Thursday, April 28, 2011

Pictures of Joy

Bonnie Gray over at Faith Barista has been running a weekly blog carnival on joy, and this week decided to have a photo blog on the subject – at least four photos of things that bring you joy.

Well, yes. The fact is, I’m not a photographer. In our family, my wife and daughter-in-law are the photographers. I point the smart phone and hope things come out okay. They take photographs.

But, in the the spirit of things, I decided to go ahead and post five photos of things that bring me joy. I took only one of the photos myself (see if you can guess which one, and it obviously won’t be the ones I’m in).

This first photo was of an anniversary celebration. We were with friends, and the waiter volunteered to be the photographer. But it wasn’t the anniversary per se that brings me joy (they’re piling up at an alarming rate these days). It’s who I share the anniversary with.


The second is of my oldest son, Travis, daughter-in-law Stephanie and grandson Cameron, taken this past Easter Sunday. Individually and together, they bring enormous joy into my life.


The third photo is my youngest son Andrew holding Cameron. He is absolutely crazy about his nephew, and that’s a joyful thing, but so is the blessing that he has been to me.


The fourth photo is Cameron at his first birthday party, who found a way to put the blue icing from his cake on his face instead of in his mouth. But that’s what one-year-olds do. And these are the kinds of photos grandfathers love to take with their smart phones.


The last photo is of the editorial staff of The High Calling, taken last October as we were preparing to leave three days of meetings and conferences at Laity Lodge. First row, from left: yours truly, Gordon Atkinson, L.L. Barkat, Anne Kroeker, Jennifer Dukes-Lee, Laura Boggess and Deidra Riggs. Second row, from left: Sam Van Eman, Claire Burge, Cheryl Smith, Dan King (#Fistbump!) and Bradley Moore. Third row, from left: Marcus Goodyear, David Rupert and Dena Dyer. Missing was Ann Voskamp, who had to leave early to catch her flight. Working with all them is a pure joy.



There are more things that bring me joy, of course -- good writing, poetry, art. But few things bring me joy so consistently, and so profoundly, as family and friends.

To see more photo posts on joy, please visit Faith Barista.

18 comments:

Karen Kyle Ericson said...

What a great looking family! Your grandson is actually very stylish the blue frosting matches his outfit well- hahaha! Thanks for sharing this.

Michael said...

the pic of your grandson is amazing!

Joy said...

I'm going to guess that you took the 2nd photo, of your son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. I love the birthday cake and frosting face. We have some GREAT pics of our kids and their first pieces of cake.

Happy anniversary to you and your wife!

Glynn said...

I'm having trouble with Blogger this morning - the pictures were displayed for a while and now they're not. Not sure what's going on. Working on a fix.

Louise Gallagher said...

You bring joy into my world everytime I come to visit you here!

Glynn said...

Well, the photos are back - I deleted and uploaded them again (using HTML - and I'm not proficient at HTML). We'll see if this holds.

S. Etole said...

I checked earlier and they didn't show but now they do ... and they are filled with joy!

Maureen said...

Glad I came back to find the images are showing now.

Lovely post, Glynn. The joy is in all the faces.

Anonymous said...

and i am sure that you bring them joy as well.

just so you know...you take great photos.

and i can't help but notice how colour coordinated the outfits are for the last shot of your friends at the high calling staff meeting.

Linda said...

This is real joy Glynn. Beautiful and real.

Sandra Heska King said...

Family joy! And your joy is contagious.

Duane Scott said...

Your youngest son looks JUST like you.

Jannie Funster said...

The High Calling and love of family exudes your life joy.

It was a blessing to read this.

And I have a feeling your family members love your specialness back equally.

xo

Renee said...

Great pics of the special ones God chose to share your life! I'm visiting from the Faith Jam. Blessings!

HisFireFly said...

The blessigs of family are joy indeed!

SimplyDarlene said...

Ah, I love seeing all THC folks outside of boxed profile images.

Thanks for sharing all of it.

(Did you take the one of your grandson eating cake?)

Blessings.

Bonnie Gray said...

Glynn, Cameron is like a mini-you! He is adorable. The one of him with blue icing made me laugh. Thanks for sharing these. I got to "meet" your wife, your sons (strong resemblance!) and also your High Calling family. I haven't seen a picture of Dave Rupert, L.L. Barkat, and Bradley Moore, even though we are online -- so that was neat! What an amazingly faith filled, joy filled team!

Anonymous said...

It's pure joy to work with you, too, Glynn. :) I can't wait for the next retreat at Laity!