Beautiful People - Coffee at Lockwood's

It's almost here! National Novel Writing Month!

If you'd like to follow my progress over on the NaNoWriMo site, you can find me as YellowSymphony. I know the encouragement helps me and I'd love to give you some in return! 

Now, for the Beautiful People segment of this blog post!

My Summer Summary

Goodness, it's been a while! Last time I stopped in to write, VBS had just finished and I was only halfway through one of the busiest months of my entire life. What have I been doing since then? Good question!

I had my first experience as a wedding photographer! Since I'm practically part of the bride's family, I ended up helping with way more than just the photos... It was exhausting, but worth seeing the couple so happy.

After the wonderful chaos of the wedding died down, my family went to the zoo!.

It was blindingly bright (harsh on my sensitive eyes!) and one of the hottest days of summer, but we had fun and hope to go back again later this month.







A few days ago, I went on a photoshoot at a local park with a couple from my church. I've been wanting to improve my portrait skills and they wanted to get some nice photos of them together before he leaves for school, so it worked out perfectly.






There have been a lot of church events, fun days with friends, and learning happening too! Though I'll refrain from rambling on about all of them. ;) Hope your summer was as blessed as well and that your fall is joy-filled! 

Smile, Jesus loves you!

This week was vacation Bible school at my church. For me, that meant five days of getting up early so I could get myself and my sisters ready and out the door... Ideally before the church bus arrived.

It meant working with three different age groups every morning in the craft room and becoming very adept at tying knots in twine, convincing kids to "let me put the glue on", and keeping marker caps where they should be.

It meant talking with the kids while everyone arrived, keeping them quiet while the pastor was speaking, and cheering for them when they accomplished something.

It meant listening to one of the little boys explaining that smiley faces are "my mark" not just because I always add one to my signature, but because you always usually have a smile. And I bet it's because Jesus loves you, because I have a bracelet that says that and it sounds like something you would tell us.


It meant being reminded of God's provision by little things like chairs, paperclips, and ribbon.

It meant serving in extra ways like taking pictures and allowing a giant water balloon to be burst over my head as a reward for bringing visitors.

It meant getting to spend time with one of the godly ladies I look up to but haven't really been close with.

It meant seeing the Lord working in more lives than I could count over the course of five days.

And now it means that I have to go get ready to watch the kids that've stolen my heart be recognized for their accomplishments this week. Here's hoping I don't cry when I say goodbye! :)

Jameson Kail - Beautiful People

I've read a number of these posts, but hadn't gotten around to joining in... Once I saw the latest one started with a music question, however, I couldn't help myself.





Meet Jameson Kail, one of the first characters dreamed up for (what eventually became) my NaNo novel.

Oblivious

My youngest sister is so fun to practice portraits on. Especially when she's not paying any attention to me. :)

Huzzah!

Guess what came today?

Let the countdown begin...

I'm going to be photographing a wedding exactly two months from today. 

With no experience, questionable people skills, and a very basic (and finicky) point-and-shoot camera, I was pretty terrified by the idea when it was first proposed. Since the bride's younger sister is my best friend, I'd been vaguely involved with things concerning the wedding... But taking the official wedding pictures?

My worrying over things is nothing new, but the approach I took to them this time was: instead of waiting until my concerns started to overwhelm me and then going to God with them, I started by giving them up to Him before I even agreed to the job.

Three days later, I was given a short-term job staying overnight with one of the seniors my mom takes care of while the woman's husband is in the hospital. After just two nights of this, I already have over half of the money I need to buy this:

So here I am, the official photographer of Eric and Michelle's wedding. I will hopefully be able to purchase my long-wanted Canon by the end of the week. People have already agreed to let me practice taking portraits with them. I have two months to work on overcoming some of my social awkwardness.

And above all, I know that God is good.

In the Middle of My Little Mess

{The title is a reference to the song This is the Stuff by the lovely Francesca Battistelli.}

Have you ever had one of those times when you were struggling with something and, while reading a Bible passage that seemed completely unrelated to your situation, came across a verse that ended up being that thing you needed to hear?

I had one of those moments last night.

After my regular Bible reading was done, I was still feeling like I was missing something. So on a whim, I turned to one of the places I had bookmarked: Daniel chapter 3. If you don't know off the top of your head, that is where we read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace.

The chapter was bookmarked because this was the "Bible Event" (as our Commander prefers to call them) that I talked about when it was my turn to do a Bible lesson for the Awana kids. The theme for our lessons this year was miracles, so my lesson focused on how God protected the three men who had stood up for what they knew was right according to God's Word.

But as I read through those verses again, another point struck me.

In verse 27 it says that after Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had come out of the furnace and everyone was gathering around they "saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them." God protected them so fully that -after being in a fiery furnace that the king had ordered to be made seven times hotter than usual- they came out without even smelling of smoke. 


I felt a little bit like I'd been punched in the gut. If God can protect three men from smoke in the middle of a pit of fire, it's silly of me to act like He doesn't notice all of the little things in daily life that I get frustrated with so easily. God knows that I get bothered by things not being put back in their place. God knows that my nine-year-old sister and I are both willful - and usually take different stances on things. And God knows that I usually don't react the way His Word says I should.

When I throw a fit (because, really, "losing ones temper" is just the name we use for 'grown ups' having a tantrum) I'm going against everything God says about patience, humility, and love. And He knows it.

That fact is really helping me become more committed to changing my attitude about those things that "get under my skin" - because He knows exactly what He's doing.

Musings

So, this is the fourth or fifth time I've attempted to do something with this blog.

These tries have usually involved an idea that I was really excited about initially, and then ran into complications with, and then got distracted from, and eventually forgot about. It's been a vicious, vicious cycle, which I hope to break this time.

I've been learning a lot of things that have really affected my heart lately and I feel like I should be sharing more about them... But sometimes it just doesn't seem right to post a ramble about purity or holiness or whatever it may be in the midst of that jumble we call Facebook. In that setting it's so easy to skip over a person's note until you have more time to read it - and then forget all about it when it gets buried deep in your news feed.

But on this little blog, it's just me. Just my thoughts and ideas and interests. Maybe this will be better for me?

Only time will tell.