beach Bunny! What can I say... my blogger buds are the bomb!

Here is a quickie collage of a few more pictures from the party.

Here's a link to the cupcake cones like the ones I made for the party. They were seriously yummy. If you ever make them, prepare yourself for ooo's and aaah's and 101 questions from party-goers. Martha Stewart, you just got schooled! Clickety HERE for the cupcake cone 411.

Pictures from the 50 foot homemade slip 'n slide tomorrow. . .

Her Second Birthday- Part One

Monday, June 29th, is Beach Bunny's second birthday (Is my baby really going to be two tomorrow?!). We had a little ice cream themed family party for her on Saturday at the park in our neighborhood. I love my family so much! It is so much fun to hang out and celebrate with them. We had a way-too-big-and-fattening sundae bar, and the kids ate cupcakes shaped like ice cream cones, too! Kahuna and the boys constructed a homemade 50 foot slip 'n slide for the kids to ride on. It was a riot . . . even Beach Bunny took a ride (with daddy's help)! I have some great action shots that I'll post later.

I enjoyed designing her little invitation on the computer and then emailed it out to the family.

More pictures to come. . .

I ♥ Faces- Fix-It Friday

Yea! It's Friday... my favorite day of the week AND it's time for Fix-It Friday over at I ♥ Faces.
The original picture below was submitted by Jennifer. You can find her blog HERE. As you know, I LOVE photo editing. I am always trying to learn something new. I couldn't resist this baby boy's adorable face with the tear streaming down his cheek. I can only imagine why he was crying...maybe he'd rather be outside getting into all sorts of mischief. I know my kids would!

Below is the original picture.

Here is my edit:

1. Gave it an aged antique look in Lightroom 2.3, then imported image to Photoshop Elements 7.

2. Cropped picture. Cloned out crumbs on chin and runny nose.
3. Unsharp mask on irises only

4. Burned lashes just a touch

5. Unsharp mask on tear

6. Reduced noise

7. Softened fur just a little bit around his face

That's it!

I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Wordful Wednesday- Check and Double Check

With the magic of photo editing software I made up a little game for you. I call it "Check and Double Check". Look at the original picture on the left and check out the one on the right. Look carefully. Can you find the six things that are different? Of course you can! I know you bloggers have a keen eye!

Happy Hump Day!

To see more Wordful/Wordless Wednesdays clickety HERE, HERE, HERE and even... HERE.

He's Totally Right.

I gave Goofy Foot (who is eight years old) the challenge of naming this photo of his sister. He thought for a second and came up with "Little Stinker on a Time Out".

We both laughed.

He's totally right.

Wordful Wednesday

I've always wanted to try to add a texture to a photo in Photoshop Elements. After I tucked the kids in bed tonight, I gave it a try. I took the picture below ...

...and placed the texture (below) on top. I lowered the opacity of the layer so the boys would show through. Then I lowered the amount of blue in the clothes so they would look a little more rustic. I burned around the edges to give it more depth. I also removed almost all of the texture from the boys' faces.
I can see the flaws, but with more practice I hope to get this right one day. I'm havin' fun in the meantime!

Hop on over to Seven Clown Circus for more Wordful Wednesdays.

I ♥ Faces- The Vacation Edition

This week at I ♥ Faces we have something fun! It's called “My Story Through Photos: The Vacation Edition”. I'm posting a little photo album from our Caribbean cruise (aboard the Freedom of the Seas) two years ago. Big Kahuna's parents splurged and took the whole family! How could we refuse?! His parents said that they were spending everyone's inheritance now- with them- so that they could be a part of the memories.

A few months before the cruise, hubby's parents gave each one of us a "clue" as to where we were going. They did not tell us anything else... just to pack for warm weather. On the morning of our trip, as we boarded our flight, they handed us our boarding passes... and we found out we were headed for the Caribbean! We were like freaks jumping up and down at LAX airport!

If was fun to flip through the album just now and relive the memories. Our ports of call were: Miami, Florida~ Cozumel, Mexico~ Georgetown, Grand Cayman~ Montego Bay, Jamaica~ and Labadee, Haiti. It was friggin' awesome! Oh, I'll introduce the people in the album... Hubby's parents, his sister Laurel, his sister Cindy with husband and two kids, and our family (before Beach Bunny was born!).

Click here to view this photo book larger

Hop on over to I ♥ Faces and pretend you're on vacation! Ya, Mon!

Sunday Citar/Sitar?

Recently, I've been reading a blog called, "Fresh Mommy: Everyday is a New Start". She posts some really cool photography, and I dig it. Each week she posts a blog carnival called "Sunday Citar". Being the genius that I am, I misspelled the word "citar" in my google search, and instead typed "sitar". Here's a picture of what I found...

"Weird!" I thought. "She must really be into Indian music on Sundays".

Oops! My bad!

What Citar (with a C, thank you!) really means is 'to quote' in Spanish. Pretty straightforward, nothing too crazy. It's a place to share an inspiring, interesting or funny quote, plus a picture or two. The picture/s can correspond with the quote- or not. Don't you love freedom?

Ok, so here's my inaugural Sunday Citar (With a C, genius!) post:

"Sometimes being a brother is better than being a superhero." -Marc Brown

And if I were to frame these pictures up, it would look something like this...

"Sometimes being a brother is better than being a superhero." -Marc Brown

Click on the blog button below for more fun. Come on. You know you want to.

Favorite Foto Friday

Here's my favorite photo from the week...

Come see more "Favorite Fotos" with me. Clickety over HERE.

Conversation With an Eight-Year-Old

Here's a little conversation Goofy Foot had with his dad while we were at Disneyland...

Goofy Foot: Dad, are we really at Disneyland? Is this real? Am I dreaming?
Dad: Umm, well, what do you think?
Goofy Foot: I'm gonna try to fly and throw a fire ball, and if I can't then I know this is real.
(flaps his arms as fast as he can and does some sort of ninja fireball-throwing-move, I think)
Dad: Well?
Goofy Foot: This must be real! Sweet!