single-motherhood.

i gained a whole new respect for single mothers this weekend. (maybe i should rephrase that statement as "i regained respect for single mothers this weekend") not that i encourage single-motherdom. but there are situations where i can respect and admire a woman for raising children by herself. so back to my story - a few months back i agreed to watch my nephew for a weekend so that my sister and her husband could have a weekend getaway of camping. now i had forgotten about this agreement until midweek last week. no problem - no big deal. i live at home, so i knew my parents would be of some help, or my other sister and family live very near. and as my mom tells me, i did a good job. but i'm not going to claim it to be effortless or easy. not to mention that on friday night i had my 11-month old nephew, but also my 7 and 4 year old nieces for the evening. i have a new respect for parents, period. parenthood is something that cannot be done without strength from God, support from family, friends, and church, and a lot of love. hence, a couple of pics from the weekend:

my sisters, mom, and i used to mock out my dad when rolls of film would be developed and the excitement quickly dissipated when discovering that they were dad's work pictures. pictures of poor quality work of the maintenance crew or contractors. pictures of water that shouldn't be inside of a building. plenty of before and after shots. well, another example of my becoming my parents. i can blame it on my job, yes, but interesting nonetheless. my camera now hold more pictures of work site photos than of friends and family.