Flash Back

It is funny when you have a flash back it takes you to that place and time in an instant, you feel like you are being propelled back in time.

I was taken back to my mother-in-laws home the Saturday before Easter. I watched my mother-in-law and my sister-in-laws trying on hats that they purchased to wear to church on Sunday.

There they were three grown women laughing, talking and giggling as if they were little girls playing dress up. I knew that I was witnessing something very special. It made me want to join this group, even though I was never really big on wearing hats to church. As time went on I ended up joining this hat group.

Oh how I basked in this holiday flashback moment.

Trish

Have a wonderful Easter with your family and friends!

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” John 11:25-26

Photo Photographers: Unknown

Trish Nicholas photography @ www.wix.com/TrishN/Trish-Nicholas-Photography

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* Please feel free to contact me with inquiries regarding commercial use of my photographs.

Photography Journey Articles @ HubPages http://phototljn7.hubpages.com/hub/PhotoJourney7

Family Photos

A few weeks ago I began to do some “spring” cleaning, changing things around and adding some new pieces to some of my rooms. I must say that I borrowed a page out of my sister-in- law’s playbook. Her guest bedroom is surrounded by family photos on the wall, her bookshelf and tables. On a December visit last year to her home I remembered the warmth that I felt sleeping and getting dressed in her guest bedroom… I was surrounded by family history.

As I began gathering various family photos and placing them on the table in my guest bedroom, I said to myself I hope that my guest will also feel what I felt sleeping in my sister-in-laws bedroom. The unique placement of photos in the bedroom is truly special and creates a great room to spend the night in. Now I must tell you that my sister-in-law’s guest bedroom tends to be pretty cold in the winter and a plug in heater is provided for extra heat. But I can confidently say that the warmth that I felt was generated by all of the family photos, it was a natural source of warmth.

I believe that family photos play a role in tracing our history and shedding some light on where we started. My sister-in-law has a large family and she has displayed many family photos throughout her home. Each time that I visit with her I end up inquiring about one of her photos. The history and stories behind the pictures are priceless.

If you have a guest bedroom or even if you don’t, carve out a special area in your home to prominently display your family photos… be creative! Go through those photo albums and boxes and pull out some photos to display, purchase a variety of frames with different tones and finishes and display your family history. I am sure that you will hear some family stories that you may not have heard before.

Trish

Family faces are magic mirrors looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. -- Gail Lumet Buckley

Family Photos courtesy of family archives.

Trish Nicholas photography @ www.wix.com/TrishN/Trish-Nicholas-Photography
To Purchase Photos Courtesy of Redbubble @ http://www.redbubble.com/people/tmeian
Please feel free to contact me with inquiries regarding commercial use of my photographs.

Photography Journey Articles @ HubPages http://phototljn7.hubpages.com/hub/PhotoJourney7

MADD Mother’s Against Drunk Drivers: I am a Mother whose son was hit by a drunk driver on (4.15.12) he was blessed to walk away from the accident. To find out more about MAAD and how you can support this organization pleases click on the link http://www.madd.org/

What Is Family?

What is family? Was I asking myself this question because of the eminent holiday season, a time in which so many of us find ourselves gathered together with our family members? And for some it can be a time in which it is “for better or for worst”. For many of us it is not TV’s Cosby family, the typical Hallmark family or even the Blue Bloods’, Regan family. This fictional cop family clearly demonstrates what their family is all about. Each show ends with the family having dinner together on a Sunday at the home of the patriarch.  This act of praying and breaking bread together is a reminder of what family is all about.

Too often we get caught up in what was said and not said, or what we think should have been done or not done by a family member. We lose sleep over it… we stop talking to one another and can’t even remember the last time we uttered a civil word to each other... because of what? over what? And now the holidays are here and just because it is Thanksgiving or Christmas we are all of a sudden suppose to be this big happy family? Well, as anyone who has ever experienced a ‘dust up’ over the holidays knows, that the “suppose” to be, holiday family doesn’t work.

What does work is supporting each other, listening to each other, sharing with genuine truth and honesty, not having the fear of being judged; knowing that in a spirit of love you can be told that you were wrong. Each one of us who is a part of a family unit knows the areas in which we need to work on to strengthen our family and ourselves. May we strive to pray and break bread together and always have the ability to cry together and to laugh together like only a family can do. Not just as ‘Seen On TV’, but also in the real world.

Trish

To Families everywhere have a Wonderful Christmas!
And may it be filled with Love, Joy and Peace
Throughout the New Year!

Trish Nicholas Photography @ www.wix.com/TrishN/Trish-Nicholas-Photography

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Please feel free to contact me with any inquiries regarding commercial use of my photographs.

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35 NIV

http://feedingamerica.org/

http://www.toppsinc.org/

http://www.rescue.org/

http://www.stjude.org/

A Mixed Bag

This month brought the passing of a dear loved one, a grandson who turned 10, a mother who celebrated her 80th birthday and a new residence. Yes, a virtual mixed bag of emotions for me.

The one thing that impacted me the most about all of these single events was witnessing the deep love and affection that my husband and his siblings have for each other as they laid their big brother to rest. For each of the siblings he was much more than just my "big brother", he was a role model, a great listener, an encourager who had a big heart for each of them.  The stories that I listen to during our time together bears that out, he was a giant of a man and a giant of a brother in a small frame.  He will be greatly missed by all.

Trish

“Those we hold dear in life we gather together to highly esteem them in death, yet not for them but for ourselves.” – LJN

WE WILL SEE YOU AGAIN
He was sick with nothing to lose,
He went through much pain and suffering that he did not chose,
He never gave up at anything through thick and thin,
He was going to fight hard until the end,
The end came on Sunday February 6, 2011,
Now he is with you Lord in heaven
to sing, laugh, and play,
Nothing will ever make him cry,
His spirit inside of us will never die,
One day we will be up there too,
We will take your hand Lord and go with you,
So thank you Lord for dying on that cross for us,
And thank you Pick for the sweet memories,
We love you Pick and miss you so much,
We will be with you one day, and we will never lose touch.
***Original Poem by Cynthia Nicole Weatherman, USA at http://www.voicesnet.org/displayonepoem.aspx?poemid=53375


American Heart Association http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

Photos by Trish

Trish Nicholas Photography:

www.wix.com/TrishN/Trish-Nicholas-Photography

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http://www.redbubble.com/people/tmeian

To Follow my Photography Journey:

http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Photographers-Journey

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (King James Version)


Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Family Connecting & Sharing…

Growing up it was just my sister and I. At the end of my junior year in high school I did find out that I had a half brother. And by that time I had decided that when I did get married I would have at least six children. When I began a serious relationship with LJN, I told him that I would like to have a large family. He wasn’t a bit uncomfortable with my maternal desire, being the fact that he is the youngest of seven, he clearly understood why I found delight in having more than one or two children… we ended up stopping at four! I quickly realized that raising a child is much harder than it looks on television or in the movies. Children are an enormous blessing from God and as parents we are to raise our children to go out and be on their own. In Proverbs 22:6 it says to Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And as parents many of us pray that we have done just that.

Children are a heritage from the Lord. Psalm 127:3

I have connected with my husband’s siblings and their children in such a way that it all but makes up for me growing up with “just my sister.” And talk about two opposite personalities my sister and I, one a tomboy and one a book nerd. I love my husband’s family and have a strong desire to keep us all connected and sharing our lives with one another.

After my Memorial Day posting I received an e-mail from my sister-in-law, she said, “thank you for capturing the moments of our lives”. That thank you lead to the creation of a website named PhotomomentsbyTrish, hopefully this site will provide another place where our family can come together to pray for one another, praise each other, reminisce and share our thoughts.

Our time of connecting and making promises to get in touch and keep in touch at family funerals must come to an end.

The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) Writer

Trish
6/13/09
Written: While under the dryer at Cousin Sheila’s salon.

Photos by Trish & LJN

Through My Viewfinder www.zazzle.com/meia7214N*

Thank You!

Thank you, Clee, Cheryl, Ira, Juls and Niki; for calling on your Brother, Sister-in-law, Uncle and Auntie when you needed our help. It is a blessing to know that another family member will call upon you in a time of a severe crisis as we all found ourselves in with Craig. We thank you for the deep love and respect that you bestowed upon us with each phone call that we received from all of you… the Lord knows how much we can bear. And we can say how good it felt to be needed in every critical phase and decision with your son and brother and our nephew… Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. -2 Corinthians 1:3-4



I must say that I feel very blessed to be a member of this family AND what an awesome family it is. Clee, I thank you for sharing the letter that Craig wrote to the family. I truly believe that he was calling the family to participate in a more cohesive manner. Yes we are many, Yes we all have been blessed with many talents, gifts and abilities, Yes we are all not saved and living for Christ and Yes some of us have allowed hurts from the past to separate us from one another… the time has come for us to all work together. We must never forget the strong foundation that Dad and Mom Nicholas established; it is strong and can become stronger if we only allow it to. Let all of us begin to stand on that foundation and move in a mighty way throughout the family and the world….so that all honor and praise be given unto our Lord and Savior… I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. - Psalms 100:1, 2, 4



Thank you family…

Trish

















He’s been faithful, faithful to me;
Looking back, His love and mercy I see.
Though in my heart I’ve questioned, even failed to believe,
He’s been faithful, faithful to me. -Cymbala





Photos by Trish @ Through the Viewfinder

http://www.tljnicholas.com/

**Hawaii Photos - Courtesty of Niki

**All Things Are Possible Album Photo By Jackie Jackson

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make know your faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 89:1




Our Tribute To



Steven Craig...




A Family Farewell...













Balloon Prayers Released...








He Enjoyed The Ocean Sea






The Breeze And The Sand...

In my home or at the beach, at the mall or in the streets. Constant my light is gonna shine. Far away or close to home, you are still on the throne. I am yours and you are truly mine. *From the song No Compromise by Steven Craig Jackson.

You do not know what will happen tomorrow.
For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears
for a little time and then vanishes away.
James 4:14