Friday, November 21, 2008

farewell for now

hello, friends & family!

many of you probably already know by now, but due to the construction industry in western north carolina being sloooow right now, i have been laid off. and since josh and i don't have computer access at home yet, this means that i will be taking a forced hiatus from blogging for the next, well, however long.

please pray that god will lead me to the job he has in mind for me. i look forward to this next chapter of my adventure! but i will miss you, my blogging and blog-reading friends.

farewell for now, cyber world! *em exits stage right*

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

first snow

last night our first snow of the season began to fall. this is seamus o'malley's very first snow, and it has been a delight to watch him puzzle at it and lick the ground. last night i held the flashlight so he could see the flakes drifting through the beam of light, and he chased them.

here is the view from our front deck this morning...

Monday, October 20, 2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

amos


on saturday afternoon, josh and i were getting ready to embark on a house-cleaning, yard-tidying marathon, when seamus began barking wildly at our back bedroom window. we went over to take a look at what might be causing this disturbance to our otherwise peaceful home, and there was a little squirrel on the embankment outside. he seemed out of sorts, falling down the hill--and perhaps still a little young to be on his own. we took the little guy in, named him amos, and let him take it easy at our house for 24 hours before he set out on his own again. he loved crawling or sleeping on us, and was happy to be there for as long as we let him. what a sweet little guy!








Wednesday, September 3, 2008

have i mentioned...

that both of my sisters-in-law are pregnant with their first? and they are due within about 5 weeks of each other in the spring. josh and i are so excited to be uncle & aunty again!!

jessica & elizabeth, the sexy mamas :o)

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

blest be the tie that binds

lest you think that all i ever do is take photos of our dog... :o)

our friends beka & john were married weekend before last. here are some fun photos from beka's bachelorette party, as well as some from a lovely day of celebrating their love. beka is my dear audrey hepburn-esque friend and favorite yard saleing/thrift store shopping partner in crime.



a spectacular fine dining experience at sugo

the bride-to-be & maid of honor

could she be any cuter?!


the masked beauty



mr. & mrs. smoyer, a.k.a. the other newlyweds

em with the happy bride & groom

Thursday, July 24, 2008

puppy love

thought i'd share some more photos of seamus o'malley from the past month.

i took him to his second vet visit last weekend, and he had grown from 14.5 lbs to 35 lbs in a month! he is going to be a BIG boy. he keeps us laughing with his constant "talking" at us. you'd think he is part siamese cat! he is also an incredible jumper--i've never seen a dog have mad vertical from a stand still like this one does--so we're looking forward to when he's old enough to dock dive or play frisbee.


the softest ears EVER

attempting a "prison break" (i knew i shouldn't have let him watch "the great escape".)

little dog blue

"stop with the flash already--i'm trying to sleep!"

snuggling after his 1st bath

seamus telling josh about his day

"you first, dad..."

Friday, July 18, 2008

seamus o'malley

before i headed to ireland for MAP in 2002, i jokingly told all my friends that i just knew that i was going to fall in love and marry an irishman named seamus (pronounced "SHAY-mus") o'malley. (making me emily o'malley. heehee!) but the only seamus i met while in ireland was a toothless old man who wandered over during street ministry. sooo...i thought better of marrying him.
ever the romantic, i figured my prediction must've been slightly off, and that there was still bound to be a seamus o'malley i would fall madly in love with. and here he is...


seamus o'malley smoyer


who could help but fall in love with this li'l guy? :o)

and, fittingly, seamus came from one of my dear teammates & roommates from my time in ireland, debby (gifford) vannoy! debs and her husband bred their chocolate lab, mattie, and we were able to bring home one of the 8 pups from that litter.


seamus was born on march 21st, so he is almost 4 months old now. we drove over to chattanooga the weekend of june 21st to pick him up, and were able to squeeze in some good visits with debby's fam, one of my best friends from college, terrie and her fam, and my "surrogate parents", scott & carol collier. we even got to worship at new city fellowship on sunday morning. yaay! it was a whirlwind of a weekend, but a good whirlwind.


terrie & her girls on the coolidge park carousel

a delightful lunch at scott & carol's

debby, sarah, & jon vannoy


meeting seamus for the 1st time

Thursday, July 17, 2008

reunited & it feels so good

you may wonder, "where in the heck has em been for the last two months? no blog posts?" call it a summer break, call it a much needed hiatus. but rest assured, i shall now make it up to you, faithful readers. stay tuned. ;o)

the first week of june, josh and i flew to philly to spend time with our grandparents smoyer. it was a sweet time of getting to know them better.


w/ grandma & grandpa smoyer & aunt judy


playing scrabble w/ grandpa smoyer


we also spent a VERY hot day (read: in the 100's, people!) downtown at the philadelphia museum of art.


yo, rocky!


then we had a yummy dinner with our relocated-from-asheville friends justin & meghann at a pub in jenkintown, and spent the rest of the evening hanging out with them at their flat. cheers for having us, guys!

justin & meghann, all "phillyfied"


we were also treated to a fun trip to the jersey shore by our uncle dan & aunt judy. we had fresh seafood at an old restaurant next to the docks! and i repeat, it was HOT outside. we all snuggled under two small umbrellas on the beach, just to be in the shade. you could barely make out the new york city skyline in the distance, across the water.

here are some photos of us at a 9/11 memorial that we visited. the base of the monument is covered in the names of folks from new jersey who died that day. the eagle is holding a piece of the twin towers' wreckage in his talons. it was a hard but good thing to take in.


uncle dan & aunt judy (they're sassy. i just love them.)


us at the "joisey" shore


9/11 memorial

god had an even cooler reason for us being in PA than we ever knew while planning the trip though. we got to spend an afternoon chatting with our great grandpa leh who is 103 1/2! (and he was emphatic about that half, though he said it with some disbelief himself. i guess he earned it. :o) ) great grandpa spent his life in the loving service of others. both times i met him, i was immediately overwhelmed with a sense of his gentleness and humility. and, remarkably, he spent all 103 1/2 of his years in his own house, with the loving support of his daughter, our grandma smoyer. (she takes after him.)

grandpa leh told us about his first sighting of a car, his wedding to our great grandma, their best friends, fishing trips, and adventures out west. he vividly remembered details, right down to the exact date he started work in the 1920's! it was a magical, bittersweet time, as grandpa leh's health was slowly failing from being unable to eat. these photos with him are the last ones taken before he died later that week. you can see how brightly his spirit was still shining that day.

josh, great grandpa ralph leh, grandma smoyer



us w/ great grandpa leh

josh & great grandpa leh

josh and i both feel so incredibly blessed that god gave us the gift of such a sweet goodbye. we will miss you, grandpa leh. but we rejoice in the life god led you to live, and in the fact that you are now safely home with him.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

the art of helping others

my friend doug mann is one of my favorite creative people in the world. i had the pleasure of working with him overseas in ireland, during my time with MAP in 2002-2003. and had god not led both of us down different paths than the ones we thought we were heading for, we'd have probably spent another 5 years or more working together in the arts community in ireland.

recently doug has begun painting under his irish name, dubhghlas (pronounced dove-gloss). josh and i were sad that we were unable to be there for the opening of his exhibit at a memphis gallery earlier this year. (someday i'll make it to graceland, someday!)

what is even more exciting still is that doug has created an organization called "the art of helping others", which

"is dedicated to contributing funds from the sale of fine art prints and merchandising to charitable humanitarian and advocacy organizations such as Concern Worldwide and World Vision, which tackle the causes of poverty and injustice, and to the human rights agency, International Justice Mission, which secures justice for victims of slavery and sexual exploitation."

so check out http://www.theartofhelpingothers.org/, or click on the link to doug's related blog at the top of the list of blogs i love to visit. what a wonderful way to support the arts and such worthy causes at once! (i know that if i had a few dollars to spare, i would love to have a couple of these beautiful, emotive pieces on our walls.)

here's my current favorite dubhghlas painting, titled "Castaway":

Friday, May 9, 2008

a father's love

be forewarned, you will probably need some tissues when you watch these videos. but they will be the happy, life-changing kind of tears, and those are the best kind. this is how much god loves us!

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" -1 John 3:1

"...how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ!" -Ephesians 3:18






Friday, April 18, 2008

YARRR!

to celebrate his 30th birthday, i threw joshua--erm, captain redrum--a pirate party at our place. HOURS of playtime fun!

scurvy curs
captain redrum & the murderous mermaid

( & aye, me sword is real... cheers for the wedding gift, jameson!)

YO-HO, blow the candles out!

YARRR! dark chocolate chip cupcakes w/ raspberry truffle & cream cheese icing

pirate love

the dreaded smoyer brothers, terrors of the high seas

captain redrum loves his grog

which leads us toooo...


this lovely star wars sea shanty: (that's me cracking up that you hear.)

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

happy birthday, baby!


today is josh's big 3-0. i thought i'd take this opportunity to list 30 things i love about him, in no particular order.

1) his heartfelt prayer to "be a light" to our friends, showing them jesus' love
2) his mischievous grin
3) his willingness to help anyone, even total strangers, at any time
4) his smiley eyes
5) his childlike playfulness
6) his voice
7) his mad handyman skills--seriously, it seems there is nothing this man can't do!
8) his family
9) his love for a job well done
10) his enthusiasm for my cooking :o)
11) his sweet kisses
12) his ability to "fight fair" (a.k.a. kindness)
13) his loud laugh
14) his self-sacrificial love for me
15) his ability to make me laugh at myself
16) his naming an orange boat the "black pearl" and a blue boat the "green eyed lady"
17) his generousity
18) his love for people
19) his love for music
20) his crazy sideburns
21) his passion for the outdoors
22) his creativity in building his own mountain bike
23) his hugs
24) his loyalty
25) his love for reading aloud to each other
26) his honor
27) his thoughtfulness
28) his hard work to support us
29) his love for children & the elderly
30) & most of all, his love for jesus

if you get the chance today, call or text him birthday wishes!

Friday, April 4, 2008

the privilege of prayer

it is a privilege that we get to call the creator of the universe "daddy", and to ask him for good gifts! i also consider it a privilege whenever someone asks me to pray for them. to be entrusted, by god and another person, with such a life-changing activity is humbling.

my friend and former co-worker at new vistas, rachel, has asked not only for my prayer, but for yours as well. ...yes, you, if you're reading this! :o)

rachel and her hubby are expecting a baby boy, gavan, in june. yesterday was their one year anniversary of a very painful miscarriage, and they were scheduled to have an ultrasound to see how this little one is doing. (rachel has gestational diabetes which has made for some really rough pregnancies.)

the doctors told them yesterday that gavan is not doing so well and more than likely has down's syndrome or some form of trisonomy. the next 4 weeks are a very critical time for this wee one. obviously, the family is very concerned for gavan's wellbeing, as well as being shaken by the news. will you please ask our heavenly daddy to comfort their family and to protect little gavan's life?

thank you!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

new life

the sun is dazzlingly bright this morning. the sky is baby blue. there's a whisper of breeze dancing with the trees. the birds are singing an opera whose words are known only to them, but their meaning is clear. they believe spring has arrived. and i can feel the same hope creeping into my winter-weary soul. i'm ready to soak sun into my skin. and more than ever before, i'm feeling the desire to begin spring cleaning in our new home together. out with the old, in with the new! welcome color. welcome light. welcome spring. welcome new life. welcome Giver of new life.


maybe i can get rid of some of my spring cleaning discards here: