guess what...

Wow... what a week it's been!!!!!!!!! and it's only Wednesday, no? I know there's too much going on when I am reacting to feeling i have no idea that i am actually harboring. Such has been the case over the last 5 days.

Friday, my brother's friend passed away. Kameron Hale. He was 16 and loved by many many people. It's been hard on their school, but just such a blessing that most seem to be dealing with it quite well. I think the hardest part for our family is the feeling of helplessness. I know it is for me. My mom called me around 1030 that night and there was really nothing i could do. And... i am EVER MORE thankful that i was with a very good friend of mine... with my other brother leaving for Iraq this week, well... sometimes, you just need some support. and that's the lesson i think God is really trying to teach me, that I am not made to handle every single thing all on my own all the time and that I really have to just break down the walls and let people in, OCCASIONALLY. I know we have to guard our hearts, A LOT... and be mindful of who and what we let in, but you know... sometimes, you just need to be taken care of. and man... am i ever having a time with this! Being vulnerable to another person can and has been dangerous and it's not to be taken or given lightly. So.... yeah... its so awesome to have amazing friends that you can rest in!!! and it makes me miss my BFF so much... My other brother, he's now going to be gone for up to 2 years. that was the other bout of news received friday night... so a big double-whamie for my family to receive this weekend. All i can do is pray for them... and for me and ask you to do the same. And try to maintain some sort of sanity thru this course. Races are not to be run lightly and they're not easy. but you know what... God doesn't call everyone to run them either. So i do take joy in the trials and tribulations... b/c i know it's an honor to be put on that track in the first place!

Ok, enough of the drama center. This is why we don't watch soap operas!!! So, this weekend, my church debuted the new look and new stage! it's been quite amazing! we had a really awesome weekend and of course, some great pics! i have the pics on my facebook, and will throw some around in here too! :) We had just a GREAT weekend and over the last couple of weeks, i've been talking with our media leaders learning about the amazing # of people who check the website, watch our video of the sermons and report to have made fresh starts, it's really quite awesome! Our videos are the #1 hits on our chruch website! :)http://www.thelifechurch.com/ and that's so awesome!!! it's great to know how technology is still making a way for us to impact lives, for people all over the city, state and world! Just... motivating!!! I had a great time taking some pictures this weekend! We even did a portrait shoot saturday that i think turned out with some BEAUTIFUL shots, and i took a girl friend of mine, from church, she's a dancer for some studios in town, and just a great chick in general! (picture to the right) She's a BLAST to hang with and made the day quite enjoyable, i was definitely not feelin it that day after receiving all the news from my mom. But I learned a LOT from watching the photographers. it was the best of both worlds, having my picture taken and getting to see what they were doing, how they were doing it, it was really fun to experiment! :) loved it!!! However, the weekend wasn't really bad at all here, just my heart breaking for my family. I just want to love on them. But I am ever so thankful for my peeps this weekend being there and cheering me on! It really did turn out to be a blast. :)

And last night... i had fun. Last night i filmed a video for my church, as in I was the subject.... weird, i know! it's not too often at all i'm on that side of the camera. :) but it was good, it was a lot of fun, and i'm SOOOO happy that my girl Stacie got to do it with me! she's most definitely one of my best good friends ever and it was such a treat that she got to be the one i was able to talk to while we filmed it. it was a testimony video done entirely with MEDIA PEEPS! aahhh, it was just so awesome. I'm so blessed... sometimes, i just need a good slap of goodness to realize it. (self portrait to the right)

Ok, that's all folks. I'm retreating away for the weekend. hopefully, gonna take 1000 pictures by the time i get back.

Love to ya momma.

crazy-beautiful

Hmm.... There's so much to be said... and no words to say it.

Derek, my brother leaves a week from today to go on his 2nd tour to the war in Iraq. This is really hard on our family but it also feels like we're old pro's at it, all in the same time. i love this boy almost as much as i do my own children. The older he gets, the closer we get, and yeah, maybe it is because he does just 'get it' so much more... but i will never accept any thought of ever leading my life without him in it. I know that God will bring him home to us again... just like he always has!!! God's Speed, bro... I LOVE YOU!

On lighter news, one of my best good friends cooked a great dinner for me the other night... Was really good!!! Bumble Bee Soup... ever heard of that? I had not and to be honest, I was a bit scared... :) but it was awesome, I was HIGHLY impressed. :) Of course, as he cooked, I played around with my camera, 1/2 way into his efforts. i missed all the good part at the beginning. HA!

as a plug here... I do have a flicker page, facebook page and I recently became a twitter user (we'll see how long that lasts). I will be posting most of my stuff (photos) on Flicker :) and I keep Facebook pretty updates, all links are there.

SO... MLK day was FUN! I had a good lunch and good company, did some much needed shopping :) and then went to MLK day! Was so awesome!!! And man... what an AWESOME service! I took some pics during rehearsal, and man... just... AWESOME! Anthony Evans was here all weekend. I was not here for Sat/Sun Services, however, I know it was "OFF DA CHAIN!" I saw the videos and heard everyone talking about it, via facebook of course! and i was wishing so much i was home, the whole weekend to be here!!!

I LOVE MY CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anthony's team brought some shirts down to sell, i bought 3 :). They were really funny tho... one, green one, had a bite taken from an apple and said "My bad - Eve" HAAHAHA!! The other says "God loves everyone. but i'm His favorite." is that me or what? i love them!!!

So... Pray for my brother's friend, he's in Arkansas Children's Hospital, on life support b/c of an ATV accident. Pls keep him lifted up!

New Camera - Moving Forward

Well... i'll start off by saying I'm totally in awe of my new camera. i took several pics today, about 500... i'm just... wow... in awe!!! SO MUCH good stuff to do with this piece of brilliance.
I used a very very special Nikon D700 to shoot downtown this week and i was embarassingly impressed with this camera. And i admitted, even though i did a lot of research and put in much thought before i bought the D90, when i got it, i was just a TAD disappointed b/c the 700 was so phenomenal. but i guess it took only 1 weekend with the D90 to fall in love with it too. or maybe, it's just the telephoto (300mm) lens that i love so much? i guess we'll never know, nor does it matter. :) but i will attach a couple so you may see a sampling.

All of these pics were taken today. :)

Feel free to share your thoughts here if you like them, if you don't, i promise, i will try to get better!

We had 'Wide Open Leadership Night' tonight at church. It was really great!!! I'm so happy we're doing the song "Moving Forward" it really really applies to our church right now, and i think in most of our lives. To keep moving forward, letting go of our pasts and taking hold of what lies in front of us!!!

Part of me knows that my taking hold of this photography bug again is me moving forward with things, more like a complete moving on. I know that our past can bind us, sometimes unknowningly but i know that the steps i've made in my life are enabling me to unleash a new fury on my past... once and for all!
wow... this all, the camera, the blog, the new things i've been doing in my life... it's really enabling, encouraging, inspiring. A lot of things/people have been inspiring lately, i'm catching it...

Good night, you guys!

You had no idea, did ya?

09 had the BEST starting out for me that i've ever had with a new year... all 11 days of it! :) They've been somewhat curious and spectacular all at the same time! so... new year, new blog. It's been years since I've blogged, so forgive me if i don't use proper capitalization, spelling or punctuation, as i don't much care about it as much as i do the message.

i have a couple of great loves in my life now that i will probably share with you all... #1 - Jesus. The rest in no particular order: Missions, my children, photography - in particular my Nikon D90 with macro lens, work (yes, i love to work, i'd go crazy without something to focus my time and energy on), travel and my close friends.

My daughters are 4 and 7, both December babies.
I go to church at the Life Church of Memphis (thelifechurch.com) i do all my missions at this point thru goglobalmissions.com and i have a huge heart to do this for the rest of my life. as for now, i gotta keep my day job to support my habits - starbucks, missions and photography.

my drink of choice: triple grande non fat toffee nut white mocha. i know... it's really sad, as i said, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into here!

i have one life long friend who lives in the northwest part of the nation, my best friend (girl) who is in Nashville right now and very few very special ppl to me in Memphis who i spend my time with. these ppl and my family of course, are probably the ones who will find the most joy in this blog.

Something that most ppl do not know about me: I taught my brothers how to burp the alphabet. :)