30 Days of Winter Photography Challenge

I know it's late getting this out but I have been taking pictures. I just haven't had much time to finish this challenge since I am in the middle of a move. Again, I loved Tracey Clark's Big Picture Class. She is always so good with the ideas. Here are my take on the assignments:

Day 1- Day of rest

Day 2- Looking out

Day 3- All the possibilities

Day 4- A Little bit of Sunshine

Day 5 Everyday use

Day 6- Cracked open. Yes these are cracked eggs on the carpet. Thank you Curious Joe

Day 7 Quiet Beauty

Day 8- Texture in the Kitchen- my favorite easy to make soup

Hamburger Soup- Brown 2lbs hamburger in big soup pan. Add two bottles of tomatoes or 3 cans. Add one quart water and 1 Tbsp bouillon or more to taste. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar, some seasoning like Mrs. Dash, 3 medium cubed potatoes, one chopped onion and 5 or 6 sliced carrots. Boil this until vegetables are tender. Then turn off heat and add one can drained green beans, one can pork and beans and one can undrained  whole corn. It's delicious and feed a lot of people quickly.

Day 9- Bundled up

Day 10- Seeking balance

Day 11- Warm your Heart. I couldn't decide between these two

Day 11

Day 12- Signs of Life

Day 13- Controlled Chaos (Cheer leading Nationals)

Day 14- Beyond the chill

Day 15- Cooling it (I took an older picture and deepened the winter colors)

Day 16- Wrapped Up

Day 17- Stark Raving Magnificent

Day 18- Center of Attention

Day 19- Frosty

Day 20- A different kind of story- My sister Crystel who is in hair school dressed up Abby as Effie from "The Hunger Games". We all went to see it this week and loved it almost as much as the books

Day 21- Winter's Pull

Day 22- Centerpiece

Day 23- High Strung. 

Day 24- Obscurity

Day 25- The Magic Machine

Day 26- Beautiful mess- Joe gets into everything. Most of his messes don't look as good as this one!

Day 27- Give yourself a hand (these happen to be my men's hands)

Day 28- Details of winter

Day 29- Your name in lights- I can't think of anything better than my beautiful daughters

Day 30- Glimmers of hope- my newest little nephew

Day 31- One little word

Pathway Orphanage, A Hindu Wedding and Chennai, India Part 3

 This is the last part of my daughters amazing orphanage experience at Pathway in Chennai, India. They took such good care of her there. We thought we were sending her into some hardships which would have been good too, but instead she was a princess the entire time. The only thing she ever had to worry about were scorpions the size of your hand and cobra's of which she never saw any, but she had to keep her windows closed always so they couldn't come in through the windows.

The kids were always braiding her hair and dressing her up. They put makeup on her for fun and she really learned to love the kids. Maybe it was because they loved her first. Most of them don't have parents at all. All they have is each other and knowledge that they learn at the school. They were very loving children and took good care of each other. She taught them art and other subjects and she soon found that what she taught to the fourth graders would soon get around to all the children.

We would like to thank Judge Sheffield who is on the board and the Director over there, Dr. Prasad for allowing Anna to have this wonderful and life changing experience. She was the only volunteer at the time, and they turned down several who applied while she was there. I think they have had some bad experiences with volunteers in the past and so they are very choosy about who they let come.

Pathway is a very worthy Charity. They are trying to raise money now to renovate buildings that are deteriorating at a fast pace because of the humidity. And they also need an isolation unit for sick children. Right now every sickness goes through most of the 240 something orphanage children and disabled children and adults. To donate go here:  http://www.pathway-india.com/

Last day and my favorite picture 

Sunrise over Sothupakkam

Shanti's Hindu wedding. Anna was very privileged to be asked to go

Mary, the warden, took this picture of Anna at Shanti's wedding.

Shanti, her husband, and some relatives.

Shanti.

One of Shanti's relatives.

They wanted a picture with Anna -- Mary, the warden on the left, Shanti's husband, Shanti, and Anna.

A small part of Shanti's dowry.

Portraits for Pathway -- Judge Sheffield, Pres. Hinckley, and Dr. Prasad which Anna drew for them.

Gayatri- They loved to pose for pictures

Bananas in the village.

A monkey in the village.

Motorcycles are all the rage in India.

Jumping.

Jayasuriya -- one and half years old.

Taylor's gets his mission call.

Gopika, Keetana, and Jothi.

Plaque on the school for the special children.

Darling Radha.

Charan, Praveen, and Mani. Ready for going to church

Rosalind (the song teacher) and Anna in the new Chennai Chapel.

Anna, Priyanka, and a some missionaries

Manyavar. Buying a gift for Dad- and he loved it

Buying and selling fruit in front of the temple.

Hindu temple complex.

Making flowers for offering.

Hardest decision Anna ever made -- the pink sari, or the blue one?

The ancient ruins at Mahaballipuraam.

Massive stone elephant.

The shore temple.

Boating on the Bay of Bengal

Bangle shop.

autorickshaw.

Random group of children from Bengalore who wanted a picture with the white girl.

Random guys on the beach... Anna's a celebrity. :)

First non-Indian food in 2+ months -- Amsterdam, the Netherlands.