I just received these pix from Dave Webster who recently visited our water project in Zambia! Dave has been an amazing supporter of Thirst Relief International both as a source of encouragement and financially! Thanks Dave.

Sometimes I wonder how many people are jealous that I have the cutest kids in the world!

Not really, but man I can't imagine them any cuter!

Have a great Thanksgiving!

I just received this VanValkenburg Original drawing that has my son Brayden's name in it.

Can you see it?

These are really incredible works of art!

Brayden, my almost 3 year old son fell asleep in his grandpa horsey's arms (he calls him that cause he had horses, but it's grandpa hicks, my dad) while he was riding four wheelers through the woods at our cabin! What a fun day.

What's crazy is that he is the most difficult child at nap and bed time! He fights it sooooo bad but so desperately needs it or he's really crabby. And yet he'll fall asleep like this as we are riding over hills and creeks etc. so funny.

One of my favorite things to do (when it's not demanded of me) is to lay down with him at nap time and tell him a story about Jesus and then pray for him. So I'm laying there praying the other day and I say "Lord, draw us near to you." He say's "daddy, daddy why you pray for John Deere?" His grandpa would have been proud. He must be a country boy at heart!

God bless you all and I pray you/we have eyes to see all of our blessings for what they really are and we are not so caught up in the things that so easily distract us from what really counts!

And for anyone who can't believe I'd take my child on a fourwheeler, we go really, really slow and are very careful while we ride around with the little guys.

It's amazing how much little notes of encouragment make a difference in your day.

I just received this note from a groom to be in 2007. I'm shooting he and Amy's wedding in May, their whole family is awesome! I shot Amy's sister's wedding a couple years ago.

Thanks James, you and Amy rock!

Jim,I hope this email finds you and your family doing well. I wanted to express my sincerist gratitude for the excellent job you've done with Amy and my engagment session...it was so cold that day, but you can't tell it through the photos. I'm sure you're exceptionally busy right now but your efforts to push our proofs through your workflow, so we could have them to show friends and family for the holidays is something I'm extremely grateful for. Being able to view and share the set on Pictage has been an added convenience, with both sets of parents having laughed and cried while viewing the set. I'm sure this is one of many emails you have recieved in relation to your exceptional customer service and even more so your talent with a camera. Thank you again! James Laine

My most sincere appologies to all of you who have run into problems with the PC version of ActionRunner.

An error occurred with my tech guys when they bundled the last version together.

Two ways to solve the problem:

1. Go into Photoshop and rename the "Davis Tools ActionRunner" action set to "Davis Tools Actions".

2. Or go to http://www.davistools.com/ and download the updated version for free. The same password can be used to get in if you've previously been given a password.

I really do appreciate your patience and I sincerely hope that you'll be willing to try this amazing tool again now that the problem has been remedied.

Sincerely,
Jim Davis-Hicks
http://www.davistools.com/


If you have not requested your free 60 day trial version of ActionRunner and would like to receive a copy please e-mail me at info@davistools.com and I'll send you a password to access the download site and a password to activate your trial version.




Jeff Laplante "I just edited a wedding today using ActionRunner and I am amazed at the amount of time I saved using this incredible tool."

I must say that I'm shocked that someone who approves of partial birth abortion would be put into office to lead the state of Ohio!

Did you know that every single day in the USA there are more children killed through abortion than total soldiers killed in the war in Iraq?

I'm not saying I agree with all of what has happened in Iraq, I feel a far more aggressive attack upon the rebel forces there would be far more affective, but that's not my call. What I am saying is that I am sickened that people are more concerned about a current seemingly poor economy and the status of the war than they are about the thousands that murdered daily just cause they are an incovenience.

"America is great because America is good." We are more benevelant than any other country in the history of the world.

"America will cease to be great when it ceases to be good." How can we be good if we could care less about babies than to just dispose of them even if their hearts are beating loud and clear as early as 8 weeks? They beat before that, that's just when we hear them.

Last and most significant of my thoughts, (in my opinion) When does a human become valuable? Is it after someone else would miss them if they were gone? Is it after they've been invested in or received an education? When???? Any answer less than "The moment they are conceived!" puts others at the center, it puts the mother, the father, the friends, the institutions and people that that human life affects at the center. How selfish is that? I don't take pure water to folks in Zambia and Brazil because somehow my life is affected or I'll miss them if they suffer and die! I do it because all humans are created equal, valuable, worthy of life and worthy of our joy or our inconvenience! Either a human is valuable or it's not. Who are we to decide when they become valuable? If grandpa is old and a burden to take care of should we give him a shot to let him "pass away?" No, that's murder.

Get out and VOTE!

As a Christian and a concerned citizen I take our responsibility and privilege to vote very seriously!

When we went to vote at our old precinct we were turned away because we had moved!
So, it wasn't really convenient but we located our new precinct, got some utility bills to prove our new address and took the boys out and voted. I explained to the boys about how many places bullies rule and we have no say who upholds the Laws and rules that govern our country etc. I'm not sure if it was too advanced but I tried to lower the bar as far as I could.

Anyway, here is a quote about Christians and voting that I thought was really good! Enjoy.

"Christians should vote as a tangible demonstration of our love and concern for our neighbor. Many of the policies instituted by those in elected office will affect our loved ones and those around us in very real ways. Christians are not simply another narrow special-interest group, pushing only for those issues that directly impact us. Rather, just as God 'causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45), so should our concern be ensuring justice and liberty for all." -Dr. James Dobson

So how hard does your heart have to be to steal these little cuties pumpkins?

Today we went outside to do some fall leaves clean up and realized our pumpkins had been stolen off of our porch! Can you believe it? Four really big pumpkins, just gone! We colored them, made them pretty etc. and someone had a hard enough heart to steal them.

Anyway, you could see that little one's colored the two, a loving mom did the welcome and well the weird face it was mine. The best part is that I wrote out John 3:16 on the back of mine "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son and whoever would believe in Him will not perish but have everlasting life! Even ME!!!" making reference to the weird face on the front. I hope these thieves read it are convicted and change their ways!

The boys were so upset about it but we used it as an opportunity to pray for the robbers and asked God to bring them close to Him and change them!

I guess in that it was a really good thing. I'd rather my kids learn mercy, forgiveness and grace than have a nicely decorted front porch!

We got sooooo much candy and had soooo much fun!

What a great time to meet new neighbors, have a ton of fun, eat free chipotle and more!!!

God is good and He has so blessed me and my family!

The whole time we'd introduce ourselves by name and brayden would pipe in "No, I'm not Brayden, I'm Scooby Doo!"

Are they flippin cute or what?

Go Bucks, Whoof whoof!

p.s. today's game was wayyyyyyyyy too close, they played like they were drugged! still won, for which i am glad, but not the performance i've come to expect from #1, Oh yah! Go bucks!

did i say go bucks???? go bucks!

Just a thought.

Someone asked me how I'm doing today on e-mail.

My response started out like this "i'm doing well, really busy and just trying to keep family and God in their proper place."

As I wrote this I had to stop and consider what I was writing. Hmmm, family has a proper place, but what is God's proper place? How do you keep an all consuming fire in it's place?????

I had to stop and rewrite my response. "i'm doing well, really busy and trying not to be consumed with all that's going on, love my family properly and let God the all comsuming fire have His way with me."

If this doesn't make sense to you, then perhaps you too have tried to "put God in his proper place." God wants all of us, not just a corner of our life.

God bless you all.

jim