Big Picture: China, as seen by Elizabeth Dalziel

Spending a lot of time browsing through news images, I've come to admire the work of quite a few photojournalists, and thought it would be interesting to focus on their individual accomplishments by showing recent collections of their images here. Associated Press photographer Elizabeth Dalziel is based in Beijing, and has been documenting the people, places and events in China for the past several years, giving the world at large a glimpse into this region through her lens. Collected here are a recent handful of images of people from all walks of life, events large and small, and daily life in China, care of Elizabeth Dalziel. (38 photos total)

Click the image to see the full collection.

Up Close U2 Pics

A fellow blogger had GREAT seats last night (actually they were not really seats). Click this picture to see a few pictures from down front.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

2009 Home Makeover Highlight Video

The Highlight Video from the 2009 Home Makeover has been posted. Watch it below.

Home Makeover 09 Highlights from Northwood Church on Vimeo.

Home Makeover 2009

For the third year in a row Mary and I participated in our church's Home Makeover project. Working with a town nearby we identify 4 homes that need significant work but where the families are unable to do for one reason or another. Historically this has included painting, replacing flooring, landscaping, appliance replacement or repair and other things you would expect. But, it has occasionally included major reconstruction of parts of the house that were starting to decay.

This year we changed things up a little bit. Once we had the 4 primary homes identified we selected two nearby houses for mini-makeovers. A mini-makeover could involve exterior painting, minor repairs and other helpful projects that the homeowner has been unable to keep up with.

Once those projects were handled we went up and down the street mowing lawns, trimming trees and, in the case of our street, unloading a moving truck for a family that happened to be moving in on that day (I can only imaging how refreshing it when the three people in that truck were swarmed by a group of strangers that wanted to help unload). It is amazing how much you can get done when about 1600 people spread out over the four neighborhoods.

This year a local TV station was at our house to do a story on the project and the family. Click on the image above to see that story (after a short commercial).

Our God Is Weird...

This is worth the read...

Our God is wonderful

Our God is unfathomable.

Our God is uncontainable.

Our God is weird.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever had a moment where something happened where you couldn’t do anything but say, “This is weird, but…?”

Click the image to read the article.

Big Picture: Autumn Scenes

It's that time of year again, the Earth's northern hemisphere is tipping away from the warmth of the Sun. Days in the north are getting cooler and shorter, leaves are changing, animals migrating and many harvests are underway. The wet summer in New England this year should make 2009 a banner year for brightly-colored fall foliage in the area. Collected here are a group of photographs of recent Autumn scenes around the northern hemisphere. (32 photos total)

Click the image to see the entire collection.

The Munchkins Have Aged

It’s a real cute interview, and one of them even falls asleep in the middle of it.

Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing

Needy Haltom City Families Get Home Makeovers

This is a story about the house our team is working on.

A group of volunteers are busy working to give four Haltom City homes a makeover. In just 24 hours, some 1,600 volunteers will complete home renovations for the much-deserving families.

Click the picture to read the article.