Stories in Pictures

Pictures are great … they tell all sorts of stories. I pulled together the following to give an idea of how I do and experience life …

My life is full of friends and family. We journey together and each of us has a story to tell. We are all wonderfully unique yet we share common visions, goals and causes.

I want to live my life well. I believe in following your dreams and setting goals. Don’t settle and don’t think that anything is impossible. Take risks. Being scared is normal … push through! Most especially I am and encourage others to pursue kingdom living. I think it is vital to be honest with self and others. I often say …. live in reality and don’t spin things to make yourself feel better or to avoid doing the hard work of self growth.

My home is a hub of community and a safe haven to anyone in need. I wouldn’t have it any other way because to me material possessions are entrusted to each of us so that we might be more generous and giving.

I am constantly learning how to love better. Especially those who are different from me. I am in a phase of life right now, too, where I am throughly enjoying parenting my son, Jason. He is just 18 and I am learning to adjust expectations and accommodate his need and desire to be independent. I have been given the unexpected surprise of learning more about myself as I let him make his own choices and mistakes. It’s hard and challenging but it is sooo good for me! Who knew that parenting would be as important for my growth and development as it is for my children’s!

I think all of these random thoughts are flowing out of me because as Easter approaches Dean has given us the challenge to write our own eulogy. So, forgive my incomplete thoughts and I hope you enjoy these random stories in pictures …

Our business venture and subversive plot to save the world.

Our friends. Our partners. — J Graf, Niza, Alex

Jenna, Me, Staci … my friends, my sisters, we are a great team!
And they are my diehard workout partners (stair master anyone? haha)

Tim and Josiah … my friends, my brothers.

me sleeping and J. hanging …
yeah, just another evening at the Sharps

Taco and J.

My Toby

My fragile and sweet Phoebe

Dave - my faithful & constant brother
and Chrissy- my twin sister …
(yeah, that about sums it up)
putting a new collar on Taco.

My Dad, My Mom & My Sons (Aaron & Jason)
– Jason’s 18th Birthday

Sweet and Beautiful Chelsea
(Aaron’s girlfriend) and Toby

Aaron & Chelsea

Chrissy and Jenna … hahaha yeah, that’s my Chrissy!

My brother Johnny and his beautiful and sweet Fiance Valerie …
they are getting married June 11th YEA!!!!

Kristina and Valerie plotting crazy stuff involving
a pair of flowered underwear and a Yo! Daddy!
at Jason’s Alpine show. Yeah, good times!

Kristina’s baby and my first nephew, Robert! (Kristina is
going to marry Val’s brother!) Robert falls asleep every
night to Jason’s music … ((((sigh)))) how cute!!!

Me straightening Kunal’s hair before the big show at Alpine (Kunal is the
bassist in the band). I was so sad because he chopped off all of that
beautiful hair right after the show!!!!

Here’s Kunal sans hair the day after the Alpine show.

The boys playing CLU the day after the Alpine show.

The boys
(Andy-guitarist, Mike-drums, my Jason-vocals/guitar)

Jason doing what he loves!

Dean and I in Florida helping to open the first VOX Hot Spot.

Lindsay with us in Florida
(I love this picture)

Me with my homeless friend, Melissa. I have cared for her for almost a year
now. She lived with us for 5 months. And, now, FINALLY with my mom’s help
and some hard work we have found her a more permanent place to live. I
am so excited!!! It took a long time but when you deal with the government
everything is hurry up and wait and lots of paperwork to fill out!

Chrissy coloring my hair. She is responsible
for all of the crazy and wonderful colors!

Me smoking hookah for the first (and last) time. Call me naive but I didn’t
realize it was bad for you … umm, like actually “smoking”! Yikes! I am
miss fitness and nutrition so, yeah, that wont be happening again …
but it was fun … thanks Staci!! (no wonder Dean and Dave wounldn’t
touch the stuff … man I am dense!)

So, this is my ex-fiance, Greg, with his boyfriend,
Chris … yeah, that was a surprise. We recently
reconnected (after 10 years) through MySpace.
I spent some time with Greg and his family on
Thanksgiving. It was nice to visit. We have some
good memories.

Dean looking oh sooo handsome. He did a
photoshoot for a website called Sacred Ink.
Our good friend, Chukk Gerwig, has launched
a website about Jesus and Tattoos. Check it
out if you want … http://sacredink.net/

Dean and Shea. Our friends, the Snows, moved to
Amsterdam last year. We visited them in Dec/Jan.
Shea and Dean have a special bond.

Our bees! Yup, we have bees … the honey is sooo
good! (below are a few more shots of what it’s like
when we collect the honey)

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Ok, that’s it!

So, what stories do you have to share?