Sunday we had a GREAT church service. Pastor left us all with a challenge.

PRAY PRAY PRAY.

I have to thank God for showing me His love and the scope of what He wants us to experience in Him – although I am still learning and trying to accept and recieve – I would have never sought Him out the way I have had it NOT been for my “TMJ” pain. I am not saying that God placed such a condition on me to teach a lesson – but used what I was going through to show me His love in ways I would have never listened to had I not been in pain and seeking Him in desperation. I know there is so much more that God has for me.

For all of us – what a joy it is to know the love of God – the comfort of Jesus – and the power of the Holy Spirit.

The following song is my FAVORITE praise and worship song –

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
If you’re tired and you are thirsty, there is freedom
If you’re tired and you are thirsty, there is freedom

Freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom

Jesus reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom

Freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom

Freedom comes in You Lord Jesus

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
So we lift our eyes to Jesus, there is freedom
So we lift our eyes to Jesus, there is freedom

Reckless Abandon Youth – PM hosted a game night on Saturday night – we joined them for pizza and a few rounds of Rock Band.

What does Reckless Abandon mean to you?

As children of the Almighty – we must be prepared to stand up for what we believe – what is right.

For those members of RAY – I am issuing a CHALLENGE – with a contest thrown in.

Tell me what you think Reckless Abandon means to you – to the church – to the lives of teenagers. Two rules – it must be AT LEAST 100 words – it must be submitted by 8.20.2008 – which is a Wednesday – the first Wednesday OUR PowerKidz become RAY members.

The winner will get a free photo shoot of your choice – within reason.

My Uncle Bob – married to Aunt L – lives right down the road from my parents. They share a plot of land – so to speak – across the road from Bob’s house – where he keeps his 2 goats, 2 horses, and a donkey – I think she is a donkey. Rosie – the donkey – is VERY jealous of any attention given to any other animal – which is why she just about plowed us over several times.

We decided that this goat resembles a Klingon.

Hands – one of my favorite things to take pictures of – especially hands that can tell a story. These are my Uncle Bob’s hands – they have been through it all. Those rebellious teenage years, Vietnam, placing a ring on his bride’s finger, cradling his newborn sons, delivering mail, worshipping God, building, hugging, loving, helping to tell MANY a story – and most anticipated of all – cradling his newborn GRANDSON come September. I love ya Uncle Bob.

Friday night we went to my parents for a bonfire. We brought PM with us for the funtivities. My dear aunt, uncle, and cousin have a puppy that likes to pose.

My second cousin – pictured with my Gramma below – had this COOL Darth Vader toy that I just had to pose in front of the bonfire pit.

Me and the above mentioned cute cousin cheesing it up for Aunt L.

Matt and *N* having fun looking up at the stars.

I have said it before – but I will say it again – I LOVE my family and am so blessed to have them so near and dear.

Thankfully – I have a large group of wanna-be models to shoot at the moment. I think they have more fun than I do.

Once again – God reminds me of His love in the most unexpected places.

I am trying not to get my hopes up too much – but I really feel that this is an answer to prayer – it HAS to be. I made my first appt. with Dr. Robinson for a week from today – Thursday the 17th at 1.20 – I will have three to four more appointments after that. I am trusting God to provide the funds for this procedure – Jared and I both feel that this is the step we are to take – it makes me feel better to know that I had another option from someone who was much less expensive and I didn’t feel that option was the one – weird – I know. The first appointment consists of taking precise measurements of my jaw and mouth. The seconda appointment – at the end of July – takes two hours and is when I have the TENS unit attached to me to determine my “correct” jaw position. The third appointment – August 19th is another TENS unit session with the device being fitted and positioned correctly. I should be back one week after that to see if it is indeed doing its job.

What I need – PRAYER – please please please pray for me – for us – it is painful to say that this is a dream I have been wanting for a long time – ‘cus what a sad thing to have to be dreaming about – but it is. Please pray that God uses this device as His healing – or just His divine healing – I will go for either one. Pray that the funds will come – which I trust that they will – I don’t usually have a peace about things – and I do about this. Although, I am trying not to get TOO excited – until I know for sure that it will work.

Thank you to those who take the time to come to my website and support my dream – both photography and TMJ – I hope that by this time next year to be a FULL-TIME photographer and momma-to-be – so you could pray about that for me too.

As a general rule – I don’t like my birthday – something always happens on my birthday that isn’t fun. Birthdays aren’t really a big deal to me. In 2005 – I was working with Jared’s cousin Alyssa. She set up a surprise for my birthday – FIRST she had a cheescake waiting in the kitchen at work with Jared and his mom there waiting for me – YAY – but I knew the surprise wasn’t over – I thought it was to go get my belly button pierced – OUCH – but I was prepared for that. We went to the mall and to Olive Garden for dinner – where Alyssa had managed to get my family and friends all together for a surprise birthday dinner! I was SHOCKED – it was a wonderful time being with those I love dearly.

That year I wanted a new lens for my camera – so much so that I threw baby fits when I would think about the fact that I didn’t have enough money to get it. Jared would get pretty frustrated with me – bless his heart. Well, at this dinner – Jared’s parents got me this lens. I didn’t react the way everyone thought I would – I didn’t scream and jump – just said OH THANK YOU! I was so surprised that they would do that for me. We had only been married 11 months at that point – and I knew and KNOW they love me – but WOW!

Fast forward to now – that lens has gotten me through a lot – weddings, the beach, basketball games, Wyoming, and so much more – I love that lens. For the past two months I have noticed that it has been slow to zoom and focus. I have been holding it together and praying it through – but when I went to use it for the parade – it gave up it’s last breath. One of our Powerkidz loves the idea of my camera insurance and would love to do nothing more than bash it to bits with a baseball bat – after a recent incident where I found that my very expensive insurance isn’t what I thought it was – he was pretty sad to know he couldn’t bash my camera. So – I took my lens to the store where it was purchased – and  OF COURSE they cannot do anything except send it away to be fixed and wait 6 to 8 weeks – I have weddings coming up – I can’t be without it that long. So – we bought another lens at Best Buy – but it turns out to be the wrong one – it does not have the macro feature that I love so much. I will be returning that lens this weekend – but I also got a Canon 40D – which I am still trying to figure out and be impressed with it. I might make the decision to exchange that too for the same make as I have already.

Either way – we came home and I let “K” take the lens apart to his desire – and of course I had to document it.

So – I wanted to say THANK YOU to my dear lens and my in-laws for getting it for me.

One of the first shots with the 40D.

“K” took advantage of having a second camera on hand to snap a few of me.

No wonder my neck hurts – look at the posture – HORRIBLE!

And Jared caught a few of me with the new one to test it out –

It amazes me how much I look like my mom – especially in that last picture.

7.4.2008

We spent the morning in the parade – I spent it taking pictures while Jared walked around in a heavy, hot dog suit – and then the afternoon at Ives Run. I laid in the sun and read a book – something I love to do – while Jared played catch.

The Ives Run Visitor Building had a special presentation we wanted to see …

Those rattles are SO LOUD – we could hear them across the room – I had no idea they were as loud as they were.

We had a fun, relaxing day. We are so blessed with a wonderful church family.

Jared plays Rovercomer …

He is NOT gentle with everyone …

me – doing what I love …