Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Learning to wait...

The other day, I heard on KLUV (then a friend mentioned it on FB too), they were talking about praying/thinking about a word that describes your coming year. It could be something you want to learn, something you want to be, or some other word that describes where you are in life.

I knew after praying with a dear friend the other day that mine was definitely 'wait'. I thought about 'here' based on a blog post this same friend posted on her wall and who prayed with me on Sunday. I knew as soon as she said it, that it was not a word that was going to go far from me this year nor would it be a theme that lasted only for the week.

Our society has taught us that we can have just about everything when we want it. We have fast food restaurants, we have drive-thru pharmacies, and we have express shipping. We can go to the local courthouse and get married or elope at some exotic spot without thought of dealing with all the details of planning a wedding.

Its when we are in difficult situations that we are least likely to want to wait. We don't like the pain, we don't like the unknown, nor do we like the unsettled feeling we have. I don't think Paul wanted to wait in jail nor do I think he wanted to be there. My guess is that the word "wait" was not something he wanted to hear. He wanted to be out there preaching the Good News alongside others. He wanted to help change lives for Christ.

Right now I'm waiting for a lot. I'm waiting for a classroom of children to teach. I'm waiting for my future husband. I'm waiting until I can have my own place. I'm waiting to be financially independent from my loved ones. I'm waiting to travel. I'm waiting for many other things too. Do I enjoy waiting when I feel these are the desires that God has placed in my heart? Certainly not. Is it easy to feel "chained" by my waiting? Nope. But I do have hope from God's word: "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." -Psalm 27:14 and "I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in His word I put my hope." -Psalm 130:5

What are you waiting for? Do you believe that God will carry out His plan for your good? Are you willing to wait for God's perfect plan and timing in your life? Are you doing what God has for you RIGHT NOW?

Are you willing to wait?

December 2010

December was definitely a busy month for me. It was not as busy as I thought but I still found plenty of things to do with my time. In early December, I had my 3 photo shoots which were all learning experiences. It was fantastic to learn and get to actually take pictures of my friends!

Then the next weekend, I had my 26th birthday. I spent some time just relaxing and then on my birthday, my two good friends Jaimie and Katie took me out to dinner at Olive Garden. We were supposed to go to the one close to their houses but as Jaimie arrived to put in our name, it was surrounded by fire trucks and the power was out! So we thought about what we could do and because I had my heart set on Olive Garden, we trucked all the way back to the one in DG near my house. It was a wonderful evening of just talking and enjoying serious girl time. As if the OG being surrounded by fire trucks and not having power wasn't crazy enough, on our way home, the roads were covered in ICE! It was a very slick and tricky ride home to say the least. I'm so grateful for these two women and the impact they've made on my life.

The next week was filled with making Christmas gifts, thinking about Christmas gifts and keeping up with all the Christmas going-ons at work. Needless to say the week was a little crazy. We had our staff work party on the last day and it was lots of fun.

Finally, I had the last two weeks off of work. I did a lot of sleeping and just relaxing as I tried to recover from the craziness that is the 3-week sprint from Thanksgiving to Christmas break at work. I spent a lot of time with my college girls, high school girls and my good friends. On Christmas Eve, I ate dinner at my parents with my grandma and then my siblings and I went out to sled and slide on the ice near their house. We left the house at about 11pm and had so much fun. It was light outside from the lights bouncing off the snow. I will try to post some pictures soon. (Honestly, at the moment, I'm too lazy to get up and get the camera for the SD card.) It was a memorable night that I will never forget!

I spent Christmas at my parents. I slept over Christmas Eve, then Christmas night. I loved spending time in my pj's on Christmas. In the past, I had always gone over to my aunt's house to spend a little Christmas with my aunt and cousin (and all the other family that used to come together). It was the year to switch everything up now that life has changed. I loved spending time with the siblings even though we had a few moments where we got at each other because we were all sooo tired from staying up so late! Both nights, I was up til at least 1am!

During the last week of my break, I spent a lot of time with friends and relaxing once again. I loved sleeping in and just doing things to catch up on life.

All in all, break was truly an escape. I spent a lot of time thinking about life and spending time EXPERIENCING life as it came to me.

Hope you all had a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Shoots for Christmas Cards

In early December, I had 3 photo shoots for close friends that wanted family Christmas card pictures. For 2 of them, I had the families at my home and I set up shop here. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the set up but I moved the couch in our living room, and hung a thick black piece of material I had laying around up as a backdrop. I had some books, strings of beads, and blankets to use for the shoots. I had two little girls (my "nieces") over first. I seitched back and forth between the girls as mom changed their outfits and as they needed breaks in between shots. I came up with some really cute pictures of the girls which I will soon post here. I realized just how much of a workout a shoot can be. I was standing above the girls, laying down on the ground and just about everywhere in between. Then I had my friend Jaimie, her husband and sweet little girl, Brooke, here. I took pictures of the whole family, each of them with Brooke and some just of Brooke. They also turned out well especially the ones we ventured outdoors to get in the VERY first snow of the season...they were so neat! You will also see some of their pics up here very soon. Both of these shoots were back to back and I even got a couple shots of all 3 girls together. It was a very fun but also exhausting day to say the least. Then later in the week, I took pictures of a family I've known for a long time. They were fun to work with and I did it at their house which taught me a lot too!

I know that I have a lot to learn yet and am so grateful for my friends that have helped me to get to where I am today. You can check out Robb's work here and the Maas' here.  I definitely learned a lot and am excited to get some more shoots set up for the coming months! :)