Go ahead and jump

It's no secret that I love photography. Ever since I first stepped into a dark room in high school I have been in love with the entire art form. (yes as in a real dark room where we developed real film- gosh I'm getting old!)

I always dreamt of doing something more with my passion but it never felt like the right time until now. You see I never found my niche in photography until I had kids. It's having kids and photographing them throughout the years that made me realize where my real passion lies. Capturing families and children has become something that I truly love to do, so I've decided to take the leap and begin my own photography business. I've decided to call it Upward Photography (yes totally jacking the name of this blog) and I will focus on providing creative, modern and affordable family and lifestyle photography.

If you know me personally, this is not a shock. I have been bouncing this around for years and if you have kids I've probably taken pictures of them but it wasn't until recently that I finally had the confidence to make the leap. I have no clue where this will lead me but I know it's what I need to be doing.

So be on the lookout in the next week as I launch my website, FB page, and start marketing, and by all means, help me spread the word!

Take It All

Well these last few months have been crazy to say the least. Year after year I'm learning that the only thing I can depend on is God and as soon as I begin to depend on anything else, He has no problem turning my world on end to remind me of that.

Yes, life has been very hard over the last few months but this blog isn't to drone on about what's been going wrong- it's to celebrate what has come out of it all. Years ago I was listening to someone read a little devotional book. To this day I don't remember which one but I do remember what he said.

Got me feeling so fly like Jesus

Bwahahahaha- I think this spoof is hilarious! If you've never heard "Like a G6" this might not make as much sense to you, but if you have, you'll like it too- promise :)

Stop the Bleeding.......

"We’re called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world to stop the bleeding" ~ Don Miller

This last week was a hard one. My daughter's best friend lost her mother to suicide- the daughter is only 6. I've been spending the better part of this last week helping her and her dad sort through some of the grief and questions that come with such a tragic loss.

How do you make sense of such a senseless tragedy?

Googling through life

Back in the olden days of the internet- ya know like around 1999ish, I used search engines for school and typically to look up encyclopedia-type stuff. I used to log on to Dogpile (10 points if you remember that site) and type in president names so I could write some lame report and that was pretty much the extent of my search engine usage.

However, I find myself now typing everything in to Google. I have this handy little tool bar and it's like it beckons me: "ask me anything. I will give you the answer". Like most people I freely will ask Google about anything from my kids fevers to what tv I should buy, but today I was wondering if we take things to far? And by "we", I mean "me".

Adventures in Kid's Ministry!

If someone had told me a year ago that I'd be responsible for running a children's ministry I probably would've laughed and not given a second thought. Yet, here I am working at an awesome church doing just that. 

For those of you who know me personally, this probably came as an odd pairing. Of course, I love kids but I've never thought of myself as being one of those "Ms. Lippy" (ya know from Billy Madison) types who could handle masses of children with ease. So I stuck to the areas I knew; music, production, media, etc.

However, the opportunity came along to do this and against all reason, I felt that God definitely wanted me to do it so I did, and I'm so glad I did.

Here's what I've learned (so far):

Jesus Receipt?

I think Jesus is the only person who smiles in the Walmart Checkout.

This is from a real newstory. People in some podunk place in the Bible Belt were freaking out. Read it here

A Road Less Traveled

I've been thinking a lot lately about my walk with God. You see I always thought that it would get easier as I grew in my relationship with God, but here I am more than 10 years in and I'm realizing that might never be the case.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my life with God, but it's not always easy. Sure coming to Jesus and getting 'saved' was pretty easy and it was designed to be, but the journey, while full of immeasurable treasures, is not so simple. The older I get the more convinced I become that the journey isn't supposed to be easy, especially if you're in ministry.

Scientologists Stand Tall- LOL!

I always thought us Christians had the monopoly on cheesy 80's music videos promoting our faith but apparently I was wrong!

JUMP! VBS 2011 Part 1!

Sorry I haven't posted in several days! Here's what's been keeping me busy :)

More to come!