Tag Archives: family

Apple iPad Goes Mainstream with Mom’s Birthday

14 Aug

I haven’t posted any normal family fun stuff in a while so last night I thought I would grab my camera, take a break from studying for a while and do a birthday photo shoot. Last night we had the privilege of getting to celebrate my mom’s birthday with her. My dad did decide about a month ago that he was going to get her an iPad for her birthday, so I was quite looking forward to the unavailing myself.

Being one of those early adopters I was really looking forward to helping her get it all setup, and get to see how easy (or hard) it would be for someone totally unfamiliar with the iPad to get around at first glance.  So I guess you could say that Apple’s iPad has gone mainstream now.  Thrilled to see my mom giving it a go, she was thrilled to be able to get her email and had no problems at all getting around.  She was downloading apps and books within minutes.

We all piled in the car and headed to the local county diner (very elegant for special Birthday parties).  They happened to have live gospel music on Friday, wasn’t even aware they did live music, and then home for some GiGi’s cupcakes (which just opened up in Auburn) and presents.  Besides being over 100* outside for the umteenth week with 100% humidity, it was a wonderful evening, and it felt great to take the camera out again. Happy Birthday mom, hope you enjoy your new fruit.

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Happy Anniversary, 17 Years Has Flown By

11 Jun

It’s is hard to believe but today, 17 years ago, my wife and I got married.  This particular anniversary was a little different since Deborah would normally be sitting in the next room on a normal day, and this week she is in Denver teaching a hand quilting class, and it just happen to fall on our anniversary.  So, Happy Anniversary Deborah.  I think this is actually the first time in 17 years that we actually haven’t been together on June 11th.

The time has just flown by, yet I can almost remember every day.  Anyone who says marriage is easy is crazy (or isn’t married) but I wouldn’t trade it for anything with you Deborah.  Sorry we couldn’t be together today, so in place of getting to go out somewhere nice tonight, I, of course decided to make a video for you of little bits of our 17 years together.

Really really hard to believe it has been 17 years.  Can’t wait to see what 17 more years has in store for us (which would be the year 2027, yikes).

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Photo Shoot and Thoughts of Thanksgiving 2009

7 Dec

Thanksgiving is now long gone (and so is the food I hope) but I finally got around to editing a few impromptu photo shoots that happened over that weekend.  We often move from holiday to holiday and are “thankful” when it is time to be thankful, and “merry” when it is time for Christmas, but the spirit should remain with us year round.  This past Thanksgiving weekend was a little different in our house this year.  We were home and able to share the meal with our extended family and had a wonderful time.  I had a photo shoot with my pastor’s family, my car died, and then on Thanksgiving day took a few shots of my Nieces and Nephews (I have several).

Christmas is going to be a bit strange for us as well as we make a move up to Virginia just before Christmas to continue our class work.  It will be kind of weird being in a new place during the holiday but Deborah and I are looking forward to making new friends and worshiping with new Believers.  Below are just a few shots from the Thanksgiving weekend (I am going to try to upload a few more to my flickr account).  The last shot at the bottom is my Niece Martha and my Nephew Levi, quite a pair.

DSC_6246-edit-ben

DSC_6390-edit-josh

DSC_6436-edit2-levi

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Back When I Actually Did Have Hair

21 Aug

blazerscott

Yes, this is me from back in 1994 with our Basset Hound, Blazer.  We just got back from a week of travel from Virginia to North Carolina and all places in between.  When we got back we found out that Blazer (who is 16 years old) had about reached his limit with life and after sharing that life with us for the past 16 years he will be very missed in our family.  He traveled to every state in the continental U.S. and we have countless memories together.  Our house feels empty but right now but God’s plan moves on ahead.  More photos are over on Deb’s blog here.

We went up to Virginia to visit the campus of Liberty University where I am currently working on my MDiv (Master of Divinity) at Liberty Theological Seminary.  I have the option to take a language track in Greek and Hebrew, which will take about a year or more to finish, but must be completed on campus.  So we went up to Lynchburg to see what our living options might be when it comes time to take those classes.

Up to this point every class I have taken has been through their distance learning program and although that is the easiest path to take, it might not be the best path to take.  The language track will open up some opportunities for post-graduate work, but more importantly I hope it will benefit whatever ministry I am a part of when I finish my masters.

As a follower of Christ I don’t ever want to get to the point in my walk where I am unwilling to get out of my comfort zone and take bold steps.  I have found the older we get, the easier it is to live in a state of routine and forget that we are to live boldly for Christ, and sometimes that means giving up the easy path for a more challenging one.  I think sometimes we can stay chained to our safe routines for so long that we don’t even know how to escape if we wanted to, and faith is supposed to be anything but routine.

A lot has changed in my family since 1994 when Deborah took this photo at our house in Homewood, Alabama, Blazer is not with us, neither is my hair, but some how I added a few pounds and our routine will change once again.

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Looking at Life from the Outside In

11 Jun

_d2x2773-edit-colorado

The last few weeks here on my blog I have been trying to decide what shape or form my blog was going to take.  I recently started seminary at Liberty University to work on my MDiv and the time requirements have been incredible.  In additional to school and work I have started getting more into a routine of cycling.  Cycling was something I never intended to get into, and really had no interest in before this past winter, but after riding consistently for the last 6 months I can now say I am diving in deeper.  I traded in some camera equipment for a road bike and have started riding longer in time and distance (26.5 miles yesterday).  That has changed how my time is spent, it has actually given me time [away from the computer], much like running would I guess.

For those and many many other reasons I am going to let my blog breathe for a while and take a break from the daily concerns of stats, postings, new content, creativity, and all that.  The photography I posted on my blog was/is enjoyable, but was one of the most time consuming things I did on a consistent basis.  I am not leaving here altogether, I have been working on this blog since 2001, so after 8 or so years of work on this blog in one form or another I think it is time for a break from the day to day.

I have been giving my obsession with social networking, blogs, and the Internet in general, a close look over the last several weeks and found that once I removed myself from things online that were not necessary for work and everyday communication I had time that could be devoted to many other things.

So with that, I will continue to keep my blog active, but my post frequency will be more scattered, and probably more of just what’s on my mind, which at the moment is my faith, my wife, school, work, and cycling.  Luckily for me right now, my faith, work and school have all come together.  For probably the first time in my life those three things, basically my faith and study of my faith and my job are all focused around the same thing, the Creator God.

The photo above is our Creator God.  This is an image of a place in Colorado I use to drive up to after dinner to watch the sunset when we lived in Colorado.  The silence up here was deafening from this vantange point.  Not another soul was usually within 20 miles, no road noise, nothing.  When I removed myself from the day (unplugged, offline, whatever), I had time to stop and listen, which is what I am going to try to do again.

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Happy Merry Birthday Christmas Sarah

23 Dec

Sarah Fillmer Marchio

Anyone else have a birthday on or near a holiday like my sister?  Everyone seems to think that because you have a birthday on or near Christmas that it is always just lumped in with everything else, but not so in our house growing up.  We always had a birthday party two days before the ultimate birthday party on the 25th.  I am sure some people get gypped out of a party but I can’t ever remember that being the case when I lived at home.  Of course now, she and I would rather not remember the fact that we are yet another year older so it has a little bit different meaning than when we were 12.

The simplicity of being 12 is long gone now but in my mind, a lot of the time, that is how I think about the two of us.  Unaffected by the scars of life and complexity that comes from being almost 40, waiting for it to snow so we don’t have to go to school, relaxing summers when it never seemed as hot as it does now, and of course waiting up all night for Christmas to finally arrive the next morning.

Scott, Sarah, and Dale Fillmer

So, happy birthday Sarah, I love you. Yes, you are now one year closer to 40, just like me.

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Thanksgiving Photo Shoot for a Christmas Card

29 Nov

Dale and Larry Fillmer

Thanksgiving weekend is just about to wind down and move into the 25 day rush to Christmas.  It was a nice weekend with some nice rain showers and lots of food.  I just finished watching one of the more lousy versions of the Iron bowl (if you are an Auburn fan) over the last few years and it ended in an Alabama romp.  Alabama played well and will have a full plate next week coming up against Florida in the SEC Championship game.

Early on Thursday I did a quick photo shoot for Dale and Larry Fillmer (that would be mom and dad) for their Christmas card.  Here are a few from the shoot that were my favorites (don’t think any of these made it on the card, but these were the ones I liked).  Looking forward to the new series that starts tomorrow at cumc called Simple Christmas.  Something we can all take to heart, focusing on what is important at Christmas and why we celebrate the holiday in the first place, can’t wait.  If you are in the Auburn area, come by at 9am or 11am and see what it’s all about.

I am really looking forward to this Christmas season and all the possibilities of the upcoming new year.  I always look forward to the changing of the new year.  It always seems to bring change and a new time of growth for my family, as it is with many, and I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in 2009.  Celebrating a Simple Christmas is going to be a great place for my family to transition into the new year.

Dale and Larry Fillmer

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Thanksgiving Week on the Farm with Dad and John Deere

24 Nov

Larry Fillmer on the Tractor

It’s Thanksgiving week and that means that Auburn University classes are over for the holiday break.  For the last few years this week has been the time which my dad, Larry Fillmer, takes a few days off from work and gets on the John Deere tractor and cuts the pasture grass for the winter.  There is around 20-30 acres of actual grass to cut, so it usually takes most of the week.  Today was a bit cloudy and cold, but, it’s November.  I think there are a few people in his office that read my blog so I thought I would let you know what Larry Fillmer looks like when he is not in a suit and tie on campus.

I would love to hear from those who know Larry but don’t normally comment on my blog.  Can I have a caption for the photo above??

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The Spurlock Family Photo Shoot on the Farm

26 Oct

Spurlock Family Photo Shoot

About a week ago I did a shoot (with Deb’s help, thanks) here at our place with some close friends of mine, the Spurlock family, Heath, Dawn, Dylan, and Haley.  It was the first family shoot I had done out here on the farm it was great fun.  It was nice of Dawn to think of me and ask me to do the shoot for her and her family.  Although mama was the most willing participant out of the group, they all made it a great afternoon and I loved to get a chance to do some photos right here at home.

Below are a few of my favorites from the day.  If you want to see the entire shoot you can go to the Spurlock Gallery and see the rest over there.

Spurlock Family Photo Shoot

Spurlock Family Photo Shoot

Spurlock Family Photo Shoot

Spurlock Family Photo Shoot

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Dear Eliot Video, 99 Balloons, and Brave Parents

25 Sep

Dear Eliot Video, 99 Balloons, and Brave Parents

This is my post for Creative Chaos // 28 (see also guidelines) over at Ragamuffin Soul for this week (which isn’t published quite yet over there but will be soon). If you haven€™t participated in Creative Chaos yet there is always time to jump in.  It is a great tool to learn some of the new and innovative ways other churches and groups are being creative in their faith.  Even if you don€™t post, just reading through a few of them is a real eye opener of what is done around the country and world in worship.

I am a little late for this video, it has been going around the Internet as of late, but I thought there might be a few of my readers that hadn’t actually seen it yet.  I watched it again for about the fourth time as it was shown to the students at Auburn for Encounter last night.  It hit me again when talking to a friend of mine at Encounter before the music started when he asked me if I had a son?  How old is he, where does he live, what does he do.  Thanks for asking Matt, I do, his name is Bryan, and his son’s name is William and he just turned three years old a few days ago (HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM).

99 Balloons // Dear Eliot Video

The first time I watched 99 balloons was with my good friend b/ in the middle of a busy day when Jack posted about it on his blog.  I couldn’t really comprehend it’s worth at the time (although it did bring b/ to tears).  It has been that kind of week this week and this video really goes right along with the testimony of our friend Cindy Wall but told by a 3 month old baby born with a condition called Trisomy 18 called Eliot Hartman Mooney.  The name of the video is called 99 Balloons and is narrated by a father who marks off each day as it begins on video with “Dear Eliot”.

Bryan Fillmer in Colorado

Bryan, William, and Sara Fillmer

I am using it for my creative chaos post because the parents of Eliot chose to show the world how much they love their son, in the most creative way, with a really cool video and some photos.  It reminded me of my son Bryan with his son William (shown above) who just turned three a few days ago.å  William is the coolest three year old in the world and I know if you ask his daddy he would tell you the same thing.

There is much joy in this video, especially shown through the parents, because the Lord was part of the parents life in a very meaningful way… but today, it is my creative chaos post.

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