Just hours away from finishing!

It has been a while since my last post, as I have been running around for what feels like the last 12 days non-stop. I am sitting here in the APU library finalizing all of my presentation notes for my Capstone Colloquium tomorrow at 2 p.m. Anyone who reads this before 2 p.m. tomorrow, please say a little prayer for me. I am nervous and hope I remember to say the right thing!

My good friend Melissa reminded me again this morning and I can do it after this past weekend, where I presented to a couple hundred parents on financial aid stuff! Even though I dropped a few papers and lost my earring, LOL! I made it. Thanks MKS!

So folks, tomorrow (Thursday) is my capstone presentation, Friday, is hooding ceremony for all the graduate students who are receiving an M.Ed. in College Student Affairs and Saturday is the BIG DAY! At 9:30 a.m. we will walk across the stage and be conferred by Dr. Wallace!

Next week I will have to much to blog about, so be sure to check back a few times! Thanks again for everyones patience and support over the past few weeks.

A Joyful Celebration! The Quads 1st Birthday

Two weekends ago, my husband and I had the opportunity to take pictures at the Shahbaz Quads 1st Birthday and Dedication. If you haven't been to our photo blog before and need to be caught up on who the Shahbaz Quads are, click here and here!

It was a time of thankfulness, joy, and celebration to see how healthy Cedar, Jonah, Jordan and Jeremiah are today. Our God is so good and Phil and Amy continue to thank every person who has been a part of this incredible journey. Papa "G", Phil's father performed a dedication ceremony for each little one. It is a blessing to know that they are now part of Christ's family.

You will especially enjoy seeing the quads enjoy their first taste of sugar as they each enjoy their own personal cake which Mom / Amy made. Red for Precious Cedar, Blue for Jordan, Green for Jonah, and Yellow for Jeremiah. Everything has been color coded for the past year for Babies, A, B, C, D in order to keep things straight.

Phil and Amy, you are remarkable parents and we had a beautiful time capturing more of your families memories. Thank you for allowing David and I to be a part of this special day. We love you and the kiddos!

To view the slideshow from the Quad's First Birthday and Dedication CLICK HERE

Look what the UPS man brought today!

Looks like it is official!

I received my official regalia in order to participate in commencement on May 3rd. I will be graduating with my M.Ed. in College Student Affairs from Azusa Pacific University at 9:30 a.m. It has been a fun, tearful, joyful, sad, long, and eventful journey.

If you want to read more about the history of regalia, click here.



Comment I received on the old blog!

Wow! Congratulations! That light blue looks so familiar. :-)
April 18, 2008 | Jen

Update on my life!

I haven't posted anything for the past 15 days and have been feeling guilty about it. So sorry that I have been a slacker! You are probably wondering what the heck I have been up to. Well, first, I was finishing up my final projects for graduate school and last night, I turned in my final paper! Woo Hoo for school! On May 1st, I will give my final colloquium presentation aka the capstone where I will share with my committee all of the things I have learned in the Master of Education College Student Affairs program. I will write more about that later and maybe give you a view of what I have been doing for the past three years.

For the last two weeks, I have had the opportunity to do several things.

*Edit - these pictures are from my little pink Canon 1100 SD.

First, I had the fantastic opportunity to meet Jasmine Star of Jasmine Star Photography. She came to APU with her family to hear her sister Bianca speak in Chapel. Bianca rocked the house and kept it real "KIR" for all of the undergraduate students in UTCC and the Felix Event Center. By clicking here, you can go to the Chapel calendar at APU and listen to Bianca!



I was so embarrassed when Jasmine first came up to me because I thought it was her twin sister Bianca. Ooops! Sorry Jasmine! You two really do look alike! Anyways, it was the highlight of my week to meet Jasmine and I wish she could have stayed behind so I could pick her photography brain. Someday!

Jasmine's family is so genuine and if you ever have the opportunity to meet them someday, you will more than likely agree. :) Millie, Jasmine and Bianca's mom is a cancer survivor as is my mother and it was a joy to give her a hug to celebrate her life. Pancho, their father is one godly man who has made it through thick and thin in order to provide a better life for his family.



The second thing we did was to go to the Angel game with our good friends from church. They have season tickets so it is really fun to go with them to a game because they know all of the ins and outs of the stadium, etc. We had a blast hanging out with them, and they are such a fun couple along with having three amazing kids, and they are the type of people you could stay out all night with because you will never run out of something to talk or laugh about.

David had a birthday on April 7th, and we had gone out the night before for our favorite meal - Sushi! Since he had to work on his birthday and got home late, we celebrated with a delicious piece of carrot cake and I threw some candles on there to make it special. He may be "aged to perfection" as the balloon read, but he is still my handsome guy and will be forever and ever. I love you Sweetie!

Jennie and I went to American Idol the Wednesday they did Idol Gives Back. We did have tickets to go on Sunday to see all of the bands and stars actually perform, but they wanted us to be there from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Since we weren't willing to give up our day, we settled for Wednesday. Yes, it is true! Don't believe what you see on TV. All of what you saw on Wednesday for Idol Gives Back was filmed on Sunday. We did however, get into the studio and managed to not get bumped by a VIP, so it was pretty cool to see Ryan Seacrest and all of the Idols. The highlight of the show was for us when the live feed ended and the top 8 Idols came out to sing "Shout to the Lord". Wow! It was such a powerful song, and it felt like being in church. Thanks Malynda for hooking us up with the tickets!

That's what I have been up to. In the next few days I will have the many pictures we took at the Shahbaz' Quads 1st Birthday and Dedication. Stay Tuned and thanks for reading.

Comments I received on the old blog!

Wow! You have been super busy. Looks like you are having a great time though. So cool that you got to meet J*. She is on my list of people to meet. We shoot very similarly and she is incredibly inspiring.
April 17, 2008 |Shawn Kloster (shawn@smkstudios.com)

SO cool. Jasmine is so sweet!
GO Padres :)
April 17, 2008 |Melissa Koehler (meli@melissakoehlerphotography.com)

Precious Jadyn: Newborn Session

She was born three weeks ago and is as precious as they come. She loved to hear the shutter go off with every picture I took and was happy as a clam until we tried to change her pose. Precious Baby Jadyn is the granddaughter of one of my co-workers Sharon and she could not be more proud of her first grand baby and her daughter and son-in-law. "Nana" loves Jadyn more than we know and can't get enough of her. Jadyn's parents Melissa and Brian are wonderful parents and are so calm when Jadyn gets upset that someone is changing her world around. Melissa and Brian, thank you for welcoming me into your home to capture your new life with Jadyn.

To view more of Jadyn's newborn session CLICK HERE for a slideshow! :)







Comment I received on old blog!

Nice job, Tira! I love #3 especially. I bet the family loves these (:
April 16, 2008 | Katie Beverley (katie@katiebeverley.com)