lift your eyes

this morning was the Chara Christian Dance Company photoshoot. I cannot begin to tell you what a blessing these girls are, nor describe the immense work they do for Jesus every year. they are beautiful women of God who strive to worship Him and minister to the community through dance. I love seeing their hearts and new choreography every year! this is just a sneak peak from this morning, with way more to come in the future, I'm sure. praise God for these women!! 

breathing

it may seem silly, but take a deep breath in through your nose, now let it go out your mouth. a breath. how beautiful! i've come to really appreciate breathing over the past few days, as my nose has been stopped up due to allergies :) thank you, Jesus, for giving us noses. what a great thought. 

following is a little bit of my indecisiveness for a photo project... 

apparently I've been drawn to green grass and blue sky. I'm really just amazed that these colors exist in real life! 

I'll leave you with something I've been reading for the past couple of days:

Do you not know? Do you not hear?

Has it not been told you from the beginning? 

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 

It is he who sits about the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

who brings princes to nothing,

and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness....

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint. 

Isaiah 40

God creates everything we see. let's praise Him for that today. 

full. stuffed. chock-a-block. satisfied.

apparently the above descriptions (thanks to Word synonyms) are adequate for how I feel. I got home on Friday night and was so distracted by a strange feeling of apathy and annoyance, even though I had had an incredible day!

We do a Bible study with Company girls from Suzannes, and they were completely amazing on Friday morning-- I felt that I learned more from them, and the challenges we gave each other were accepted immediately. let's be bolder for Jesus, and recognize Him as our creator of EVERYTHING we have, own, and can do. and more! we decided on a phrase-- "Praise God." with congratulations, with thanksgiving, with mourning, with gladness, and with struggles-- praise God.

I then went home, worked, and had an amazing brother/sister lunch date with Ryan (who, by the way, is the best brother in the world-- and I will take you on with that statement). my "bud" is all grown up and in college! so weird. yet sooooooooo good. we laughed so hard at Jason's Deli, enjoying some yummy food and great conversation.

I then made my way over to Becca-bear's house. why, you ask?! because the Fightin'Texas Aggie class of 2011 got their rings!! i was so excited to follow around Becca and Lindsey as they got their rings! it was so wonderful to finally meet their families and enjoy good fellowship.

 i then headed from dinner to first Barnes & Noble and then Half Price Bookstore, to begin a project that will remain super secret :)

and i arrive home in a sour mood. why? how is that possible after such a fun day? because satan doesn't like for Jesus to bless people, and he doesn't like for us to move and work for God. thats why. whereas my thoughts were joyful in one moment, the next i couldn't get out of a slump. Megan the marvelous roomie  saw it, and then recapping through my day brought back happiness from God that I had temporarily forgotten about.

...so why write all this down? to remind you--- you are not alone! God loves to bless you. He longs to bless you. He loves to treat us with His grace and mercy, and He loves for us to move and work for Him. but be aware-- for whenever you do anything for God, i can guarantee that darkness is just around the corner, waiting to tear down your work. BUT---

God always wins. He already has! dwell. seek. study. listen. speak to God. God hears you! He will make your heart so full, stuffed, chock-a-block, and satisfied in Him and Him alone.

"lab" time

my sweet friend and I just discovered that "lab time" for our photography class on Wednesdays is only "as needed..."  so rather than us sitting and staring at a computer screen with nothing to do, we are going to shoot every wednesday :) and what a marvelous idea it was!! today was lemontree park-- playground, trail run, wildflowers, benches, the works. my favorite shot, however, is of wonderful Alisha :) lovely friendship!!

today was a sweet day of reminiscing. God has worked wonders to get myself and my good friends to where we are today.... how glorious! 

ole, ole ole ole....

alllrighty. so other than desperately needing a zoom lens, I had a BLAST shooting at a soccer game a few days ago. it was a competitive junior high team, and man these boys are good! I have such a greater appreciation for soccer now-- watching them play and then going through my photos and seeing the ridiculous places they have to go to make a goal, and the effort with which these kids work. wow. it's a level of admirable dedication. they had so much fun as they played, it was such a blessing to capture awesome moments. 

these colors really do exist in nature?

wow. God, You are beautiful in alll Your creation!!

worked some more on the same photo assignment today, and the sky and grassy knoll on campus were just breathtakingly beautiful. do you ever have those moments when just seeing nature makes you contemplate humanity? in all our wonder and abilities... God still thinks about the grass. the grass.

and I'll admit, this last one is my first ever HDR shot!!! I'll choose a more eye-pleasing subject next time, I promise :) 

and then of Course Alisha and I had to use our extra class time to practice shooting more... and what better place to practice than Spoons?? 

I think food photography is quickly becoming a favorite

natural light and late night pick-me-up :)

I have a photography class assignment due tomorrow (which means I started and completed them today). For this project we had to pick 2 subjects and shoot them both (separately) from as many different angles and in as many different ways as we could think of. My sweet friend Alyssa and some splenda-sweetened cappuccino (all the way from South Africa!!) ended up being my 2 subjects. I haven't edited anything, I don't think I'm supposed to yet. These are just a couple shots, but I'm procrastinating on studying for an exam that I have in 9 hours. Whoop :)

I hope your night is just as "productive" as mine!