Friend's Children Photo Shoot

I finally got to practice my hand at photographing another family with a purpose. I mean that I finally go to try my hand at photographer wanna be in action. I had the perfect subjects and both baby and big sister were in the best disposition. Baby sleeping and big sister enjoying all the attention and posing for the camera. I am glad a few turned out good and that our friends were happy with the results.

If any friend wants to take the advantage of my craze to become a good photographer I am up for the challenge to practice with photo sessions for free. :)

What I want to remember

Where do I start telling you about the wonderful time we had at our commissioning service. Well, for one we were blessed to have the encouragement of family and friends supporting us with their presence. We had a great potluck meal. The food and fellowship was good and gave us just a tiny glimpse of what heaven parties must be like.

During our meet and greet time before the service I received a special gift from Laura Dorsey. The bottles pictured above is what she gave me. She said, "I have a weird gift to give you, but it comes with a story." She went on to tell me that a while back when her daughter, Dollye was a counselor at Hidden Acres, during one of their outdoor explorations Dollye came across a box of old bottles that had been dump out in the woods. The bottles were muddy and dirty, but Dollye saw some beauty in them and decided to pick them up and take them home. After bringing them home she began the labor of cleaning them up. Her mom said that Dollye took the time to scrub and clean the bottles, some broke in the process, and some took longer than others to get clean, but after she was done she displayed her found treasure.

So why did Laura decide to share some of these cool bottles with the Carpenters? Well, there are two main reasons. One, she wanted to give these bottles to us as a symbol of what sometimes happens to people at Hidden Acres. She said that just like Dollye took the careful task of cleaning those bottles, God takes the time to clean and empty people of their sins and pollution from living in our sinful world, and sometimes at HA we get to see God at work doing this process during summer camps. Two, she wanted us to keep them as a symbol of a new season of our lives as we go into Christian Camp ministry full-time. A physical reminder much like people in the Old Testament used to do building altars with stones to remind them of things God had done.

That was one of the things I want to remember about Sunday. Well if ever I were to hear what people say at my funeral I hope it goes like it did Sunday. People had such wonderful things to say about Tim and myself I really started to wonder it they had the right script for the service :)
To me one of the best parts of the service was Dr. Water's message. Wow! I will have to get back on the blog with his notes, but really you had to be there. He was personal, and funny, and encouraging. He spoke of personal stories from the mission field. He reminded us about how wonderful and trustworthy God is.

After that Tim and I got to speak and well Tim did a great job sharing how God is directing us and shared from God's word our passion to see people grow closer to Christ. I spoke and said that after Dr. Water's message I was ready to sign up for anything the Lord calls us to :) I almost cried as I thank God for the work that He is doing in Tim and how glad I am to be by his side.

We had a great cloud of witnesses pray for us and bless us right there at Hidden Acres, and it was awesome.

Thank you to all who made it out there and to everyone else who prayed for us. Please keep praying because the best is yet to come and with Christ all things are possible.

Selah the silly

The other day Selah said to me "No. Mom."
I said, "Selah, you call me Mami"
And she replied, " No. Webecca."

Thing One and Thing Two

After reading Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat I have found a new name for Seth and Selah. I have begun calling them Thing One and Thing Two when they decide to play "lets be a hurricane."
I don't know if Seth has heard the story of when Jesus went in the temple and turned the tables over and got angry becuse the Temple was not a House of Prayer as it was meant to be. Sometimes I think Seth and Selah are reenacting that story for me. So maybe that is my answer to my Thing One and Thing Two mess makers I need to make my house a house of prayer so that I can be a better mother to these two little things I call my children.

Sesame Chicken Salad

Here is a yummy salad recipe I got from Jane Jefferson who was once my boss at the Downtown Pregnancy Center. It is good with chicken, but it is also good alone. If you don't want to make your own dressing there is a Kraft Poppy Seed Dressing out there that is just as good.

Ingredients: 1-1 1/2 heads of lettuce (torn into small pieces)
3-4 Cooked and Season Chicken breasts (cut into small pieces)
3-4 green onions cut
1 small can Chinese noodles
1 pkg. slivered almonds
1/4 c. sesame seeds browned in 350 oven
1 tbsp. poppy seeds

Directions
Add above ingredients saving the Chinese noodles to toss last

To make dressing mix the next ingredients and chill before you add to salad and toss
1/2 c oil
1/8-1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp. vinegar

Check it out!!!

Well, here is the first website I have worked on. I still have to learn some more things, but well if you want to learn more about Hidden Acres you can check out their newly designed website at:

http://www.hiddenacres.org

If you know anyone who is interested in working or attending summer camps or renting facilities for events like weddings, retreats, family reunions or anything like that please spread the word.

How time flies

I was playing with my camera trying to figure out the different settings and not really thinking much about what I was photographing. I went back to start deleting the pictures and I thought well this is a pretty cool shot of Selah's old little shoe.
I recently went to get Selah some new shoes for the summer because I noticed these shoes were a little tight on her. My little girl is growing up. Selah will soon be two.
Sunrise, Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset.
Where have those little feet gone.
Selah wore these little shoes to different places and events, things that are just memories now.

I pray that as Selah continues to grow and wear out her shoes that she will also grow in the Lord and walk in His paths.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4

Commissioning Service Pictures

The Carpenters with Dr. and Mrs. Waters

Mrs. Glenda with Selah

Visiting with Israel & Sonia the newlyweds

Candice, Cathy, & Seth

Tim up to speak

Rebeca sharing a funny moment

Dieudonne, Tim & Rebeca, & the Brownings

The Carpenters and the Motons

A Prayer for My Husband

Lord, I pray that You will give Tim an added measure of faith today. Enlarge his ability to believe in You, Your Word, Your promises, Your ways, and Your power. Put a longing in His heart to talk with You and hear Your voice. Give him an understanding of what it means to bask in Your presence and not just ask for things. May he seek You, rely totally upon You, be led by You, put You first, and acknowledge You in everything he does.
Lord, You've said that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Feed his soul with Your Word so his faith grows big enough to believe that with You all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). Give him unfailing certainty that what You've promised to do, You will do (Romans 4:21). Make his faith a shield of protection. Put it into action to move the mountains in his life. Your Word says, "the just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17); I pray that he will live the kind of faith-filled life You've called us all to experience. May he know with complete certainty "how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You (Psalm 31:19). In Jesus name, Amen

(Prayer from The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian)

Some of my Photographer in the works shots

I have to admit that the reason I think these pictures are so great is b/c I have great models to work with.

My new weird hobby

No, I did not take these photos. I have found a new way to occupy my time. My new hobby is looking at family photographers websites and blogs. I think it is a kind of a not very productive kind of hobby I mainly use it to get creative ideas on photography. I have become an obsessive photographer wanna be :). (Two of the pics above have the info on the photographers the ones without that do not were taken by Lindsey Shea.)

Seth the Photographer

Here are some pictures taken by Seth, and some pictures of Seth taking pictures. Isn't he a good photographer :)

What a little TLC can do

Tim and I were looking at our back yard and talking about how much our home has changed since we moved in. I decided to go back and look for some old pictures to compare. This is no exteme makeover home edition, but with a little bit of money, some work and help from family and friends look at the dramatic change.

Trip to the Zoo with the Thomas Gals