YL

my friend angie posted a video on her blog today that is one of the best things i've seen.

for everyone who asks about YL and what it is, and why we do it, watch this video. 

i am extra excited about hosting club tonight for the high schoolers at TCHS. i can't think of anything more important to do with my Wednesday night. 

enjoy :) 

[drew holcomb's "live forever" is playing in the background & ryan long is speaking the prayer at the end...i wrote about both of them a couple posts ago if you follow my blog]

SHANNON!!

Happy Birthday Shannon!!!!

Today is the birthday of one of my best friends in the whole world!! :)

Shannon is so old!!! 

I am so blessed to call her my friend. We've been friends since high school, she was 2 grades above me, so when she went to college it was really really sad, but then when I went to college, I already had friends to live with, which is awesome. 

We lived together for 2.5 years, 2 of those years in the grossest house ever built, and a half a year in another pretty gross house. 

We've been on all kinds of pirating adventures, and have been there to encourage each other in our walks with Christ. We were in a dance class/dance recital together [did I mention we became friends in high school?] I got to be there with her on her wedding day, and we've spent countless hours at Reality Tuesdays catching up and hanging out.

Shannon is a wonderful fantastic friend, and I wish we lived closer. I looked for old pictures to put up and this is the earliest one I found in my iphoto, but I think it's from college? Where are all the high school pictures?! Probably in albums...

And here is the most recent :) 

Happy Birthday Shannon! I love you so much and and SO happy we're friends. :)

its the weekend :)

i feel so excited about the next 3 days. 

today i am going to go for a walk (it's 66 and sunny right now. perfect); i am going to go sit outside somewhere with a good book (or 2); i am going to craft my little heart out, maybe some flower headbands, maybe a halloween costume, who knows? i am going to take pictures for some Lafayette seniors for homecoming; and visit with some friends probably :) great day.

tomorrow is book club! yes, i said book club :) we're all 24-25, hard to believe, huh? we're going to have a little tea party at Megan's and talk about a book. so excited :) tomorrow i also get to see MY BROTHER!! what a treat? he's been in N. Ireland for 3 months. too long. 

and monday...who knows? this is the first monday i've had off work in forever. yes, i only work 3 days a week so that isn't too surprising, but i literally ALWAYS work on monday. always. i think i'll go take some pictures or meet some friends on their lunch breaks, maybe both :)

i feel sad that maybe we didn't get enough rain for Fall to look like Fall. i'm holding out for a miracle. i need some yellow leaves asap. 

last but not least....the world equestrian games are here. so far they have not affected my drive to work, or really anything, so i'm happy. i fear that lexington will be taken over though. i'm not pumped about that.

[the above picture is my friend maria's feet. i had it on ISO 1600 mid day outside. mistake! too grainy and exposed, but i still like it]

[playlist tuesdays]

so i gave up on my weekly playlist tuesdays. i apologize. i might give up on it again after today. i won't lie. 

i need to share these things with you all though. i just have to, or i wouldn't be any kind of a friend. today we are organizing my choices by artist. these 3 artists (one i have loved for a long time, one brand new, one kind of new), have been on repeat everywhere the last couple weeks. here they are (we'll organize them by oldest to newest):

1. ryan long-- please go listen to anything you can of his. i wish i could tell you to just go to a show of his, because his voice is so nice to listen to when he tells stories. specific favorites? mine, arise, dance with me, snow white, justice of the peace, bury my heart...i should stop. but really, he's great. 

2. drew holcomb and the neighbors-- this one is kind of new. i've heard about them for a long time, but recently have been falling in love with certain songs. drew sings with his wife, ellie, and it's fantastic. their voices are my favorite kind of singing voices. favorites? better love, hung the moon, live forever, mercy, and magnolia tree. (better love is the song i posted about a few posts back)

3. jon foreman-- i. can't. stop. listening. but really. i can't. he is the lead singer of switchfoot. his voice + his guitar (and occasional piano and harmonica) = glorious. i mean, i should have a post just for him. trust me on this one. go get the fall ep on itunes (only about $5); see what you think, then get the limbs and branches cd. my favorites? your love is strong, the cure for pain, southbound train,  broken from the start, equally skilled, a mirror is harder to hold. there are a few more i've never heard and am waiting on some advice on which to get next, so there is more where that came from. 

if you listen to this musical advice at all, please listen to jon foreman. he is fantastic. and its awesome to have a song based on the Lord's prayer stuck in your head all day at work. just a perk :)

Jaime Lynne's Senior Pics

I had the pleasure to run around Lexington with Jaime to shoot her senior pictures, and I have to say, senior portraits are SO fun to shoot. Jaime is wonderful. She is a senior [obviously] at TC, where I lead YL, and we all consider her a co-leader with us. She is super talented at singing and song-writing and is just so beautiful. 

We are not finished with all the pictures, and I am not finished editing the ones we have taken, but I will give a little preview here and when they're all up, I'll put a little blurb up to direct you to all of them. Here are my favorites:

Libby Ryder Golf Outing

I just wanted to give you all the opportunity to support the Ryders in the golf outing coming up. Ryan Fosset has put together a golf outing where the proceeds go straight to the Ryders.

This will help them with all of the medical bills that are coming their way. If you don't play golf, but want to come check out the auction, I will be auctioning off a photo session that day. Whoever bids highest gets me for a couple hours to do either senior portraits, family portraits, or portraits of your kids! 

It will be in Lexington KY on Oct 16th. If you want more information, email Ryan Fosset at ryan.fossett@gmail.com. If you know anyone that loves playing golf, please pass this on! And don't forget to keep praying for them, if you don't know what this is about, visit Libby's blog here. It'll be a blessing to see their faith!

a better love [part 2]

The Lord is the ultimate pursuer of my heart. I have been so blessed by His presence lately.

I talked of how this better love is something we are holding out for hurting people to grasp, but to ignore that this better love has everything to do with Christ being our Love, the Love of our lives, is to miss out on the greatest truth. 

I don't really know how to put words to any of this. 

I just know that what the world tells us about love and fulfillment is crap. He is offering such a better love. I had a great conversation today with a friend of mine who is constantly overflowing with the Spirit, and it just reminded me of how good his love is, and how perfect. 

Without it, I am positive I would be a train wreck, running after things that promise to fill. 

Listen again to that song from yesterdays post, and let the truth wash over you. Lets not settle for anything less than His perfect love. He is the fulfillment our hearts are made for. 

a better love I see

I listened to this song by Drew & Ellie Holcomb in the car yesterday with my friend Megan. We were talking about how badly kids lives are messed up and how we have the chance [as leaders, and in each of our occupations] to show them a better love than what the world knows. She talked about how they played this song at a recent work week at a YL camp [they play as musical guests at camps throughout the summer]. They had the leaders sing back the chorus to them. We get to hold out the word of life to these kids and love them with a love that is radically different from what the world offers. This is a huge privilege, and I look over it all the time. My life can look so selfish. I hope, by His grace, that my life is still a reflection of that better love, even when I am not pouring myself out on behalf of students. 

 Here are the lyrics [ & watch here]:

so stop me if you've heard this one before. i'm walking out the door, i'm done.

cause this counterfeit love that we've been served is like a band-aid for cancer, it won't stop.
how long can we survive on chocolates and movie lines?

a better love, a better love i see. 

a better love, a better love i see.

a better love, a better love i see.

stop telling me that everything is fine. i see straight through the lies that we're told.

cause the love we've seen is tired and abused; it's made us all confused dust for gold.
how long can we get by with breakups and sad headlines?

a better love, a better love i see  

a better love, a better love i see 

a better love, a better love i see  (x2)

and in the middle of the night, i try and try to fight the taste of the world gone bitter. but somewhere out in the streets, there's a melody that speaks hope for something bigger.
so don't you try and talk me down this time. there's something more to find out there. 

a better love, a better love i see 

a better love, a better love i see 

a better love, a better love i see 

my first real gig

My sweet friends Jen & Julie work for a company called Hands On Originals. They are in the process of re-doing their website, and hired me to take some pics for it! Exciting! So after a 13 hour day, 4,000 photos to edit, the final cut was 2,184 photos. 200-something of those made it here to my picasa album. When the site is all spruced up, I'll post a link on here. 

Can I say, before I post my favorites, that a 12 hour day of photo taking was SO much more fun than a 12 hour day of being a nurse. I still do love being a nurse, and I would probably end up hating taking pictures if I did that all the time, so no life changes happening here, but it was fun. :)

Our models were our beautiful friends [2 of which are my roommates]. Here are my favorites:

And my favorites of each girl:

[mallory]

[randi]

[holly]

[alyssa]

pretty girls!

perfect day

i had the most perfect day today. 

perfect. 

let me tell you about it :)

[to set up the perfect-ness of today, i need to tell you that i worked on thursday, did a 12 hour photo shoot for HOO friday, was supposed to work today, i work tomorrow and monday. that = five 12-hour days in a row. i can hardly handle 3.]

5:10- rolled out of bed praying to be called off

5:20- call from work asking if i wanted to stay home until 3 [YES!]

5:20-9:00- sleep

9:00- 10:30- sat outside in the 75 and sunny weather at panera with the Lord. His presence was so deeply felt

10:30-12- cleaned my room, cleaned the turtle, paid bills, went to kroger [none of these things sound fun, but putting them all off until tuesday would have been stressful]

12-1- edited some pictures from friday

1-2:15- read some john eldredge outside in the 75 and sunny weather (did i mention it was 75 and sunny today?)

2:15-2:30 drove to work only to be called at 2:30 telling me I didn't have to come in. TREAT.

3:15- went to Jen & Ben's to "watch the UK game" aka edited a few more pictures while they watched the game

5:30- church! yes, i got to go to church :) the saddest part of working weekends is missing church. it was awesome, i teared up a lot, probably because the Lord was revealing himself to me so much today

6:30- dinner [outside] with jaime, who accompanied me to church. great conversation about life 

now- showered and ready for bed early. love it.

The real reason for this perfect day is the Lord. He knows exactly what I need. He provided rest and made his presence palpable on a day where all I had to do was soak in His presence. He filled me with a longing for more of Him. I am filled to overflowing today. What more can I ask? I want to leave you with the little excerpt from my devotional today. It [also] was perfect. 

In closeness to Me, you are safe. In the intimacy of My Presence, you are energized. No matter where you are in the world, you know you belong when you sense My nearness. Ever since the Fall, man has experienced a gaping emptiness that only My presence can fill. I designed you for close communication with your Creator. How I enjoyed walking in the garden with Adam and Eve, before the evil one deceived them!

When you commune with Me in the garden of your heart, both you and I are blessed. This is My way of living in the world-- through you. Together we will push back the darkness, for I am the light of the world.

a puppy photoshoot

last wednesday night my sweet friend katie asked if we could do a little photo shoot with her, kyle, and their new puppy. katie wanted a puppy forever and kyle surprised her with a tiny golden retriever on her birthday. she cried. it was precious. see her post about it here. 

our photo shoot was a success, even with a crazy little puppy. here are some pictures :) see the rest here. 

[before we get into the pictures, yesterday Hands On Originals hired me to do a shoot for their new website. it was a 12 hour day of taking pictures of our friends posing as the models (they were awesome), i have 3000+ to sift through and edit, so it'll take a while, but i'll post some later]

i. can't. wait.

friends. 

my favorite season is coming up. 

fall. 

i am so excited for no humidity, pumpkin patches, hot vanilla chai (preferably from RTC), LEAVES, tree tunnels with pretty leaves, jeans and long sleeve shirts, cowboy boots, jackets, photo shoots in colorful leaves, apple cider, being outside as much as possible, football games [mostly TC though i would like to make it to a UK one in october], october (favorite month), and can i say leaves again? leaves. 

this will be my first fall season with my trusty camera. promise to leave you with some treats on here :) i have nothing for you right now. i want to take a picture like the one below...jen? holly? my trusty assistants? can you help with this one?

[borrowed from here]