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It wasn’t the first time. Last summer I spent a week in Asheville, NC for my sister’s wedding. But this time I had a bit more freedom to let it soak in.

Calvin, Ginger, Amanda, Sophia, Samuel, and I spent several days in Gatlinburg, TN.

The landscape was stunning. No doubt, Gatlinburg has the tourist thing going, but the crowds hadn’t started pouring in yet. On our way to Cades Cove we would go miles without seeing another vehicle. Snaking through the mountains at dusk covered by a deep green canopy was surreal. It does something to one’s perspective.

A little bluegrass.

A little Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

Sam was all about playing in the Little Pigeon River. So was I.

Smoky.

Bambi.

Gingy.

Dana got married.

I am not a professional photographer. I do take a lot of photographs and have been blessed with a DSLR. I spent all of last week in Asheville documenting my sister’s wedding.

I took around 4,000 photographs. I’ve whittled it down to just under 1,000. I’m still whittling.

I’m post-processing now and narrowing it down even more. Cropping, coloring, resizing. You know the drill.

Go here to see the photos on which I’m working.

In Memphis.

It’s not often I get the opportunity to spend a full week with my mom, dad, sister, and brother.

We spent the past week in the mountains of Asheville celebrating (and preparing for) the marriage of my little sister to Jason Sumner.

I’m thankful for the good things God gives to us.

I’m thankful for my new brother-in-law. I couldn’t have hand-picked a person better suited for my little sister.

I’m thankful God is gracious (even when I mess up big time and leave my DSLR camera at a public park).

I’m thankful for Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.

Now, I’m in class. Talking about JEDP.

I’m also sorting and processing the thousands of photographs I made in Asheville. You can look at them here.

It’s good to be back.

Tomorrow morning the Bush crew will be traveling due east to Asheville, North Carolina. My sister is getting married a week from Saturday and we’ll be spending the week leading up to it with the entire family (plus some friends). I’m the official wedding photographer and I need a little help.

Because there won’t be internet access where we’ll be staying for the week, I won’t be able to access my normal photo editor. So, I’ll have to use Gimp.

Unfortunately, I don’t really know how to use Gimp yet. Here’s where you come in (hopefully).

Anybody know of a Gimp tutorial (PDF maybe?) that I could download before we leave the land of high-speed internet? I have found a few, but none are comprehensive.

If you know of something send me an email: thefamilybush @ gmail Thanks!

Here’s another shot of Sophia with the Bride and Groom at Keri Robinson’s wedding in August. She was the flower girl.

One of the best things about our time at the Promise House was working with Keri. She was the relief houseparent and our friend. Keri left the Promise House just before we did to begin graduate school. She got married last Sunday. Guess who was the flower girl!

[Keri is the one holding Sophia in the birthday picture two posts down.]

It was a great two days. Lots of laughter. Lots of friends. Little sleep.

The ceremony was full of interestingness as well. The two most notable moments: (1) Todd “The Bod” Calloway, a groomsmen, turned into a zombie and stumbled his way off the stage to the first pew where he collapsed. I never missed a beat. (2) After the wedding party and family had been escorted out of the sanctuary I stepped up center stage and said, “Thank you for coming, Daniel and Laura would like to invite you to the . . . ” I couldn’t remember the word ‘reception’. “to the . . . ” Awkward silence. I finally just told them I couldn’t remember the word and told them they were invited to the “after-the-wedding-party”. Go here for more pictures.

In just a few hours, this guy will be married.  I’m starting to get nervous.  Mainly because I’m officiating the wedding.  That’s right. Yours truly will be reffing this shindig. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Daniel is one of my closest friends. We met at Ouachita Baptist University and roomed together for a few semesters. One time I cut up a whole bar of chocolate ex-lax and put it in a piece of chocolate cake. Yup. He ate it.

That’s not his baby by the way. That is Kylee (from the Promise House). He and his soon-to-be came by the Promise House last week to visit.