My Butterfly Buddy

I have been inspired by today's gorgeous weather and have put together this little documentation of a particularly nice day from last summer. The story goes something like this:
I was outside on our back porch when I happened to notice a huge butterfly near the tree by our deck. Having nothing better to do,* I grabbed a net and caught him. In the kitchen, I found a mason jar and some netting from a bag of oranges. This butterfly really was a rather lovely creature, with large colorful fans for wings and three pairs of gentle little stick legs. He did a great job posing and I really enjoyed the opportunity to play around with our new camera. Enjoy the photos! (P.S. You can click on a photo and it will enlarge it and you can scroll through them that way. I like them better when they're bigger.) 

*(oh, to have nothing better to do than catch butterflies..! no papers, no calculus...Anyone else ready for summer?!)

In the mason jar

one of my favorite pictures

posing

brilliantly colored

See the chip in his left wing? He left that as a present for me. It's especially beautiful to look at under the microscope.

I have a whole new definition of butterfly kisses.

  I'm a pirate.

Until another day, my little friend! :)

Sloth.

Hey everyone!
I wanted to share this sermon given at St. John's Anglican yesterday by my pastor Kenny Benge. This topic really struck me because first of all, I really struggle with this, and secondly because (as Kenny explains) it is so engrained in our culture that we don't even see it as a sin anymore. It is definitely worth a listen to if you have a few minutes. 

Side story: My sister Julianne accused me of using church to escape my paper last night before church started. Little did we know that the sermon was basically on laziness/procrastination/my life. God always gives us exactly what we need, doesn't he? (Even if it stings a bit...)

Bad sloth! But he's so cute!!

The Deadly Sin of Sloth

"Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Deadly Sin of Sloth” for The Fourth Sunday of Lent  on March 10, 2013. During Lent, we are exploring an ancient taxonomy of sin to help us examine our lives, develop a lifestyle of repentance, and experience a fresh and joyous grace in Christ. The deadly sin of Sloth is a complex and contradictory phenomenon, an “obscure evil.” It is a sin of omission, a sin of “things left undone.” It is a sin of neglect--it abhors what is thereand fantasizes about what is not.” It despises our actual life while dreaming of ”what could be.” Sloth tempts us to escape from reality. Sloth demands that life must not ask too much of us, and tells us that we have a right to get by with a minimum of effort, tells us that deserve achievement and reward despite our sluggishness."

So what do you think? 

Is this something you struggle with?

Do you see it happening in our culture? 

How?

How do you combat it?

OH hey! Also watch this awesome vid made by my sister Kronk! (akaJulianne) It's from our trip to Chattanooga which was AMAZING. Kronk Aquarium Trippp