Pinecrest and Playing with Light

It has been a few weeks since I attended a photgraphy workshop hosted by my sweet friend Amber. Since then, I've had the opportunity to play around with my camera trying to put to good use and practice the lessons that I learned. My camera has accompanied me to places like Lake Tahoe and Pinecrest. I've taken pictues in those places that were fun and creative. A few to be viewed here but the ones that I've had the most fun with were taken right here in my little bedroom just tonight.

So allow me to introduce you to my oh so handy dandy model:
My Scentsy Plug In!

I had the most fun trying to figure out ways to be creative with angles and light and this is what I ended up with:











Monday was the start of the new school year. As a way to care for my emotional well-being, I decided to get out of dodge for the day. I tried and tried to get friends from church to go with me but for one reason or another, they were unable. I was disappointed but God in his goodness made sure that I did not spend the day alone. Julie, my long time friend from childhood and early church days, was able to go with me up the hill and we had the best of times relaxing. We arrived and got lunch ready and sat for a bit. Then we headed into the lake. IT WAS COLD! And of course, I had the floaty that required me to be at least half way submerged in the water. Julie was sitting like a princess in her pink gigantic floaty that kept her completely above the water! To get over my half cold, half warm self, I dediced to ditch the float and swim out to the bouy's. Let me just say that I needed to get out of the water and into the sun for a warm up after that. It was divine though! I was able to talk to God about the state of my heart while floating on the lake looking at the blue sky and pine trees. Such sweetness for my soul.

Here are a few pics from pinecrest:

Lake Tahoe

My weekend in Tahoe was amazing! Stephanie looked so beautiful and the wedding was so much fun. Seeing family that I've not spent time with in a long time was a blessing.

Being together with my brothers and sister in laws was a special thing. We've never had a weekend spent together and this one was one that will be in my memory for many years. We ate together, sat together, danced together and spent countless moments just enjoying each others presence. It was sweet.

I had intended to spend some time with Jesus on the beach. On Saturday morning I awoke early and started to get ready. I think in my attempt to be quiet, I was kind of noisy. My sister in law Kendra woke up and decided that she wanted to go with me to the beach. We set off for Starbucks first for some chai and oatmeal for me and carmel latte and chicken sandwich for her. After we got our morning fare, we headed out. We found this little spot not too far from the Starbucks. We quickly learned that it was the dog beach. Let me just say that it was an experience! We quickly decided that we needed to find a nicer spot. After all, I'd seen countless pictures online of gorgeous beaches and pristine blue water! The dog beach was just not going to cut it! I decided to drive us up toward Emerald Bay and we found Pope Beach. It was just what I was expecting and we had a wonderful time sitting taking in the beauty of the lake and mountains. We spent hours talking about what God is doing in our lives and how we can't do this life thing without Him. She is a precious blessing in my life and I just love that we have our Lord and Savior in common.

On Sunday I headed out by myself with the intention of praying and journaling and doing my bible study. I grabbed my chai and got in the car. I wanted badly to see Emerald Bay and so that is where I headed. It was a beautiful drive up the mountain, although a bit scary at times (10mi/hour curves!). When I reached the vista I was so so blessed to see such beauty. Our God is so creative! I thank Him that He has put such a love of nature in my heart. I love that He has made me that way! I stayed up at the vista for about 45 minutes just taking it all in (and yes, taking way too many pictures!). Then I headed back down the mountain and met my brothers and sister in laws for breakfast at The Driftwood Cafe. This little restaurant was so cute! It had really good food too. My sister in law, Helena let me have a taste of her potato pancake. They were really good. Wish that I would have ordered them instead of the turkey burger that I later had trouble digesting!

Here are a few pics from the weekend.


Emerald Bay. Can you believe how blue the water is?!


Stephanie and Kyle's first dance


My brother Matt and sister in law Helena


Sister in laws! Kendra, Helena, and I


Sunset from the top of Heavenly


Stephanies cute shoes!


The tram that we rode up to the top of Heavenly in


Kyle and Stephanie exchanging their vows


Kendra and I on Pope Beach


Beautiful view from Pope Beach

Weekend Destination

This weekend my cousin Stephanie is getting married.

I can't believe it! My little cousin is going to become someone's wife. I am so excited to see her get all dolled up in her beautiful dress and recite her vows to her soon to be husband, Kyle. I'm excited to see family. I'm excited to spend time dancing and celebrating with my loved ones. But, the reason that my heart is full of joy and delight is that I will be spending a few days relishing in what is my opinion, one of the most beautiful places in CA/NV.

LAKE TAHOE!


How I am anxiously anticipating the special quiet that I am determined to get while there! I am looking forward to spending some special time with God sitting by the lake and taking in His creative display in creation. He knows how it causes my heart to fill with peace when I sit silently in His presence. It is something that I desperately need right now.

As I reflect on life lately, I am learning that this is a place of total surrender and dependence on God. It is a place that, honestly, I've never truly been.
A place that He is teaching me that I need to be in times of prosperity as well as in times of need. With my life turned so completely upside down lately, I thought that I would have an excess of time with my Lord. I had this vision that my time with Him would be so perfect right now because of my release from career responsibility and the extra free time.

However, I can't say that that is how it has been.

I've definately spent some very special one on one time with the Lord since losing my job...I've needed Him but I've not given Him my heart and trust fully. Our relationship has been work. I would love to just rest in him.

This realization is good because right now, 3 days before I leave for one of the most beautiful places in my neck of the woods, I am ready to surrender fully.

I will give the Lord every part of my heart.
I will give the Lord every ounce of my trust.
I will give the Lord every moment of my day.
I will give the Lord every thought that scampers through my mind.
I will give Him my entire being.

No more trying to go at it on my own.
No more seeking my best interest.
No more giving my sinful nature the front seat.

My Jesus has paid dearly for my sin, I can give Him back something worthwile; my surrendered heart.

So in just 3 short days, my heart will be blessed: I WILL SEE THE LAKE but more than that, I WILL GET TO WORSHIP MY JESUS IN A SPECIAL WAY!

I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!

Be assured, pictures will soon be up of the weekend.

For now, here are my latest attempts to put my new photography knowledge to practice


Picture of crayons: reminds me of childhood!


Love truly is patient. Lord help me to see those you've placed in my life as you do.


Sunlight through tree leaves


Rock and pretty wildflowers at Stan State

SnapShot Saturday

Last weekend I had the awesome opportunity to attend a photography workshop that my friend Amber hosted. I was so excited...it had actually been on my calendar for over a month. She hosted it at her in laws home/business. It was a beautiful setting for taking pictures. Amber walked us through the basics of photography like exposure, aperture, and shutter speed. She taught us how to freeze motion and how to take a picture where the motion is blurred. It was so much information but I really enjoyed learning. Toward the end of the afternoon I was absolutely confused but with some re-visits to my handy dandy notes, I began to understand it more more clearly. My goal of getting out of auto or program was reached! I finally shot completely in manual with the added bonus of knowing what I was doing! (well, sort of!).

Here are a few of the pics that I took on Saturday.....

Kids Campus 2010

Last week my church had our version of VBS called Kids Campus. It was my first time serving in this type of activity. I must say, it was so much fun! I was reminded yet again, that God has placed a deep love in my heart for children. When I became a Christian, that love grew to deeply desiring to see children learn about God.

This week was something that filled me with so much joy. It was a perfect way to uplift my spirit, give me purpose, and fill my heart with happiness.
The week was not easy...it was quite challenging. But God worked in a mighty way over the course of the week not only in my group, but in me, and in the other 400 plus kids and staff who were on our campus.


My top 10 favorites of Kids Campus at Big Valley Grace:

1. Hearing the angelic voices of over 300 children singing praises to God.

2. My kiddos wanting to sit next to me during chapel, lunch, quiet time, craft time, etc…they just always wanted to be near me.

3. Freeness of spirit that you see in children.

4. How they worship without any thought to how they appear…true worship from the heart.

5. The servant hearts of the junior high and high school students who helped out.

6. Serving with and getting to know my two eighth graders who assisted with the group. They learned so much too!

7. Recreation time!!!! It was CRAZY FUN!

8. Being able to serve my little ones in a tangible way such as making sure they had enough food during lunch. We got to eat family style with me being responsible for serving them.

9. Hearing my 2nd graders pray to our God.

10. Closing chapel when the sanctuary was quiet, low lit, and the cross was in the center of the stage…sitting next to Cauvion (say-v-on) and him asking who the man on the screen was. When I said “Jesus”, he got excited and said, “that’s Jesus?!”. Sweet to see this very distractable little boy quiet himself long enough to think about Jesus!






I can't wait for next year!

Focus Session 1: Hebrews 12:1-3

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverence the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men so that you do not grow weary or lose heart."

Back in April, I attended my church's annual women's retrat. I love women's retreat for many reasons such as the fellowship, the rest, the relaxation, the laughter, the tears, but most of all....the uninterrupted time with my Lord and Savior Jesus.
As you may have already read in one of my previous posts, this years retreat was very timely in my life. It happened a mere two days after I was told some very life changing news. That I was no longer going to be employeed. I was devastated but God made sure that He had something planned for me at the retreat that I could not have planned for myself: His peace, comfort, and control over the situation revealed to me at the perfect time.

Here is my recap of the retreat.

Session 1: Focusing on the race of faith
Colleen started the weekend off by comparing our lives of faith to running a race. As a runner gets ready to run a race, so we too need to get ready to run our race of faith. The first point that she made was that:

1. Faith is not a feeling. It is a choice.
You choose to believe in spite of how you feel. Sometimes our feeling can be so strong that we may "feel" like we will lose our faith in the midst of our trials, but we have to choose faith over our feelings. This is really hard for me, especially right now as some days I "feel" so much and then other days, very little at all.
One statement that gave me strength was, "When you are in the basement of your faith, go back to the truth." One way that she suggested to do this is to journal. She talked about journaling notes to yourself to process what you are feeling. When feeling confused take out your journal and tell God how you feel. One suggestion that Colleen gave that I liked was to journal notes to yourself. So if you are feeling that God is far away, tell yourself in your journal that you feel like God is far away but then, follow it up with the truth of the Word.
Speaking truth into our lives and specifically to our situation, is like learning to drive a car; it takes practice. This is also hard for me because I want it to be automatic. And it is not. It is a process. Another suggestion that she had was to sing to yourself to guard your thoughts. I liked this idea because I love music and am always singing along with my ipod or the radio. But to sing to myself even without music is probably a crucial activity to engage in because I have the tendency to run untruths through my mind.
The second point of running the race of faith is:

2. Faith grows

The growth that accompanies faith is not a single-time gift but rather, a process. It begins as a little seed, growing into a plant, then into a mighty tree. Because faith is a growing process, it is okay to be where I am at this moment. Growth will come through our prayers and God answers prayer. If I pray for my faith to grow, then I can be assured that God will answer that prayer.
One way to make sure that your faith is growing is the ability to praise God in the midst of the stormy times in life. When we praise, we benefit because we get to see who God is. As we praise the Lord, He will grow and eventually our problems will diminish.
Another way that faith grows is through hearing the Word of God. If one desires to grow, she must be in the Word. Being in the Word of God allows a believer to take small parts of scripture to meditate on. Then it is good to pray those word back to the Lord.
Ephesians 1:3 God has blessed us with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING.
Faith also grows through fellowship. In order for our faith to grow, we have to run the race with other believers. We have to be engaged in fellowship, having others know what is going on in our lives. As a runner in a race runs with others and receives encouragement to continue on by seeing others run, we too need to run with our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith and allow their run to encourage us to keep going.

The third point of running the race of faith is:

3. Faith is refined

This point was one that touched a chord for me. To think that we will walk this road of faith without a little burning and pain is naieve. In order for faith to grow, it has to be scorched. If we do not allow God to take us through the fire, we will never be able to affect the lives of others. God will bring peace to our thoughts, He will guard our hearts and minds.
In order to ensure that faith is reproduced, it needs to be scorched. God has allowed the circumstances in our lives that hurt to build our character and to teach us to trust Him. We must let Him bring us through the fire.
Colleen said at this point that "if you feel things contrary to faith, believe God anyway!" This is crucial as I feel a lot of things that are contrary to faith right now. But I must chose to believe. I have to believe that God has brought me to this point because He wants me to get to know Him in a new way. We learn to have faith not in faith itself, but in God!

Lord, How I Trust Thee

My God has called me to walk in relationship with Him through this time of great change.
I am tired of it already and it has not even been that long of a journey, but He is calling me to walk in obedience to His voice. I keep asking Him, "Lord, what do you want me to learn through this?" and "Why is it necessary for me to walk THIS road?". I want to ask "Lord, why not another road" but know that it would be a sure sign of the lack of trust in my Lord that I struggle with. I guess I could ask Him because He is my Father and His desire is that, as His child, I would come to Him with an open and vulnerable heart.
So, for today, I choose to follow after Him. To chase after Him. Not that He is leaving me but that I don't want to get too far behind. I want to be walking hand in hand with Him but I am realizing that this is not a stroll that we are on. It is more of a hike and you don't hold hands during a hike. The trail is narrow and you follow the guide ahead of you. And it is hard work. It gets your blood pumping and your heart working harder. And it can feel uncomfortable.
That is me and God right now. He is the guide and I am the one following after Him. We are on a hike toward greater maturity and trust in Him. I don't really want to be on this hike. It is hard and uncomfortable. I'd like to go back to the meadow of comfort but then I would surely miss out on God and that is not something that I am willing to do. I will go this path because the alternative of missing God is much more scary.
Everyone tells me that I can trust Him to lead me. And I do....most of the time.
But every now and then I forget and I cave to my fears.
Fears that really are silly. But in the moment, they feel very real and very big and very life consuming. And my God knows that I struggle with this fear. And He is patient with me.
So for today, I chose to follow my Jesus as He leads me through this dense forest and rough terrain. He is taking me up a high mountain and I must trust that He is going to protect me. He will not be unconcerned for my safety, He will not chide me and taunt me with all the things that I've done wrong and the ways that I've messed up. Or criticize me for lacking courage. He will be patient with me and wait for me when I am afraid. He will encourage me to take each step. And when I grow weary, He will encourage me to keep going. He will grab my hand and help me when I am afraid to step from one level to the next. He will not let me go.

He is faithful and I am going to trust Him.